Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

All Quiet on the Western Front 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Bavarian pretzel logic.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III March 20, 2023

Doomed to stand in the long. looming shadow of Lewis Milestone's 1930 Best Picture winner (and possibly Delbert Mann's 1979 made-for-TV version, depending on your personal preference), this new big-budget German-language adaptation of Erich Remarque's classic anti-war novel -- which may forever be nicknamed "the Netflix version" -- has quickly racked up a dizzying amount of critical success in just a few short months, including nine Oscar nominations and four wins. But whether or not you think this version is any good will ultimately hinge on what you want out of a widescreen war epic: character development and a coherent story, or just booms, blood, and guts.

Its story, of course, concerns young WWI soldier Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer), whose hopeful demeanor changes when faced with the realities of life on the front lines. This adaptation hastily trades in Paul's thoughtful observations and his detachment from post-war civilian life for tonal detours and a heavy influence on horrific battle sequences, diminishing the presence of certain characters (such as Kantorek, a nationalist teacher who initially convinces Paul and his friends to enlist) while changing events and deaths wholesale, the most egregious of which supplants the entire meaning of its title. This is still a visceral experience and maintains an anti-war stance, yet its obvious awards-season appeals cripple a film that should have either been more faithful to its source or renamed entirely.

Was Remarque's book violent and emotionally devastating? Yes, but it told Paul Bäumer's story from a more intimate and effective vantage point, with much more fleshed-out character development and substantially more heart. There's also the fact that it arrived long before the deluge of war stories committed to celluloid: countless films, mostly from Saving Private Ryan onward, have beaten us over the head with reminders that "war is hell" by way of severed limbs, eviscerated torsos, stabbing sprees that end in throat-gurgling suffocations, and entire bodies that all but vaporize into powder in the wake of room-rattling explosions. (We get it already, people.) Yet most of these films at least feature three-dimensional characters instead of blank faces covered by helmets, which means we can at least care about the lives lost rather than experience a vaguely sobering but short-lived numbness. I mean, what self-respecting American hasn't already been at least partially desensitized to on-screen violence well before high school?

I'm only half-joking, of course, because all this is a roundabout way of saying that Netflix's All Quiet on the Western Front is, despite its fully German dialogue, probably the most American adaptation of its source material to date. (And that includes the obvious Oscar bait, which actually seemed to work.) But I'll at least extend an olive branch and admit that, despite its overall failure to capture the emotional meaning of the story it's based on, this is clearly a competently made film with strong technical merits and a few admittedly great moments. Yet like its protagonist and others who have fallen victim to The War Machine™, it ironically ends up lost in a pile of similar looking genre fare.

Nonetheless, MPI's dual-format 4K/Blu-ray edition is an impressive package and will surely satisfy fans of the film as well as audio-videophiles, with its outstanding technical presentation and a decent little collection of extras featuring input from writer-director Edward Berger and other key members of the cast and crew. Even its packaging makes this film look damn important, both in its slick overall aesthetic and curiously oversized dimensions.

All Quiet on the Western Front 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: This review's screenshots are sourced from the included Blu-ray disc.

There's no reason why this recent big-budget project shouldn't absolutely shine on 4K: its only competition is Netflix's streaming version, where viewers were likely wowed by its special effects and production design while casually ignoring all of those compression artifacts. The film gets its due on MPI's excellent 2160p, HDR10-enhanced transfer, which has been encoded onto a full triple-layer (100GB) UHD disc with optional Dolby Vision; I viewed the latter and was routinely impressed from the opening scene onward, where fine detail and textures virtually leapt off the screen and its primarily muted color palette was nonetheless supported nicely by high dynamic range. Black levels and shadow detail were also exemplary with many scenes sporting a full range of values; those dominated by light exhibited greater depth, while darker sequences were presented faithfully with no obvious signs of black crush. posterization, or banding. The only mild distractions I could pick out along the way were sporadic levels of noise-related artifacts stemming from tricky fog and smoke-heavy areas, both on the battlefield and unfavorable weather conditions (or both). Yet the end result here is still overwhelmingly positive, whether you're coming in blind or already streamed it on Netflix, and earns MPI's release near-perfect marks that make this 4K disc the definitive format to watch it from here on out.

Comparatively, the included Blu-ray version -- which, as far as I know, is not available separately -- holds its own from start to finish, even if it's downscaled from the 4K source and converted from HDR to SDR. As these screenshots show, it's a decently-encoded presentation with proportionally equivalent fine detail, textures, and saturation, mirroring the 4K disc's overwhelming grittiness but unavoidably feeling a bit thinner, brighter, and less impactful. Those compression artifacts also return and slightly greater in number, but they're still few and far between when compared to the disc's overwhelmingly impressive moments. Even those few middling complaints are all but par for the course for Blu-ray, though, and hardly a damning judgement of what's ultimately a satisfying 1080p transfer; even in its least impressive moments, it far exceeds what most Netflix streams are able to wring out of the source material.

All Quiet on the Western Front 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The inarguable highlights of both the 4K and Blu-ray presentations are their identical Dolby Atmos mixes, which are rightfully presented in the original German. (A separate English dub, as well as other options, are downmixed to 5.1 surround.) Directionality and overall presence are absolutely outstanding from start to finish, as countless scenes lend themselves to an all-out sonic assault featuring strong channel pans and discrete effects, which certainly extends to the height channels as fly-overs, bullets, and explosives blanket the soundstage with considerable weight. Dialogue remains mostly crisp and intelligible and always when the situation demands it; other bits of conversation are more drowned-out and even wordless for stylistic purposes. I've said it before but this Atmos mix makes perfect use of that format's "sonic bubble", often completely enveloping listeners with object-based effects that, for lack of a more original phrase, put us right in the middle of the action. For these reasons and many more, All Quiet on the Western Front easily ranks among the most ear-opening discs I've heard in recent memory, regardless of format or genre.

As for the English dub, I sampled it during a few stretches and found it to be a mostly passable effort, so it's not the worst compromise if you're absolutely allergic to subtitles. Speaking of which, two sets of English subs are included here: one for literal German translation, and another for the dub. Multiple foreign subs are also offered.

All Quiet on the Western Front 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc release ships in standard-issue Mediabook packaging whose only fault may be its excessive size: much like MPI's 2014 Blu-ray/DVD combo back of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, it's practically the size of a DVD case -- maybe even a half-inch bigger on all sides, even -- which is doubly confusing since we don't even get an SD disc here. Other than that, it's a bang-up job with striking design elements, separate hubs for both discs, and a 24- page booklet featuring separate interviews with director Edward Berger and historian Daniel Schönpflug. Even the removable J-card has art on both sides, which almost makes be not want to throw it out. A great-looking package, for sure.

The bonus features are mostly lightweight but all worth a look, and can be found on both discs.

• Audio Commentary - This feature-length track by writer-director Edward Berger covers a pretty standard amount of ground for a commentary of this type. A fairly wide variety of topics are covered by the first-time commentary participant, from cinematography (including camera tricks) and production design to casting, costume design, and other interpretations of the source material, as well the music, sound design, and much more. It's a bit more technical than most director-driven tracks, but certainly worth a listen -- I'd imagine anyone still jexcited about audio commentaries at this point in home video history will enjoy it.

• Making-of Featurette (18:27) - A brief but well-produced piece concerning several key aspects of the film's production (set design, special effects, costume design, etc.) with comments by key cast and crew members including writer-director Edward Berger, director of photography James Friend, producer Malte Grunert, and others. It's presented in a mixture of German and English but with optional translation subtitles only.

• Original Trailer (2:19) - In German (dialogue and text), with no optional subtitles.

• US Trailer (2:19) - The same trailer in German, this time with forced English text and subtitles.

• International Trailer (2:16) - A modified version in German with several sets of removable subs.

• Teaser (1:52) - Shorter still, again in German with optional subs in a variety of languages.

All Quiet on the Western Front 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Edward Berger's All Quiet on the Western Front is, for the most part, an adaptation in name only: there are too many deviations from the original book to count (as well as the celebrated 1930 film, which to be fair it's clearly not a remake of), and its all-in focus on blood and guts absolutely overshadows any attempts at character development and even emotional depth beyond "war is hell". Nonetheless, it certainly found an audience and even racked up several wins at this year's Oscars, and in all fairness the production design, costumes, and special effects are all first-rate. But there's precious little here for those expecting anything more than a sobering but ultimately fruitless viewing experience, so temper your expectations accordingly. Those who enjoyed it, however, will find much to like about MPI's 4K/Blu-ray combo pack: the A/V presentation is outstanding, the extras are mostly solid, and even the packaging makes a great impression. It's still a "try before you buy" disc, though. Now, where was it streaming again?