This isn’t quite bare-knuckle fighting, though it is the closest we’ll get in a legal venue.
If I do my math right, the combined fight time is just twelve and a half minutes. The total run time of disc one? One hundred one minutes, leaving a whopping 89 minutes of pure filler material. And that ends up being the biggest drawback here. Entirely too much down time, not enough action. I really don´t care to see each combatant come down the same set of stairs into the cage. Nor do I want to hear the announcers say "tale of the tape" five times. I understand the matches were originally broadcast on Showtime, but something needs to be done to streamline them for future releases.
VIDEO:
I guess I shouldn´t be so surprised and happy with the video presentation, but I am. Technically speaking, this is good looking 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer. Aside from issues stemming from the original master (more on that in a second), Image Entertainment has provided a clean picture for the fight fans. Flesh tones and blacks are reasonably well rendered, all things considered while blood spatters are nearly crystal clear. I didn´t notice any pops or artifacts in the presentation.
(Now, about the original material. To put it bluntly, it looks a bit too dark, almost like an NBA game in an old Western Conference arena. This leads to an overall feeling of requiring at least an additional light. I won´t hold this production issue against the video presentation.)
AUDIO:
A standard English 2.0 track, no subtitles, supplements the visual action. There´s nothing to really write home about here. No problems, as with the video section and I will admit to being slightly disappointed more of the hits didn´t crackle and pop the way I wanted them too. Perhaps holding MMA to the standards set by football with its bone crushing helmet-to-helmet collisions is unfair. Those are the types of sounds I wanted to hear. It´s no doubt a problem originating in the source material.
EXTRAS:
On first glance, there´s a lengthy list of extras on the second disc. But when we start to dissect them, they´re more fluff pieces than anything else. (It should be noted, like the main feature, all the extras are available to watch individually or together via the play all option.) First, though, the standard two-disc amaray case is housed inside a gold slipcover featuring the same artwork as the keep case. Inside, we also get three trading cards: Kimbo Slice, K. J. Noons and Nick Diaz. Now then, the main attraction on Disc Two are five "bonus fights"-really the undercard for the Corpus Christi event. These bouts were originally shown online and the production quality reflects it. Blacks tend to be blocky while they are in full screen aspect ratio, as opposed to widescreen. They are also less polished than their counterparts.
Text based fighter biographies are up next with a couple screens devoted to each man (Noke, Silva and Slice get just one apiece). Then comes "Behind the Scenes," a compilation of online videos divided into segments: "Prefight Interviews" (six segments); "Victory Interviews Undercard" (six segments); "Victory Interviews Main Event" (six segments); and "Fight Promos" (four segments). Nearly all the videos run under two minutes (four run over) and, again, were produced for the web with the requisite production values. These are strictly for fans.
Three different photo galleries are available, the first featuring Kimbo Slice (nine images), the second showing fight stills (twenty images) and the third looking at the "Post Event" (thirteen images). Last up are the text based rules-a single screen taken from the very first fight-and a Glossary of terms.
PARTING THOUGHTS:
This isn´t quite bare-knuckle fighting, though it is the closest we´ll get in a legal venue. Annoyingly hyperbolic announcers aside, "EliteXC: Renegade" is a decent enough way to spend an hour or two. But for fans only. The newcomers to the sport may find it just a little too barbaric. And me? I have a newfound appreciation for mixed martial arts. Not that I want to participate any time soon.
VIDEO:
I guess I shouldn´t be so surprised and happy with the video presentation, but I am. Technically speaking, this is good looking 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer. Aside from issues stemming from the original master (more on that in a second), Image Entertainment has provided a clean picture for the fight fans. Flesh tones and blacks are reasonably well rendered, all things considered while blood spatters are nearly crystal clear. I didn´t notice any pops or artifacts in the presentation.
(Now, about the original material. To put it bluntly, it looks a bit too dark, almost like an NBA game in an old Western Conference arena. This leads to an overall feeling of requiring at least an additional light. I won´t hold this production issue against the video presentation.)
AUDIO:
A standard English 2.0 track, no subtitles, supplements the visual action. There´s nothing to really write home about here. No problems, as with the video section and I will admit to being slightly disappointed more of the hits didn´t crackle and pop the way I wanted them too. Perhaps holding MMA to the standards set by football with its bone crushing helmet-to-helmet collisions is unfair. Those are the types of sounds I wanted to hear. It´s no doubt a problem originating in the source material.
EXTRAS:
On first glance, there´s a lengthy list of extras on the second disc. But when we start to dissect them, they´re more fluff pieces than anything else. (It should be noted, like the main feature, all the extras are available to watch individually or together via the play all option.) First, though, the standard two-disc amaray case is housed inside a gold slipcover featuring the same artwork as the keep case. Inside, we also get three trading cards: Kimbo Slice, K. J. Noons and Nick Diaz. Now then, the main attraction on Disc Two are five "bonus fights"-really the undercard for the Corpus Christi event. These bouts were originally shown online and the production quality reflects it. Blacks tend to be blocky while they are in full screen aspect ratio, as opposed to widescreen. They are also less polished than their counterparts.
Text based fighter biographies are up next with a couple screens devoted to each man (Noke, Silva and Slice get just one apiece). Then comes "Behind the Scenes," a compilation of online videos divided into segments: "Prefight Interviews" (six segments); "Victory Interviews Undercard" (six segments); "Victory Interviews Main Event" (six segments); and "Fight Promos" (four segments). Nearly all the videos run under two minutes (four run over) and, again, were produced for the web with the requisite production values. These are strictly for fans.
Three different photo galleries are available, the first featuring Kimbo Slice (nine images), the second showing fight stills (twenty images) and the third looking at the "Post Event" (thirteen images). Last up are the text based rules-a single screen taken from the very first fight-and a Glossary of terms.
PARTING THOUGHTS:
This isn´t quite bare-knuckle fighting, though it is the closest we´ll get in a legal venue. Annoyingly hyperbolic announcers aside, "EliteXC: Renegade" is a decent enough way to spend an hour or two. But for fans only. The newcomers to the sport may find it just a little too barbaric. And me? I have a newfound appreciation for mixed martial arts. Not that I want to participate any time soon.
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[release]23778[/release]