Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

2012 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

At last, Sony has released Director Roland Emmerich's 2009 effects-laden Disaster epic '2012' to the UHD format. New specifications include 2160p/HDR video and Dolby Atmos audio. The UHD disc includes a couple of new extras: a Discovery Channel feature and a slew of trailers for the film. The two bundled Blu-ray discs are essentially identical but Sony has dropped some of the ancillary stuff like previews for older Blu-ray releases and the long abandoned MovieIQ functionality.

2012 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

In terms of absolute UHD excellence 2012 does not reach the format's pinnacle, but Sony has nevertheless delivered another very strong, highly capable UHD that amplifies the material for home viewing. The 2160p resolution and the HDR color spectrum both do their thing to make for a more satisfying and complete watch. The HDR colors make the biggest difference and the changes are readily apparent in direct comparison with the Blu-ray. Color temperature is oftentimes dramatically altered, bringing a firmer, darker, deeper spectrum to the screen. This is not a fundamental changing of the guard but still a significant alteration to tonal output. Color depth is the big takeaway here as the full array finds more realistic output with improved saturation, more readily apparent nuance in both gradations and large splash output, even in the dense and complex visual effects where even flashing lights or fires seen at great distance and dwarfed by surrounding chaos present with ample color output and accuracy. High intensity explosions burst with excellent luminance and color punch to burning reds and oranges. Blacks are much deeper, too, and this is a fairly dark movie as it is so low light elements are only rendered more dense and enveloping. Meanwhile, flesh tones are solid within any scene's lighting parameters.

Picture clarity is improved as well. The image is very clean and efficient. Grain is actually a little less amplified compared to the Blu-ray but still consistent and flattering, though certainly the screen can often be so densely packed with digital effects that it's not always so obvious save for stable close-ups or any scene that is not as much a product of digital amplification as it is real life footage. Detail uptick is obvious, too. There's quite a significant boost to fine object sharpness in play, including grasses and trees in outdoor scenes around Yellowstone (which look comparatively smeary on the Blu-ray) but also on core facial features where pores and hairs and all of the usual suspects enjoy well improved textural yield. The picture is free of print wear and encode artifacts. This is a good UHD image. That said, the picture often looks flat and artificial, sometimes even too smooth, yet still very capable. It doesn't rival the format's best, largely due to the movie's innate appearance which often masks the more obvious textures in low light and digital wizardry, but fans will be pleased, overall, with Sony's workmanship on this one.

2012 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Blu-ray's 5.1 lossless soundtrack was legendary, but Sony's Dolby Atmos track improves on it a great deal. While the core excellence for clarity and intensity remain, the added channels are a major help in more fully immersing the listener in the movie. Rainfall in the opening moments is full and filling with tangible immersion and overhead content. The rattling elevator to follow likewise bumps and creaks all around the listener. Steam releases behind and above the listener. Voices lightly reverberate around the stage. The location opens up with seamless spacing and definition. A helicopter flyover at the 18-minute mark offers more impressive overhead content, but the track, of course, lives and dies by the action scenes. Not only do they live, they thrive. The sense of pinpoint placement precision simply cannot be beat as buildings collapse, music swells, and the end of days din envelops the listener with awesome stage command. The feel for accuracy to every example of chaos is uncanny; listeners are effortlessly and fully transported into a speeding limo or a plane zigging and zagging around, above, and below debris of all shapes and sizes. The track is best described as "controlled chaos." With its spatial supremacy, unbeatable clarity, and unstoppable low end add, every such scene is a treat. Add in faultless dialogue reproduction and there's nothing more to say. It's perfect and this is the way Popcorn movie soundtracks should be.

2012 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

2012's UHD disc includes two new special features. The two Blu-ray discs -- one feature film plus supplements, the second additional supplements -- return all of the core extras from the 2010 Blu-ray release. Below is coverage of the new content and a listing of the carryover extras. For full Blu-ray supplemental content review, please click here. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

UHD Disc:

• Discovery Channel's 2012 Apocalypse (1080p, 43:50): The Discovery Channel takes an in-depth look at the scenarios, prophecies, and predictions for 2012 and asks the ultimate question: "is the end of life lurking just around the corner?" While the various theories explored in the program didn't come to pass, it's still a fun little exercise in dramatic predictions of doom. The piece features dramatic narration, interviews, and plenty of clips from 2012.
• Trailers (1080p): Included are Theatrical Trailer 1 (1:16), Theatrical Trailer 2 (2:51), Theatrical Trailer 3 (2:32), Theatrical Trailer 4 (1:24), International Trailer A (2:32), and International Trailer B (1:02).

• Audio Commentary
• Picture-in-Picture: Roland's Vision
• Alternate Ending

• Interactive Mayan Calendar
• Mysteries of the Mayan Calendar
• Deleted Scenes
• Designing the End of the World
• Roland Emmerich: The Master of the Modern Epic
• Science Behind the Destruction
• The End of the World: The Actor's Perspective
• "Time for Miracles" Music Video by Adam Lambert
• Making the Music Video "Time for Miracles" with Adam Lambert
• Countdown to the Future

2012 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The year 2012 came with much end-times prophecy and fanfare and went without much really happening to put an end to the world as we know it. So, unless the Mayans weren't quite so spot-on with their calendars as everyone was led to believe, they probably just ran out of room, or lost interest, in Project Calendar. But the date was an excuse for Roland Emmerich to do his thing: blow stuff up, topple buildings, and build one of the best examples of the effects-laden, character-sprawl Disaster epics cinema has ever seen. The movie is imperfect but it's a perfect example of its genre. Speaking of "perfect," Sony's UHD isn't quite there in the video department (though its close) but the audio most certainly is flawless. This three-disc set includes some new extras and all of the carryover material from 2009. Highly recommended.