NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: 88 Films (UK) Blu-ray (June 2020): 88 Films have transferred Kinka Usher's delightful Mystery Men to Region 'B' Blu-ray. The image advances over the VC-1 encoded Universal Blu-ray, which fans often felt was underwhelming with a waxy softness. Here, on a dual-layered disc with a higher max'ed out bitrate and AVC encode the image is crisper, has better layered contrast, richer colors and looks appealing in-motion. It's a nice upgrade from the original Blu-ray and fans will appreciate it's more film-like qualities. 

NOTE: We have added 68 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, 88 Films use a more robust DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track (24-bit) in the original English language. It is another advancement in the film's audio - exporting deeper bass - notable in the score by Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love, Birthday Girl, Polisse, Prime Suspect) plus a ton of music in the film - thanks to 'The Disco Boys' characters we get snippets of plenty of that genre including The Trammps's "Disco Inferno", A Taste of Honey's "Boogie Oogie Oogie", Anita Ward's "Ring My Bell", The Bee Gees's "Night Fever", Chic's "Le Freak", KC & The Sunshine Band's "That's the Way (I Like It)", Walter Murphy's "A Fifth of Beethoven" - also fittingly is The B-52's "Planet Claire" when Paul Reubens character 'Spleen' is introduced. There is more sounding very impressive in lossless - even if they are only short samplings of the songs. It sounds quite effective. Universal offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'B'-locked Blu-ray.

The 88 Films Blu-ray has the Kinka Usher commentary, deleted scenes and On Location featurette also found on the DVD and 2012 Blu-ray. But there are also four other video pieces as supplements on the 88 Films release; We're The Other Guys!: The Making of "Mystery Men" with Director Kinka Usher running 23-minutes, I'm A Superhero, Mother!: The Costumes of "Mystery Men" with designer Marilyn Vance for a dozen minutes discussing the superhero costuming. Inside Champion City!: The Effects of "Mystery Men" spens 10-minutes with visual effects supervisor Todd Tucker and Disco Is Life!: The Score(s) of "Mystery Men" is with film music historian Daniel Schweiger for 8.5 minutes. The Blu-ray package has a limited edition collector's booklet by James Oliver with extensive behind the scenes photographs and an nice LE matte slipcase. 

Mystery Men is still a formidable comedy gem - hard to believe it is 20-years old now. We all hoped for a sequel but I am still very pleased to revisit this every once in a while. It has great dialogue and memorable performances from Janeane Garofalo, William H. Macy, Greg Kinnear, Geoffrey Rush and many others. The 88 Films Blu-ray is the one to own winning on all fronts - a/v and extras. Fans should have this one in their digital library.

Gary Tooze

ADDITION: Universal - Region FREE - Blu-ray (July 2012): Firstly, because of the intrusive timeline feature I wasn't able to get exact frame matches on all captures. Surprisingly, this Universal Blu-ray is encoded with VC-1 - which we don't often see anymore as most 1080P transfer use AVC. Being such a dark film, it is hard to notice strong visual improvement over the capable SD-DVD, but on a large screen system - it becomes more evident. The Blu-ray is transferred in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio (DVD was 1.78) and shows a shade more information in the frame. It is marginally brighter with an uncomfortable softness. Colors are tighter but don't stray far from the DVD-exported scheme. There is some depth in the day-lit, outdoor, sequences (interviewing perspective team members). It is dual-layered with a high bitrate and I don't discount some digitization but it's not enough to quibble over.

Universal supply a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track at 2721 kbps. It has some buoyancy but there isn't a plethora of aggressive separations. What effects are exported to the rear speakers are often subtle and atmospheric.  There are optional subtitles on the Region FREE Blu-ray disc.

In regards to extras we keep the light director commentary, the amusing deleted scenes and the 'making of...' - lose the 'origins' from the DVD but gain an HD trailer. The Blu-ray is also 'My Scenes' capable.

I love this film every time I see it. I'll bet I watch it every 6-months or so. Great cast and writing - a super fun film that I wouldn't pass up in 1080P. Recommended - especially at this reasonable price.

***

ON THE DVD: The first noted detail of the image is that it is exceptionally dark, but I always prefer this as far more natural look than contrast boosted transfers. This is obviously how the film looked theatrically and it definitely suits the style of the detailed art production. Colors are intentionally on the dull side but sharpness is there and overall the quality is very consistent.

The supplements are very good - the director commentary shares many production details and some frank anecdotes. There is a 'Spotlight on Location' featurette and about 7 minutes of deleted scenes.

Overall this is a well above-average DVD at a good price. The film is very addictive and charming in its own juvenile way. Although it won't make our Essentials DVDs listing - we still recommend it for some great fun. 

Gary W. Tooze