War of the Worlds – 4K Blu-ray Review
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Paramount Pictures | 2005
PG13 | 1hrs 56 min | Sci-Fi | Thriller | Action | Adventure
HD | 1080P | DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Native 4K | 2160P | HDR10 | Dolby Vision | Dolby Atmos | Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
Staring: Tom Cruise | Dakota Fanning | Miranda Otto | Justin Chatwin | Tim Robbins | Rick Gonzalez
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
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 7.1 soundtrack sound like? Acceptable in most respects, and the native 4K HDR10 video? A definite improvement over the 2010 HD release.
Entertainment: 4+
Video: 4+
Audio: 4+
Originally released in 1953 this is another flash-back to the past with this native 4K rescan of the 2005 Tom Cruise remake. This 4K version was originally released May 2020.
NOTE: This disc takes an extraordinarily long time to load and to react to menu selections including play (>30secs). No other disc in my entire collection take anything approaching this long so do not despair if nothing seems to be happening for a while.
Technical Review – Native 4K UHD HDR10
War of the Worlds was shot on 35mm photochemical film using Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL cameras with Panavision Primo Lenses in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. This 15th Anniversary Ultra HD release, is a new scan and restoration of the original camera negative producing a 4K Digital Intermediate which was then graded for high dynamic range in both Dolby Vision and HDR10. The image is generally quite sharp and well defined and shows no obvious compression artifacts, having a notable improvement in detail over the 2010 HD Blu-ray release which tended to have a “muddy” appearance on occasions. This can clearly be seen in virtually all scenes from the close-up shots of faces that show good detail and skin tones to the plane crash debris. Fine film grain is clearly observable in most of the scenes but is well controlled and not too objectionable.
While this 4K release provides a more refined-looking image with better detailing it still retains the intended very “gritty” appearance. Colors are more vibrant than before like those of Rachel’s winter apparel, the clothing of the crowd where the lightning struck and Ray’s green living room wallpaper, but this is hardly a “colorful” movie, still tending towards monochromatic with a forbidding dark look.
Blacks are deep and mostly noise free, supported by adequate low level detail. Peak whites provided good detail with no obvious clipping, especially the lightning strikes, providing a good dynamic range.
Despite other reviewers comments I did not find this image close to reference quality, and in many ways is one of the poorer images from my entire 4K collection, be they native or up-converted. Never the less, it was still an enjoyable evenings viewing and should please all fans of this film.
Audio – Dolby TrueHD 7.1
War of the Worlds includes a new Dolby Atmos mix that defaults to Dolby TrueHD 7.1 in my system. This 7.1 mix has a wide sound stage and detailed surround effects, which abounds with atmosphere especially during the quieter moments, but really heating up during some of the more impactful action moments. Action sequences provide reasonable punch from the aliens weapons, lightning strikes and intense explosions. Effects placement are accurate and natural, with movement in both the rear and side surrounds and various atmospheric effects consistently pull you into the various locals and environments.
Sub action certainly makes itself known during the action sequences, explosions and deadly destruction rampages, with a solid but not over extended bottom end that just lacks punch. Dialogue is always clear and detailed with solid front-center imaging and prioritization.
I cannot comment on the immersive mix but the resulting 7.1 mix down just didn’t match the stellar dynamics, excellent extended LF action and reference quality of the original 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix on the HD release. What is missing here is sonic impact, the dynamic range is present but there is insufficient muscular push and power.
Despite my above concern the soundtrack is still enjoyable and compliments the movie well.
Story Overview
The original, The War of the Worlds, is a 1953 American science fiction film from Paramount Pictures, produced by George Pal, directed by Byron Haskin, and starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It is an adaptation of the 1898 novel of the same name by H. G. Wells.
Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) is a New Jersey dockworker who is struggling to make ends meet. When his ex-wife Mary Ann (Miranda Otto) drops off their two children, his teenage son Robbie (Justin Chatwin) and their 10-year-old daughter Rachel (Dakota Fanning) for the weekend. With family relationships a little strained Ray, not the best father figure, promises to take good care of the children. As lightning repeatedly strikes Rays neighborhood shorting out all electronics and closing down communications, increased stress is put on the relationship between these three. Ray decides to go and see what is happening when suddenly a monstrous mechanical “tripod” erupts from the ground and begins destroying everything in sight with its beam weapon. Barely escaping with his life Ray must now find a way to save his children from what appears to be a planet-wide alien invasion that is intent to annihilate everything in their path, and take them to Boston where Mary Ann and her parents are waiting.
My 2 cents
Its probably fair to say that this 4K release of the 2005 remake is probably as good as this movie will now look and sound, just a pity that Paramount didn’t excel in the sound department to!
The original 1953, The War of the Worlds, won an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and went on to influence other science fiction films. In 2011, it was selected for the United States’ National Film Registry in the Library of Congress, being deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
If you are a fan of this movie then there are several versions of the 1953 movie still available from the original DVD of the 1953 version that I still own, to its restored and highly prised 4K scan by Criterion that was released as an HD 1080P Blu-ray with a new DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 mix.
