5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mixed feelings about this set, September 19, 2009
This review is from: Athens 2004 Olympic Games (DVD)
Disc 1 is the entire opening ceremony; disc 4 is the entire closing ceremony. One of the other 2 is general highlights; the last is Greek athlete highlights (I did not watch it).
These were done by a Greek company, so the English subtitles leave something to be desired. They are also very distracting and too fast to read at times; they also obscure what is going on. I strongly advise that they be turned off. You don't need them, since the announcements are done in Greek, French, and English anyway, and you don't need to know what the Greek commentators are saying, anyway (see below). Even if you have difficulty hearing, you don't need them: they don't identify the various cultures represented, etc., so all you would miss would be the welcoming speeches.
The commentators were all too often disrespectful. They would continue to talk while announcements and other things were said by people involved; they belittled several nations and ignored others. Thankfully, one can turn off the commentary also, and I highly recommend that you do so.
The highlights could have been two hours instead of one, but at least they included often-overlooked events such as shooting and equestrian, as well as all types of cycling. And, they did include "my Olympic moment" when Paul Hamm was mentally/emotionally stunned by his fall, but courageously finished the competition and came back to win the gold (they showed the fall and then his amazing final routine).
If you really enjoyed the opening ceremonies and found the living-art depictions of the various cultures to be excellent (they were extremely accurate "reconstructions" of paintings and sculpture), you will enjoy the set (so long as you turn off subtitles and commentary). If you love Greek contemporary culture, you will enjoy the closing ceremony (ditto re: subtitles and commentary). If your focus was strictly the sporting events themselves, you will find this set disappointing since only about 60 minutes out of the 502 are general highlights (plus another 60 of Greek highlights).
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