Plot Details: This opinion reveals no details about the movie's plot.

This New England Patriots Super Bowl XXXIX video is simply a must have for New England Patriots fans, despite some of its drawbacks.

This video is essentially an hour-long highlights reel of the New England Patriot’s 2004 season. It has highlights of each and every regular season and playoff game, and of course a more detailed highlights package of the Super Bowl itself. The video is interspersed with sound bites from player and coach interviews and the sidelines throughout the season.

The video does not do a great job of building drama throughout the regular season and the playoffs. But of course, there wasn’t all that much drama given New England only lost two games and went 14-2. It does, however, do a decent job spotlighting the impact of the regular season loss to Pittsburgh and the mounting injuries to the team’s defensive backs. It also does a good job of profiling Cory Dillon’s impact on the Patriot’s running game during the regular season and playoffs and gives Troy Brown’s defensive back play some much deserved airtime. Like last year, I wish the video had more highlights, more commentary, and more inside information. But overall, it was a mostly complete package.

The best part of the DVD was it has the entire international game broadcast on it. It is awesome to have the entire game on DVD as a keepsake, even though I also taped it on VHS. This year the announcers for that broadcast were Dick Stockton and Darryl Johnston, who I thought were excellent. It is without commercials, of course, and includes key statistics during the game and shots of fans and replays. It’s a surprising well-edited film of the game given the speed with which the DVD was produced.

The other special features included a number of pre and post game interviews with New England players and coaches, which were interesting but short. It also included the entire halftime show with Paul McCartney, which for me I could have cared less about but it will no doubt appeal to many others. I wonder why last year’s DVD didn’t include the halftime show? (Ha! Ha!)

I was very disappointed that the DVD did not include the ESPN NFL Match-Up analyzing the Super Bowl, which is really a fabulous breakdown of the game. That was a really big plus for last year’s Super Bowl XXXVIII DVD. But of course, this year’s Super Bowl was on Fox so they aren’t going to allow promotion of another network’s program.

Despite my quibbles with some aspects of the DVD, if you are a New England Patriots fan you will no doubt enjoy this more than once. I don’t think non-New England Patriots fans would like the DVD that much because it is essentially a highlights reel of the Patriot’s season and does not do any in-depth breakdown of the game or season that an avid football fan would be looking for.


Other New England Patriots Films:
NFL Super Bowl XXXVIII Champions – The New England Patriots
3 Games to Glory
3 Games to Glory II
3 Games to Glory III

Other NFL Super Bowl Films:
NFL Super Bowl XL Champions – Pittsburgh Steelers



Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up Ages 8