Spartacus in high-definition

Spartacus is the second Kubrick film to be released on HD-DVD, after Full Metal Jacket. The good news is that, unlike Full Metal Jacket, the HD-DVD version preserves the film's original aspect ratio (2.21:1). The HD-DVD 5.1 soundtrack is also reasonably faithful to the original, as theatrical prints had six-channel sound (again, unlike Full Metal Jacket, transferred from mono to 5.1). There are no extras on the disc at all - surprising given the plethora on Criterion's DVD, especially considering Criterion subsequently licensed their extras to Universal for DVD.