Thor: Love and Thunder – 4K Review
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Disney/Buena Vista | 2022
PG13 | 1hrs 58 min | Fantasy | Sc-Fi | Comic Book | Action | Adventure
HD | 1080P | DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
Native 4K | 2160P | Dolby Vision | HDR10 | Dolby Atmos | Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Aspect Ratio 2.39:1
Staring: Chris Hemsworth | Natalie Portman | Christian Bale | Tessa Thompson | Jaimie Alexander | Taika Waititi
Directed by: Taika Waititi
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’.
So what did the 4K HDR10 video look like? Excellent/reference, and the 7.1 soundtrack? Good but not reference.
Entertainment: 4+
Video: 5
Audio: 4
Technical Review – Native 4K UHD HDR10
Thor: Love and Thunder was captured digitally in the ARRIRAW codec at 4.5K by cinematographer Barry Idoine using Arri Alexa LF and Mini LF cameras with Panavision Ultra Vista and Vintage 65 lenses together with Panaspeed lenses. It was finished as a 4K Digital Intermediate at the 2.39:1 aspect ratio and graded for HDR for this 4K release in both Dolby Vision and HDR10. This dual-layer BD66 disc has been well authored and shows no excessive use of noise reduction or edge sharpening and no obvious compression artifacts or significant noise. The package also contains the HD version with DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 and a redeemable digital code.
This movie is really colorful and bright and with the film being shot at such a high resolution format, this 4K release has excellent overall image clarity and plenty of crisp, sharp detail with refined texturing. Although occasionally the image looked just a little soft or even up-converted from 2K, which it isn’t. Clothing, threads and facial close-ups provide very good detail and definition. From the intricate designs of the various costumes to the hair of the duo goats. Facial pores, stubble, wrinkles, eyelashes, hair strands and features are all accurately rendered without any undue exaggerations. Skin tones look wonderfully natural, particularly Bale’s character. Heavy-duty CGI and special effects integration are generally very good, having realistic textures, blending well with the real action shots and rarely looking soft. Effects like explosions, flying objects, debris and smoke are well integrated into the live action with few distractions.
Deep inky blacks abound throughout, were noise free, and showed excellent low level and shadow detail as found in the numerous space shots, the night attack on Asgard and various room scenes. With peak whites and overall highlights providing clean detail with no obvious clipping, from lightning and fires to the dazzling specular highlights off metallic gold and silver costume surfaces. All creating a very good dynamic contrast range and enhancing visibility of objects in both interior and exterior shots, creating a good depth of image with an impressive three-dimensional quality.
The color palette here has gone from a neutral and serious tone to a wild world filled with rainbow colors. Color fidelity is excellent throughout with vivid and well saturated primaries and secondaries, all having good color depth and density, hues are bold and vibrant. Virtually every color of the rainbow appears at some point in the movie. The color palette leaps off the screen and is full of bold and rich reds, electric blues, greens, purples, bold yellows and brilliant metallic golds and silvers. With the colors inside Zeuss’s realm, the rainbow spectrum of the Bifrost, the pastels from the opening Guardians alien planet and the various costumes and capes, all being wonderfully captured.
This image is excellent on all fronts, providing an terrific HDR10 reference image.
Audio – Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Thor: Love and Thunder arrives with a Dolby Atmos mix that defaults to Dolby TrueHD 7.1 in my system. I found the soundtrack quite engaging, particularly during all action scenes with moderately good bass and average dynamics. NOTE: Once again I had to raise my level, this time by +8dB to overcome the usual Disney audio afflictions. Even with this help the track is not ideal for audiophiles and is in typical Disney fashion a little flat and even sounds compressed at times. All causing me to check to see if my night mode or compression had become activated in the Denon or Oppo respectively, but they were not.
The overall sound presentation is moderately dynamic, with good surround action but sub par LFE involvement. The soundstage is wide, and surrounds are constantly active with ambience, directional cues and movement delivering an active environment that drops the listener both into calm environments and action-packed sonic spectacles alike. Effects placement are accurate and natural, with plenty of movement in both the rear and side surrounds, together with the general environmental and room acoustics effects consistently pulling you into the many locals and environments, like the acoustics of Zeus’s temple. From panned screaming goats, spaceships and debris flying around, explosions, guns blasting, general chaos and mayhem, shouts and screams, Thor’s electricity hitting its opponents and the end battle with Gorr, to quieter moments with subtle ambient effects like the whispers from the Necrosword in the oasis. All fill the surrounds pulling you into the scene and keeping you engaged at all times.
Even at an elevated level, the sub action is mediocre, having no serious, low-end, hard hitting extension that this movie deserves. It’s definitely present but it doesn’t do justice to the movie whether supporting the popular 80s tunes and 80s inspired score or the general chaos of the action and battle sequences. However, at the elevated level it does provide reasonable support for the many action sequences; from Zeus’s lightning bolts, Thor’s electricity, explosions, general chaos and mayhem and collapsing structures. Imaging continuously feels broad and expansive following the action as it moves on and off-screen. Dialogue is always crystal clear and well detailed with solid front-center imaging and prioritization, providing good clarity and detail no matter how loud and aggressive the action.
Flushing out the soundscape and supporting the movie throughout its entire length, the films score, composed by Michael Giacchino and Nami Melumad offers a somewhat less than stellar mix, whether talking about the 80’s inspired score or the popular 80’s tunes. Hitting a good balance between the dialogue and effects the score provides a light spill into the surrounds and good integration within the soundstage
A mediocre sound track that doesn’t do justice to the reference class video.
Story Overview
A Galactic killer known as Gorr (Christian Bale) the God Butcher, has just lost his daughter but not his faith. When his god dashes his hope for eternal reward the vengeful Gorr sets out to destroy all gods using the powerful god-slaying Necrosword. Coming out of retirement to combat the threat, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) who unknown to Thor is dying of cancer. To Jane’s surprise the shattered Mjolnir calls to her and she is endowed with the ability to yield this magical hammer just as the “Mighty Thor”, giving her health back temporarily. This now mighty team launches themselves into a cosmic adventure discovering the mysteries of Gorr’s anger and stopping him before it is too late.
My 2 cents
As a casual MCU fan and after thoroughly enjoying Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, I hoped that this movie would be just as entertaining, well it almost met my expectations. Good action and cinematography with a simple story line but a lame script. Taika Waititi’s attempt to make this movie “funny” and add laughs made it feel a little like a pantomime and a bit camp! Overall an enjoyable, entertaining and colorful movie that was complimented by reference class video and mediocre audio. I would think that most Marvel fans will enjoy this movie. The question is, will Jane magically return?
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