Why? Why did we get this release of Heavy Metal and Heavy Metal 2000?
The short story here is that there was absolutely zero reason to drop this release in 2022. The movie suffers from terrible and video, which ultimately detracts from the overall enjoyment of either movie.
I guess this is where I start talking about the numerous problems with the re-release of Heavy Metal and Heavy Metal 2000. Growing up, this was like a holy grail. Mainly, because it was tits and ass. More often than not, seeing tits and ass wasn’t something I had a lot of access to. At least, until I moved to where my family is now, and I was introduced to delinquency.
So, I will always have a soft spot for the first Heavy Metal. And is why I jumped at the chance to review this release. Watching the movie was all about the tits and ass, sure. However, as I grew into my teenage years, I was able to appreciate the story for what it was, especially when Heavy Metal 2000 was released. The entirety of the original is what a great story can do for animation, and you can tell a lot of love and care went into the making of Heavy Metal.
Let’s be honest. The original Heavy Metal carries this package, just from the nostalgia and quality of the story. However, that really only goes so far. This release got next to zero TLC from Sony, and it shows. The mix is deplorable. More often than not, it’s the original mix, so the music overpowers the vocal track for almost every scene. Not to mention, there is no regular stereo track. It’s only 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound, so you’re not getting a lot of help if you don’t have a DSS system. Being on a 4K disc, you’d think they’d give you a two channel option.
The Picture is even worse. The actual video quality is deplorable. There are times where it’s dark on dark on dark, and you can’t see a god damn thing. Of all of the movies that could have benefited from color correction, and a remaster, Heavy Metal was it. I would love to meet the big brain who thought just dropping the movie as it was in 1979 was the smartest move. I would have loved to get this later on in 2022, or even moving this to 2023 or 2024, and giving us the rerelease Heavy Metal fans deserve with a remaster of the video quality. This was not it.
Speaking of remaster, Funimation showed what to do with an old IP like old Dragon Ball. They managed to take the picture and format it to 16:9. Not to mention color correcting, to make Dragon Ball look like an almost new series. They managed to remix the dub, and clean the audio so that the audio sounds so much cleaner than the picture looked. It’s kind of funny how Funimation is now a subsidary of Sony, right?
And then there were the special features. It was nice to get insights from the creators of Heavy Metal, and the celebrities who contributed to the cult like following Heavy Metal has received. However, we only got one feature, and the basic extras we got with the Blu-Ray release of Heavy Metal 2000. Again, does this really sound like a release that should be priced at $35?
This release is just awkward. Is this release supposed to be special? Because it has the feel of one of those bargin bin steelbook releases for completionists, but it’s priced like there’s some real work put in to restore the movie. $35 is entirely way too much money for a release that got zero love or restoration from the publisher. Sony should be ashamed for this release, for sure.
The best part, and what felt like got the most attention, is the actual steelbook. The 4K version of Heavy Metal is trash. The Blu-Ray version of Heavy Metal 2000 is a little better yet still suffers from the complete lack of support necessary to make this release worth $20, let alone $35. Save your money, and spend it on something else…like weed or shrooms. I don’t condone drug use, but you may as well have a trip like Kenny from South Park.
Overall, the re-release of Heavy Metal and Heavy Metal 2000 is a generous 3 just for nostalgia, and not much else.