28 Scene Selections (Check out Screenshots from the Special Edition DVD.)
English 5.1 Dolby Digital or French 2 channel Dolby Surround
English or French Subtitles
Full length audio commentary by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich
Visual Effects Interactive Featurettes with Audio Commentary by Visual Effects Supervisor Stuart Robertson:
"How a Patriot Loses His Head"
"Creating a Digital Army"
Art of War Featurette (9:10)
True Patriots Featurette
Deleted scenes with optional commentary by Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich (6):
The Creek
The Aftermath
Birth of the Ghost and The Funeral
The Butcher
The Heart of a Villain
"Wait for my Order"
Interactive Conceptual Art to Film Comparisons (13)
Theatrical Trailer and Teaser in full Dolby Surround.
Photo Galleries (110 Pictures):
Mel Gibson (13)
Heath Ledger (11)
Gullah Island (11)
Family Circle (14)
Continentals (7)
British (9)
Battle Action (11)
Behind the Scenes (15)
Militia (14)
Townsfolk (5)
Talent Files:
Roland Emmerich
Dean Devlin
Robert Rodat
Mel Gibson
Heath Ledger
Joely Richardson
Jason Isaacs
Chris Cooper
Animated menus with transitions and background music.
Review (2002):
This is an impressive DVD. Other DVDs have maybe only a trailer and even the menu is boring. Whereas this DVD was put together with care. The menus are well-done and worth watching from the introductory film clip to the animated transitions between menus. Some of the menus themselves are animated with smoke or gunfire. There are different bits (rather than the same clip) of John Williams' music from the soundtrack spread throughout the menus and presentations.
No single feature on the DVD is extraordinary, but the sheer number of extras adds up. The best features are the deleted scenes, which include commentary from Director Roland Emmerich where he explains why the scenes were omitted. The full film commentary by Producer Dean Devlin and Emmerich is also surprisingly candid in response to some criticisms made toward the film. The other features are a compilation of the usual publicity information that comes out prior to a film, but at least it is all included on the DVD for easy recall.
The disappointment is that the deleted scenes don't include footage from expanded scenes of Yorktown that included General George Washington. This particular footage was possibly initially teased as being included on the DVD as an Alternate Ending. Perhaps they are holding a few things back for the next Special Edition DVD.
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