American Assassin 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

American Assassin 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

In an interview included on both the 4K UHD disc and 1080p Blu-ray disc included in this release, Michael Keaton alleges he's never played a "badass" quite like the Stan Hurley character he essays in American Assassin, stating that even Bruce Wayne wasn't quite as tough as this trainer of special operations forces tasked with preventing a nuclear catastrophe.

American Assassin 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date. Also note that this UHD contains Dolby Vision. We are not currently equipped to review Dolby Vision but are researching equipment options and will be upgrading soon.

American Assassin is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of Lionsgate Films with a 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. As I stated in our American Assassin Blu-ray review, while the IMDb lists that this was digitally captured by Arri Alexa cameras, there's no data on whether this was finished at a 2K or 4K DI (I suspect the former, but am open to being corrected if someone can point me to an authoritative source). One way or the other, there are some significant if at times subtle upticks in detail levels across the board on this 4K UHD presentation. Interestingly, the whole opening sequence looks even lower res than it does in the 1080p version, perhaps because the difference between the supposed phone video and the actual 4K data is more pronounced. Once the film gets to the post-beach sequence, the palette is noticeably more varied and fine detail levels especially are more precise looking. There are a few curious anomalies, like some quasi-noise that is noticeable when Mitch arrives in Libya (despite the scene being brightly lit), that aren't quite as noticeable in the 1080p version for whatever reason. The kind of ochre or beige hues that are prevalent in a number of dusty Middle East scenes have more interstitial tones now, and even things like the kind of emerald green water outside of Tripoli have some interesting new highlights in the 4K UHD version. I personally wouldn't have minded if blacks had been a bit more solid in some of the dark scenes, since things can look a little hazy at times.

Note: Well, here's an interesting little tidbit that I can't wait to hear about from anyone else who purchases this disc, just to see if my disc was "special" in some way: I was having a whale of a time trying to access the lists of supplements or even audio and subtitle options on this disc, since once I got to the appropriate menus, I pressed the "down" button on my remote to try to get to the rest of the list, as I have always done on 100% of the 1080p Blu-ray and 4K UHD discs I've reviewed (or in fact just watched). Nothing happened. It took me a minute, but I discovered that everything was "backward" in terms of directions. Therefore, to go "down" the list of supplements, I needed to press the "up" button on my remote. Similarly, trying to navigate horizontally on the Main Menu, I had to press the "left" button to go right. Evidently this particular assassin has gone through the looking glass, or something like that.

American Assassin 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 4K UHD disc features the same extremely effective Dolby Atmos track described in our American Assassin Blu-ray review.

American Assassin 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 4K UHD disc commendably includes all of the supplements detailed in our American Assassin Blu-ray review. The 1080p Blu-ray disc included in this package obviously also includes all of the same supplements.

American Assassin 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

You've probably seen a lot of what takes place in American Assassin in any number of other films, but this outing's predictability doesn't completely scuttle the excitement of several nicely staged set pieces. The film is pretty violent at times, and includes some bone crunching hand to hand combat sequences, which the trio of male stars bring off with quite a bit of flair. The plot is actually kind of ridiculous on any number of fronts (and what accent exactly is the venerable David Suchet attempting as a CIA operative?), but the film is brisk and regularly exciting, so adrenaline junkies may simply not care. Technical merits are very strong on this 4K UHD disc, and with caveats noted, American Assassin comes Recommended.