Casino Royale
The double threat of Austin Powers and Jason Bourne meant that the 40 year-old James Bond franchise needed a serious makeover if it was to survive into the 21st century, but boy, did Bond rise to the challenge. The Herculean task of reinventing 007, that master of reinvention, was given to two men: director Martin Campbell who, along with Pierce Brosnan, had helped revive 007 once before with GoldenEye back in 1995; and Daniel Craig, in what was at the time controversial casting (James Bond blond, for heaven’s sake!) but proved to be a master stroke, winning rave reviews for his turn. They weren’t alone, of course: the contribution of Academy Award-winning screenwriter Paul Haggis should not be underestimated, helping Bond regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade expunge the memory of Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, David Niven et al in Casino Royale’s 1967 namesake. But few can have expected even such a talented team as this to deliver with such a bang, making a Bond film that showcased James as a character as much as an action man, and saw him — gasp! — falling in love. When the time came for the film’s home theatre release, a truly 21st century Bond called for a suitably forward-looking format, and high definition could hardly have come along at a better time. Gritty of subject-matter and approach this film may have been, but that didn’t mean that the transfer had to be grainy. Casino Royale’s 1080p full HD picture was as sharp as a Savile Row suit, giving Blu-ray its first must-own title. The parcours chase sequence that opens the film’s main action is one of those great showcase scenes for the format: watch James Bond dangling precariously from a crane, and wonder how you put up with standard definition for so long. While the content of the initial Blu-ray release — ‘making of’ documentaries, news-wraps, pop video and so on — was fairly standard fare for a Bond title, the film took a quantum leap forward with last year’s two-disc Deluxe Edition, which boasted more additional features than Bond’s Aston Martin. Okay, it doesn’t come with a built-in defibrillator, which is a shame, but it does include two Blu-ray exclusives: picture-inpicture commentary with Campbell and an interactive quiz, Know Your Double-O: The Ultimate James Bond Trivia Quiz.

		Speed Jan de Bont’s kinetic action thriller not only perfected the Die Hard formula, it also shows off Blu-ray’s capacity to make older films look new again. Thanks to its shiny HD makeover, this adrenaline-fuelled edition makes The Bus That Couldn’t Slow Down feel essential again.
		The Rock One of the most enjoyable dumb action movies of the ’90s, The Rock sees Michael Bay still establishing his ‘Bayhem’ style — so there are character moments and witty lines inbetween the glorious sunsets and huge explosions. The surround sound and picture here are excellent: listen to rockets fly past your ears and marvel.
		Iron Man The other great comicbook movie of 2008, Jon Favreau’s Iron Man is more playful but no less impressive in hi def, a ray of light to the Dark Knight’s shade. Extras include The Onion’s unforgettable news item, Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer To Be Adapted Into Full-Length Film.
		Kill Bill Vols 1 & 2 A package woefully light on extras, but the colourful characters and masterful fight choreography of QT’s opulent epic are superbly realised in high definition. From The Bride’s yellow suit to the snowbound battle, Blu-ray’s impressive colour palette is showcased to the max.
		The Incredible Hulk Edward Norton steps into Eric Bana’s shoes as Dr. Bruce Banner here, but it’s his big, green alterego we all flocked to see — and he delivers in fistfuls. The picture is as sharp as Banner’s wits and the sound as powerful as Hulk, with a plethora of extras to match.
		Mission: Impossible III Blu-ray gives the perfect excuse to revisit the third and best of Tom Cruise’s outings as impossible mission specialist Ethan Hunt, with typically impressive stunts and set-pieces, a memorable turn by Philip Seymour Hoffman, and J. J. Abrams at the helm. Packed with extras, too.
		Transformers Few could deny the sheer entertainment value of Michael Bay’s shape-shifting robots, and Shia LaBeouf neatly humanises the battle. But it’s the amazing effects you’ll return to on Blu-ray — freeze-frame any image, and you can see a million dollars’ worth of rendering time.
		Top Gun For those with the need for speed, Tony Scott’s story of jets fuelled by pure testosterone remains quintessentially of the ’80s, a decade of high gloss sadly underrepresented by high-def transfers like this. The disc comes fully loaded too, its best feature a lengthy retrospective.
		Indiana Jones And The Kingdon Of The Crystal Skull Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg returned to the Indiana Jones franchise almost 20 years on, and proved they could still deliver the action where it counts. In high definition, Janusz Kaminski’s ’50s-style cinematography shines out, and the special effects — particularly in the last scenes — look flawless. Loads of extras, too.

		Staff Pick The Bourne Trilogy Chris Hewitt, West Coast Editor Matt Damon runs, runs and runs some more in Doug Liman and Paul Greengrass’ superior spy saga. On Blu-ray, the kinetic impact of Greengrass’ haky camerawork is enhanced, without displacing the emotional undercurrent to the non-stop action which makes this one of the finest trilogies ever.

The Dark Knight
It was the biggest film of the year, the biggest film in years, which might cause the uninitiated (both of them) to dismiss this as mere popcorn fodder. But the fact is that The Dark Knight is also one of the most dense, chewy and, yes, dark films ever to attain blockbuster status, making it worthy of examination time and time again at home. Christopher Nolan’s film makes Gotham City a character in the action, bringing to life a complete world in which Christian Bale’s Batman can operate. There’s a siege mentality here: even though Batman ventures as far as Hong Kong in this outing, there’s also a sense that Gotham’s on its own, with only its Dark Knight to protect it from Heath Ledger’s superlative psychopath, The Joker, and his chaos-fuelling schemes. As The Joker’s schemes rack up a significant body count among Batman’s allies, the drama grips tighter and you’ll find yourself hunched over the TV — but try to sit back, because Wally Pfister’s cinematography is rather wonderful. Admittedly, on very close examination there are a few plot-holes (The Joker’s plan demands near-omniscience), but it would take a true pedant to describe this as anything less than a triumph. With a transfer to die for, six IMAX scenes preserved in their initial ratio and copious extras, the bestselling Blu-ray of Christopher Nolan’s dark-as-balls masterpiece defines Batman and the hi-def format, making Burton’s Batman — and even Nicholson’s once-unassailable Joker — look almost as kitschly old-fashioned as the camp crusader of the ’60s.

		Spider-Man 3 A silly villain let down the first film, part two was the best… but Sam Raimi’s go-forbroke threequel has the special effects set-pieces Blu-ray loves. Ace extras include a commentary with Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire, plus featurette Covered In Black — Creating Venom.
		Hancock Unjustly overlooked on the big screen in the UK, there’s much to like about Will Smith’s incorrigible, drunk stupor-hero. Extras are exhaustive — including Superhumans: The Making Of Hancock, Building A Better Hero and an on-set visual diary — plus you get a Bonus View picture-in-picture track.
		Quantum Of Solace Daniel Craig returns as Bond in this back-to-basics outing with enough fast-paced action to give Jason Bourne a run for his money. The fantastic car chase at the beginning seems even faster and more thrilling in this excellent HD transfer.
		Wanted This hugely fun comicbook adaptation is unmistakably the work of Night Watch’s Timur Bekmambetov, with Angelina Jolie and James McAvoy adding Hollywood glamour. Enjoy dazzling effects and speakermelting sound, plus extras including a BD-Live feature which lets you record a commentary.
		Goldfinger ‘Painstaking’ doesn’t begin to describe the restoration process the Bond films underwent for 2006’s Ultimate Editions. Arguably the best of the older Bonds available on Blu-ray, Goldfinger’s pictures are so sharp you’d think the film was set in the ’60s, not made in the ’60s.
		King Kong Peter Jackson’s epic remake could have been made to show off Blu-ray’s benefits. A flawless transfer (Kong’s fur!), earthquake-inducing sound (the dinosaur stampede!) and the inclusion of the theatrical and extended versions (the latter with Jackson’s commentary) make this a must-buy.
		Hellboy II: The Golden Army The first Hellboy was cleverly cast, competently made and well-intentioned, but it was with Guillermo del Toro’s ambitious sequel that the world’s weirdest comic-book hero really came into his own. Unlike so many blockbusters, the superb special effects serve the story and characters rather than the other way round, and there are extras galore.
		Tropic Thunder It was probably the comedy stars in the cast that first drew you to Tropic Thunder — Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Steve Coogan — but it’s the fauxdramatics f Robert Downey Jr. and a revelatory comic performance from Tom Cruise that will make you come back again and again. And while this is of course a comedy film, the possibilities of Blu-ray are still clear to see: with every leaf in the jungle visible around the amateur soldiering, and a host of extras — including two cast and crew commentaries, Cruise’s make-up test, deleted scenes, footage of rehearsals, myriad behind-the-scenes featurettes and BD-Live content — this proves that war is good for something, after all.