ADDITION: Criterion - Region 'A' Blu-ray - November 2012: Firstly, this is Terry Gilliam’s 142-minute director’s cut (approved by Gilliam) in a strong 1080P transfer from Criterion. There are two Blu-ray discs in the package; the first as the 'Director's Cut' with optional Gilliam commentary. It is more robust than the previously released Universal image quality and I think the colors, for the most part, look superior and more realistic. As is the contrast. The Universal is 1.85:1 and the Criterion is 1.78:1. The Criterion image is brighter and shows a tad more information in the frame. The dream sequences are visibly more grainy. As well as being the preferred cut - I think it looks the best. Bravo! Fans should be very pleased!

The Criterion audio is stereo (2.0 channel) - NOTE: Not "Surround' as stated on the Criterion website. This is authentic and clear via the DTS-HD Master with notable depth and surprising punch at times. There are optional English subtitles on the Criterion Blu-ray and it is region 'A'-locked.

 As well as the Gilliam audio commentary on the feature disc we get a stacked second Blu-ray with What Is “Brazil”?, Rob Hedden’s 1/2 hour on-set documentary, The Production Notebook, a collection of 6 interviews and video essays, featuring a trove of Brazil-iana from Gilliam’s personal collection. As follows:
- We're all in it Together: the Brazil Screenwriter (10:42)
- Dreams Unfulfilled: Unfulfilled Storyboards of Brazil (9 parts)
- Designing Brazil Visual Essay (20:45)
- Flights of Fantasy - Brazil's Special Effects (9:50)
- Fashion and Fascism - James Acheson on brazil's Costume Design (7:01)
- Brazil's Score (9:41)
Also included is The Battle of “Brazil,” the 55-minute documentary about the film’s contentious release, hosted by Jack Mathews and based on his book of the same name and the “Love Conquers All” version - the studio’s 94-minute, happy-ending cut of Brazil, with commentary by Brazil expert David Morgan. There is a trailer and the package contains an essay by film critic David Sterritt.

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ADDITION: Universal - Region FREE - Blu-ray - July 11':  Firstly this is NOT the 142-minute Director's Cut that all of the compared DVD versions have transferred. It is the 132-minute theatrical cut of the film. This is a dual-layered Blu-ray with a strong bitrate and despite some niggling complaints (still has speckles and is notably dirty in spots) I suspect that it is the most accurate representation of the image. Generally colors are paler giving credence that some of the SD renderings were boosted. Contrast may be the area where it stands out as being the most definitive. It could come down to personal preference but this gave me quite a good viewing - and I don't suspect that Universal have done anything to enhance or enrich the image. Gilliam's Brazil can only end up looking so good - and without a thorough cleaning - this is probably it. The film's characteristic inventive art direction can be impressively pleasing in 1080P.

Audio has a solid bounce up to lossless via a DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 3449 kbps. I found it a definite increase from the DVDs but one is still at the mercy of the film's inherent production. The effects are more buoyant - there is a nice crispness at times and the wonderful music and score show great depth and separation. This area has advanced at the same level as the video. There is a French DUB and optional subtitles on the region FREE Blu-ray disc.

Criterion is still king of the castle when it comes to the supplements and the Blu-ray hasn't even tried to do battle - conceding to the mammoth package. There is nothing on the hi-def edition aside from the usual BD-Live, D-Box enablement and My Scenes features.

We hope to review this disc (and the REISSUE 3-disc edition HERE) more completely in time but just as a quick comparison to the existing releases we can see it is bright and sharp without the blue-ish haze of UK disc and the only other 16X9 NTSC disc - now 'unavailable' from Region 4 (yes Brazil!). I think the out-of-print Region 4 disc may be as sharp but it is significantly darker and we see no undo signs of brightness boosting on the new Criterion REISSUE.

This is quite interesting. Region 4- Brazil (the country) has been producing some anamorphic Hollywood titles that are not available as 16X9 in Region 1 ! This is another example. I was expecting the worst with simple porting from their PAL counterparts, but check the times - they are accurate! The image quality for this comparison is not the most accurate as the region 4 DVD native resolution is so much larger that it loses some sharpness in the conversion down to meet the Region 1's graphic size. So I don't need to tell you that the anamorphic DVD from Region 4 will give a much superior image when shown through a widescreen TV or projection system.

The anamorphic images appear darker than the other two releases it appears and the Region 4 has the best (sharpest) image quality, just slightly ahead of the Region 2 Fox view the plastic surgery capture and typing capture below). Of the non-anamorphic the Universal is sharper than the Criterion.

I see minor cropping on all version on various sides.

There is a bluish tinge to the Region 4 and Region 2 editions.

To my eye it looks like the Criterion and Universal have had some slight contrast boosting. Sequences seem overly bright at times... the addition of the Fox Region 2 tends to substantiate that claim..

The 45 seconds missed by the Region 4 DVD seems right at the beginning and I would assume it to be the distribution company logs (The Region 4 has none and launches directly into the film). The Region 2 has 4% PAL speedup.

Some of the Region 4 English subtitles are not translated - which is very unimportant to me.

The extras, of course, go to Criterion, but the Region 4 and Region 2 include a nice documentary (30:00).

Bottom line: If you have a widescreen TV or projection system you will obviously want the Region 4 NTSC (which betters the PAL 16X9 Region 2 version as it has no speedup). If you are a big fan of the film, or a film buff in general then you MUST own the 3 disc Criterion Boxset for the extras. If you have a simple tube TV and anamorphic quality is not an issue with you you may as well get the Universal Region 1 which has a better image than the expensive Criterion set.

  - Gary W. Tooze