A Clockwork Orange 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

A Clockwork Orange 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Oof, right in the yarbles.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III September 17, 2021

Stanley Kubrick's extremely polarizing 1971 film A Clockwork Orange finally makes its debut on 4K UHD courtesy of Warner Bros., which follows their earlier 4K releases of Kubrick's 2001, The Shining, and Full Metal Jacket (conveniently bundled together in this set as well). Raw, visceral, and uncompromising, A Clockwork Orange is one of the worst date movies ever released by a major studio and still has the capacity to shock audiences five decades after its theatrical release, where it was banned in several countries including Ireland, Brazil, and the United Kingdom.

Needless to say, there's no middle ground here -- you either love or hate A Clockwork Orange, with opinions ranging from "sensationalist trash" to "a satirical masterpiece". (I lean much closer to the the second camp, although it's not my favorite film in the director's celebrated catalogue.) But one thing's for sure: A Clockwork Orange pulls almost no punches in its graphic depiction of youthful chaos and attempted rehabilitation as our anti-hero, young hoodlum Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell), undergoes aversion therapy to cure his violent, drug-fueled rampages.

For two separate synopses and appreciations of A Clockwork Orange, see our reviews of the 2007 Blu-ray and 2011 Digibook, respectively written by Ben Williams and Kenneth Brown. (Note that both earlier Blu-rays are nearly identical, with the main difference being the Digibook's deluxe packaging second disc of extras.) Below is a full technical review of Warner Bros.' new 4K edition, which also includes a Blu-ray identical to Disc 1 of the 2011 release.

A Clockwork Orange 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: The Blu-ray disc included with this release is identical to both the 2007 Blu-ray and 2011 Digibook, so I chose to include 1080p SDR screenshots for this review that were downsampled from the 4K disc. Although they obviously do not represent the full potential of the 4K's 2160p HDR transfer, they at least provide a general idea of its different color grading, better contrast levels, deeper blacks, and more robust film grain. Additionally, the first nine screenshots on this review are exact frame matches of images featured in Kenneth's review of the Digibook edition (linked above) which, when viewed side-by-side, should offer rudimentary evidence of these improvements. Long story short: if the visual differences between these two images aren't enough proof, I don't know what to tell you.

"A beautiful transfer of an ugly film." That's the best way to describe this new 4K edition of A Clockwork Orange, which was likely sourced from a restoration created around the time of the 2011 Digibook's release (but not included on that disc, for whatever reason). It's a fine upgrade that offers moderate to strong improvements in all key areas, the most obvious of which are color, density, and film grain. First, the color. It's important to remember that most DVD and early Blu-rays often featured incorrectly "warmed" palettes that, while pleasing to the eye in some cases, rarely represented a film's true theatrical appearance. It's no surprise, then, that A Clockwork Orange now employs a colder atmosphere overall, yet it still looks more natural when considering the locations and emotional temperature of specific moments. The infamous "aversion therapy" scene above, for example, now more closely resembles a movie theater's light, and the "droog" scene at the top no longer has a sickly greenish-blue tone. The HDR enhancement, while not overpowering, brings a nice boost to the era-specific architecture and interior decoration, which are as gaudy as ever.

But the most potent improvement comes in the form of overall density, a byproduct of its better film grain and contrast levels; again, look at this image from the old Blu-ray, which almost now reads more like a photo of a screen capture. The 4K's image is so much more even and well-balanced in its overall black and white levels that garish elements, like the regular harshness of interior light (usually from unfiltered bulbs), are handled substantially better this time around. Fine detail is much improved as well, with close-ups and wide shots alike now taking on a more film-like appearance without the waxy sheen of heavy noise reduction. Even A Clockwork Orange's darkest moments, such as the opening droog attack, look more natural when the artificial brightness of its older transfer is no longer applied.

Still, that "ugly film" remark remains valid: A Clockwork Orange makes use of unshowy, in-your-face compositions with frequently wide angles, which gives many frame edges a soft and slightly distorted quality that will never be razor-sharp. (And of course, there's the subject matter itself, which you often don't want to see any clearer.) But thanks to the strengths of Warner Bros.' new 4K transfer -- which also includes the removal of slight horizontal stretching, as well as the preservation of Kubrick's preferred 1.66:1 aspect ratio -- all that ugliness has never looked better.

A Clockwork Orange 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sadly, most of that visual excitement goes right out the window when listening to the 4K's new DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track, which is unfortunately not a direct port of the older Blu-ray's mix. Much like Warner Bros.' recent 4K release of The Shawshank Redemption, the front three channels have been boosted significantly and high ends sound extremely harsh at times, with dialogue mostly taking the brunt of this unfortunate new downgrade. (It's much more noticeable than Shawshank because this is most definitely not a well-budgeted and methodical drama.) While that older surround track didn't exactly offer many notable improvements over its original one-channel source -- even adding in trace amounts of ambient noise to several scenes -- I'd take it any day of the week over this remix, which may test the sonic patience of even the film's most forgiving fans. At times, it really does sound that bad and, while dialing back the volume (or adjusting specific levels on your receiver) may alleviate the most immediate problems, we really shouldn't have to do that. Needless to say, my ears will be on high alert during future WB catalog releases.

So why doesn't the audio get even worse marks? As with Full Metal Jacket, Warner Bros. had the good sense to quietly include a mono track as well... and while it's barely DVD quality at 192Kbps, this option sounds immediately better in comparison to the 5.1 mix. It's not even close at times: dialogue and sound effects no longer suffer from a harsh high end, which were already pretty strained to begin with, and overall balance is better too. There are far fewer whiffs of gauzy, crackling distortion that plage most of the dialogue and Alex's voice-over narration. Although the jury's still out on whether this is a downmix or the original mono track, I can safely say I didn't hear any egregious ambient noise -- I'll admit to not being an expert when it comes to A Clockwork Orange's sonic legacy, but I'll gladly update this section if needed. But one fact remains: even with the "bonus" of original audio, this 4K edition could have certainly used more spit and polish in this department. It looks nice, sure... but picture quality is only half of the equation.

A Clockwork Orange 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with hypnotic cover artwork, a matching reflective slipcover, and a Digital Copy redemption slip. The bonus features (listed below in name only) are identical to both previous releases, with the only exemptions being two feature-length documentaries exclusive to the Digibook edition's bonus disc. All can be found on the Blu-ray disc only, although the audio commentary is helpfully repeated on the 4K disc as well.

• Audio Commentary - featuring Malcolm McDowell and the late, great Nick Redman.

• Still Tickin': The Return of A Clockwork Orange (44 minutes)

• Great Bolshy Yarblockos! Making A Clockwork Orange (28 minutes)

• Turning Like Clockwork (26 minutes)

• Malcolm McDowell Looks Back (11 minutes)

• Theatrical Trailer (1 minute)

A Clockwork Orange 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange is a harsh, harrowing, visceral, beast of a film that's often celebrated but I wouldn't blame anyone for being completely repulsed by it. Yet even its most die-hard opponents should respect the uncompromising nature of its subject matter, which was enough to get it outright banned in several countries shortly after its theatrical release. The film has earned a handful of solid home video editions over the years including a 2007 Blu-ray and 2011 Digibook, and this new 4K UHD release ups the ante with a stunning new 2160p transfer and most of the legacy extras. The audio is a different story: while it's nice to have a mono track (albeit lossy), the default 5.1 mix is a downgrade from the Blu-ray with boosted front channels that make most of the dialogue sound unnaturally harsh. It's tough to recommend for this reason, although anyone happy with the mono mix won't find it a problem.