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Fantastic Beasts-The Crimes of Grindelwald – Blu-ray 4K Review
Fantastic Beasts-The Crimes of Grindelwald – Blu-ray 4K Review
Warner Bros 2018
PG13 | 2hrs 14 mins | 2hrs 22mins | Action | Adventure
HD | 1080P | Dolby Atmos | Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Native 4K | 2160P | HDR10 | Dolby Vision | Dolby Atmos | Dolby TrueHD 7.1
2.39:1 Aspect Ratio
Staring: Eddie Redmayne, Johnny Depp, Ezra Miller, Jude Law, Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler
Directed by: David Yates
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? Enjoyable, and the 4K HDR10 video? Very good.
Entertainment: 5-
Video:5-
Audio: 5-
Technical Review – 4K UHD HDR10
The Crimes of Grindelwald was shot digitally on Arri Alexa 65 cameras in 6.5K with the digital intermediates at 4K. Presented in its original production value of almost 2.4:1 it is often a excellent visual presentation despite its overall dark production values.
This is an impressive 4K presentation with excellent clarity and sharpness throughout, especially in the brighter scenes. There is enormous detail that abounds in many of the shots from costume fabrics to buildings and the London fog, which was superbly handled with no artifacts at all. Some closeups bordering on three-dimensional. Colors are well saturated as seen in the Circus Arcanus and the dragon scenes. Skin tones and textures are very realistic showing great detail including pores, hairs and makeup. CGI integration was excellent and digital imperfections such as compression artifacts, black crush, noise and banding are essentially absent. Black levels were solid with good shadow detail and there was no white crush resulting in an overall respectable dynamic range. Despite many dark scenes there is a good range of dark blues and grays intertwined with a subtle range of varied colors keeping them from becoming overley dark and flat. Overall a good looking movie.
NOTE: An Extended Cut of the film is also advertised, but it’s only redeemable via the Digital Copy code. It is listed as being approximately 7 minutes longer than the theatrical version.
Audio – Dolby TrueHD 7.1
The Crimes of Grindelwald defaults to a Dolby Atmos presentation that unfolds to a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mix in my system. Even though a little ‘polite’ and lacking in impactfull dynamics, this is good sounding movie that compliments the video. Having plenty of surround activity from the bustling streets and crowds to swirling spells and mystical creature sounds. The James Newton music score carried the movie well providing a full and dynamic presence as required by the action. Dialogue was crisp, clear and detailed with solid front-center imaging, prioritization and presence. No lip-sync issues were noted. Despite some heavy action sequences that could have benefitted from more sub action, the LFE effects were good enough to carry the movie.
Story Overview
This is the tenth film in J.K. Rowlings ‘Wizarding Film’ saga. It continues the adventure of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne), a shy British wizard from the prequel Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. After being confined to prison by the Magical Congress of the USA in the prequel, Gellert Grindelwald (Johnny Depp) escapes his bonds during a transfer to stand trial in London for his crimes, and flees to Paris, Europe. Gathering around him, he begins to amass an army of pure blood wizards that he wants to use to establish control over all the non-magics and muggles. The Ministry of Magic begs Newt to help stop Grindelwald by locating the Obscurial, Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), who Grindelwald believes is the only person that can help him kill his equal Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law). He refuses to help, so they despatch Auror Grimmson (Ingvar Sigurrdson) instead. Albus Dumbledore knowing of Grindlewalds plans manages to enlists the help of Newt and his friends to help track the Obscurial down. So starts the saga to find Grindelwald to capture or destroy him before he can do harm.
As with the previous movie, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, I found this an entertaining nights viewing. Despite the darker nature of many scenes, it looks and sounds very good, has some impressive visual effects and doesn’t ‘drag’. I also thought that Grindelwalds character, in particular, provided an excellent performance, as did many of the supporting characters. So it looks like we are in for the long haul here to see how the saga plays out, apparently there are to be another three films to bring this story to its conclusion.
