V for Vendetta

In the comic book world, a few writers stand out. Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, and of course Alan Moore. The Watchmen, probably one of the seminal miniseries in all of comic-book-dom, was the brainchild of Moore. V for Vendetta was really my introduction to Moore and stands as one of my favorite miniseries. The fact that they publicized this movie as "from the creators of the Matrix" really did a disservice, in my opinion. Knowing the comic, I knew that it wasn't very action-oriented but I think that people may have gone into the movie thinking that it was going to be another action-fest. What they got was probably one of the most thought provoking movies (featuring a masked hero) ever. The fact that V is called throughout the movie by friends and foe alike a terrorist, really creates in the viewer a type of conflict. We want to like V because he is fighting the good fight but the title terrorist is associated with so many negative acts in recent history that you can't help but question your desire to empathize with him. Moore has categorically refused to lend his name to any more of the movie adaptations of his works citing that it is too painful "[t]o see a line of dialogue or a character that I have poured that much emotional involvement into, to see them casually travestied and watered down and distorted."

The Panasonic's rendition of this particular movie I felt to be somewhat lackluster. While colors and detail was once again impeccable, the amount of noise in the picture was a little distracting. I don't remember having these problems with the TH-50PH8UK. It was especially evident at the beginning of the movie where V saves Evey from the Fingermen. The scene is set on a dark, foggy night and the whole background looked a bit pixilated.

The Matador

In an almost unprecedented move, my wife decided to watch yet another movie with me (2 in a month, much less a week, is cause for celebration). I happened to have The Matador in from Netflix. I didn't know much about this movie only that I heard or read somewhere that it was pretty good. I'm not sure what kind of movie this is supposed to be (comedy, drama, action) but I liked it. Usually, three movies in a review like this would be enough but I had to include The Matador because of the colors. God, I sound like a drug addict, "Man, everything was so greeeeeeeeeeeen!" The backgrounds in the movie were some of the most colorful that I've ever seen. The hotel that Peirce Brosnan and Greg Kineer stay at in Mexico stands out. Lots and lots of yellows. Blues and greens in the bar. A pink wall that absolutely glowed. The TH-50PH9UK's ability to display vibrant colors cannot be adequately described in words or pictures. Every five minutes or so I'd hear my self saying, "Man, would you look at that wall?!"

Burn-in

Once again I had little problems with this panel with burn in. I didn't put it through the 6 hour World Cup torture test that I did the TH-50PHD8UK but I did a fair amount of viewing which included bars at the top or sides of the screen. The newer display seemed just as resistant to burn in as its older brother. One thing that I did notice is when the unit was set to Dynamic (which maxes out its brightness), I saw a bit of residual image from any white test. Specifically, from the menu of the Escient Fireball DVDM-300 . Once I dialed the unit back to Standard, which only moves the Picture setting down from 30 to 25, these effects all but disappeared. I don't recommend pushing this or any plasma to its limits (and if you do, let the screensaver run for a while to clear out any residual image) but in casual viewing, you should be OK.

Conclusions and Overall Perceptions

Once again, Panasonic has scored with the TH-50PH9UK. Sporting a fantastic picture with colors to be seen to believed, this plasma would make a worthy addition to any home theater. As long as it is paired with a high quality source such as an upconverting DVD player, you'll have to beat your friends off with a stick come movie night. One of the real joys of this unit is the absolute sleekness of it. No speakers, no unnecessary molding, it is just a piece of glass framed in dark grey. Everything you want in a monitor and nothing you don't.