Review: Home entertainment

CD
Britney Spears: Circus
3/5

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Britney’s albums as just music releases.

They’re now soundtracks to the life of Britney the Troubled Mother, Britney the Paparazzi Target and Britney the Unstable, characters we see every day in our supermarket tabloids and gossip columns.

The former teen queen continues this dialogue with the press and fans on Circus, the next step in her pop rehabilitation following last year’s Blackout.

Both Kill the Lights and If U Seek Amy address her creepy relationship with her public, delivered in lip-curled R&B techno-snippets with all the slickness that big money can buy.

Single Womaniser is the sort of jumpy electronic floor-filler that an on-form Britney is capable of spitting out, putting her back in the exact spot she needs to be to cash in on her target market.

She’s not too hot at the ballads, but she can certainly warm up a dancefloor.
John Hill

DVD
Hancock (15)
3/5

Hancock would have been a great character for a sketch show.

The concept of a moody, drunken superhero is pretty intriguing for starters, and the clips from this movie’s trailer were among the funniest of the year.

Will Smith is a superb fit for the role of the flawed hero, who spends his days annoying more citizens than he saves with his bad attitude and alarming talent for collateral damage.

When a PR agent makes it his mission to improve his image, Smith becomes a grumpy but super strong Eliza Doolitle.

Sadly, movies need more than just good ideas. They need a plot, and most importantly an ending. So while Hancock sets off out of the blocks like a speeding bullet, but it gets a bit of a stitch halfway and slows to a confused amble.

An unexpected plot twist proves to be the kryptonite for this caper, and by the time the ending rolls around, you’ll wish the film had stopped after the first half hour or so.
John Hill

GAME
Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe
3/5

Of all the curious crossovers in fighting game land, this one’s the oddest.

Mortal Kombat Vs DC Universe is the only game where you’ll fight Sub Zero vs Batman and Scorpion vs Superman – making this a 1990s geeky wet dream come to life.

Combat is typical MK – fast, chunky and full of special moves, but not as fluid as the likes of Soul Calibur. It lacks the weapon styles of previous 3D MK offerings, which accommodates the DC characters nicely.

Fatalities have been made less graphic, and the DC Heroes have Heroic Brutalities instead.

This may disappoint MK fans somewhat, but seeing Batman decapitate someone just wouldn’t have felt right. Besides, because they are now more realistic, the various snappings and stabbings are far more disturbing.

The main draw here is story mode – which brings the franchises together with a laughable plot about realms colliding.

It’s daft as they come, but good fun – and with great vs play and brilliant net code too, this has ended up one of the year’s surprise hits.
Mark Scott, GAME