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Aquaman | Blu-ray 4K Review
Aquaman – 2018
Warner Bros 2018
PG13 | 2hrs 23 mins | Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi
HD | 1080P | Dolby Atmos | Dolby TrueHD 7.1 | DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Upscaled 4K | 2160P | HDR10 | Dolby Vision | Dolby Atmos | Dolby TrueHD 7.1 | DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
2.4:1 | 1.78:1 Aspect Ratios
Staring: Jason Momoa | Amber Heard | Willem Dafoe | Patrick Wilson | Nicole Kidman | Dolph Lundgren
Directed by: James Wan
Ratings & Reviews
Please see here for my comments on reviewing movies.
My ratings are simple being marked out of a maximum of 5+. My reviews are biased towards the technical production aspects of the film with brief comments about the story line. Extras, sorry, that’s just not my ‘bag’.
Not having immersive audio yet, what did the 7.1 soundtrack sound like? Excellent in all respects, and the 4K HDR10 video? Truly STUNNING.
Entertainment: 5
Video: 5+
Audio: 5+
Technical Review – 4K UHD HDR10
Let me launch the review by saying that there are not enough superlatives in my arsenal to describe the video and audio content of this movie! Despite it being upconverted from a 2K digital intermediate, it is often a stunning visual and aural presentation and will impress anybody that enters your home theater.
Aquaman was shot digitally in the ARRIRAW codec at 3.4K using Arri Alexa Mini and SXT cameras. It was finished as a native 2K digital Intermediate, upsampled for this release, and graded for high dynamic range in both HDR10 and Dolby Vision. The base aspect ratio is 2.39:1, but most scenes were shot for IMAX exhibition. These open up to full 1.78:1 on this 4K UHD release to preserve that experience.
In terms of image quality, the clarity and sharpness are outstanding – better than most of my native 4K movies, including Mortal Engines and The Greatest Showman. The production uses HDR to its utmost capabilities together with the DCI-P3 color space. Every color of the rainbow is there, with all hues and saturations. Blacks are inky black, supporting tremendous shadow detail and no crush, while the peak whites showed stellar high level detail with no clipping. This resulted in images that at times are 3D in nature and my screen became a virtual window to the action. The level of detail in the costumes and props was outstanding bringing them to life and making them almost palpable. Skin tones, textures and details were all very natural and some of the best I have ever seen. Each filming locale provides its own distinct character and appearance; the murky underwater depths, the interiors at the home of Arthur’s father, sun-soaked Sicily and the Sahara Desert, the dark and foreboding Trench and of course, Atlantis. Grain, well on my system, Oppo 205 and JVC RS640, there was virtually none. The movie is a composite of both IMAX-framed sequences and 16:9. Running with a constant height lens projection system the changes between formats was never a visual distraction. CGI integration was outstanding and there were no signs of any up conversion or compression artifacts.
The movie is not perfect throughout, but what isn’t perfect, like a few CGI overlays and a little softening occasionally in undersea shots, can all be forgiven and ignored.
On my system, truly a top of the shelf reference level effort by Warner Bros.
Audio – Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Warner Bros continue to default to a somewhat redundant primary DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio Mix. This forces you to select the Dolby Atmos/True HD 7.1 track through the menu options. So far I have only auditioned Aquaman’s Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mix and it was as equally impressive as the video. This is a very dynamic, and at times aggressive, mix with lots of atmospheric effects and very good channel separation. The rear channels being used extensively to convey the feeling of being underwater and support various directional and atmospheric cues. Low frequency effects are there in bucketfuls. They are very extended, powerful and add tremendous weight to the gunfire and explosions while also supporting several sustained low frequency musical moments. The music soundtrack by Ruper Gregson-Wiiliams is clear and clean and is given top priority on a number of occasions, supporting both aggressive and more relaxed scenes equally well. Dialogue was always clear and detailed with solid front-center imaging and prioritization, even during the underwater scenes. There is nothing to criticize regarding this soundtrack, providing as it does, a top flight mix.
Story Overview
Don’t take this movie, or yourself, too seriously. It is a hyped up, over the top, set of action sequences with a nice sprinkle of comedic moments mostly played out underwater. Its visually stunning and a great cinematic experience, with Jason Momoa, a tremendously entertaining and likable character, leading the charge and cracking all the jokes.
Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) is a man born of two worlds; his father (Temuera Morrison), a human lighthouse keeper, his mother Atlanna (Nicole Kidman), the fleeing queen of Atlantis, who was washed up on a beach after a storm and rescued by his father. Their union spawned Arthur. Atlantis and its king sent soldiers to recover Atlanna, his betrothed. In order to save her son and husband, she reluctantly returns to her people. Time passes and Arthur, grows into a man with extraordinary strength, swimming ability and ability to communicate with sea life. Finding a life patrolling the oceans as “Aquaman” and protecting those in peril. After foiling a pirate attack on a Russian submarine he creates an enemy, the Black Manta (YahyaAbdul-Mateen II). Shorty afterwards a young Atlantian princess, Mera (Amber Heard) requests Aquaman’s help to save her people, where he meets his brother, Orm (Patrick Wilson). So starts the battle for the position of Ocean Master and ultimately the King of Atlantis.
Truly an astonishing looking and sounding movie. With tremendous entertainment value. Using HDR and the DCI-P3 color gamut to its fullest, it provides sensational eye popping candy and thunderous deep bass that gave my subs the best work out since the first opening 30 seconds of Live Die Repeat. It captures all the emotions within its 2 hours 23 minutes, fun, sadness, comedy, tension and above all, action and more action. I became so engrossed in the movie I hoped it would go on for many more hours.
You have to own this movie and view it for what it is, a pure piece of spectacular looking and sounding entertainment candy. The scripting, acting, production and compression to Blu-ray are probably just about as good as it gets for these comic book movies. It is now heading my demo movies and will be viewed numerous times. AND this is all from an unconverted 2K Intermediate….not even 4K native!
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