Review of Manchester Unitied Beyond the Promised Land

Introduction

Manchester United, the best team in the world, the pinacle of footballing greatness. No, I don`t believe it either, but there you go!!

Inside the club, inside the players, the essential guide for every third division team wanting to make it to the big time.

As a resident of Brighton who has never been to Manchester, I am ideally equipped to not only review this disc but to also proclaim myself as a lifelong United fan.

Video

A very nice anamorphic picture framed at 1.77:1. The picture is extremely sharp with well defined colours that have a real depth and vibrancy to them.

Obviously, this quality suffers when replays from the matches are included as these are taken straight from Sky`s footage, but otherwise a highly commendable effort.

Audio

Again, another big suprise. A very powerful soundtrack that includes a lot of very recent songs from the `hit parade`. These songs are thoughtfully included in the production and do not detract from the overall effect.

Obviously the DD 5.1 soundtrack is not used to it`s full extent, but it is certainly listenable to.

Features

A region 2 disc with extra`s!!! The disc includes a theatrical trailer (?), directors commentary and interviews with some of the players and staff.

The last bit really does show why these people are kicking a lump of leather around a field for a living and not pushing the boundaries of science or civilisation.

Conclusion

I wanted to hate this disc as much as I hate Manchetser United, but I couldn`t. As a demonstration of how good a disc of this genre can be it is an excellent example.

It shows more than just the on pitch antics of the team and actually goes a long way to showing Alex Ferguson as a human being although I was still expecting a little cartoon Alex to appear at the end of the film tapping his watch!!

The staff versus players golf match was a quite amusing little section that really showed the other side the club and team than the distanced TV perspective.

One annoying part of the disc was a section that continued in fits and starts throughout the whole disc. This was of a couple of New York barmen, one of whom had the most annoying Irish accent in the world, and used it to good effect all the time. He freely admitted to trying to turn every conversation he had around to Manchester United, and by the end I wanted to hurt him. A lot.

Overall, for a United fan this is an essential piece of kit, but not only because it has the words manchetser United on it, also as it is really quite good.