Avengers: Age of Ultron 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Avengers: Age of Ultron 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

In conjunction with the release of Avengers: Infinity War, Disney has released the first two 'Avengers' films -- The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron -- to the UHD format. This release sees the image boosted with a gorgeous 2160p/HDR-enhanced video presentation and features a new Dolby Atmos soundtrack. No new extras are included.

Avengers: Age of Ultron 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Much like the first Avengers film on UHD, Age of Ultron looks very good and offers a positive improvement over the originally released Blu-ray. The image appears a bit glossy on the surface, but it's meticulously clean and highly detailed. Once again, character costumes, skin textures, and environments are highlights. Costumes are finely revealing, and even digital constructs, like Ultron's smooth metallic body, display a very sharp and infinitely detailed and clear presentation. On the macro level, the adds to sharpness and clarity give the image a much more stable, cinematic texture that's impressive even considering the film's reported 2K digital intermediate.

The UHD's HDR color palette is perhaps more impressive. Take a look at the spherical, holographic, orange representation of Jarvis at the 18-minute mark. The color is significantly deeper on the UHD, an intense orange, whereas the Blu-ray appears more of a dull yellow with hints of pale orange. The same goes for a vivid blue that appears near the same timestamp. As an aside, the scene is also a good opportunity to get a handle on the added clarity, cleanliness, and sharpness the UHD affords to characters and environments alike, particularly with all of the slick and smooth Stark labs ("Candyland," as he called it in the first film) odds and ends appearing through the environment. As a general rule, the UHD appears with more organically brilliant colors, deeper saturation, and more intense whites and blacks and shadow details, the latter of which are critical to the movie considering its many lower light warm and bleak scenes alike. Technical flaws are few; trace banding is visible in a couple of the most challenging shots but is never at all intrusive. On the whole, Ultron's UHD isn't quite as dynamic as that of the original film, but it's still a quality view and a positive step forward from a good Blu-ray that is only now beginning to show some light signs of aging.

Avengers: Age of Ultron 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

From the opening battle it's obvious that Age of Ultron's Dolby Atmos soundtrack is another low volume and bass-timid presentation, this one sounding awfully muddy at normal listening levels for good measure. Action effects lack precision, depth, and clarity. So the track doesn't even make it a minute before it embodies everything wrong with Disney's tracks today. Turning the volume up does help. Raw volume at least makes things interesting, with more pronounced sound movement, better whooshes and pops, and a greater sense of engagement. The sound elements never do come across quite so muddy as they did right off the bat, which is at least a plus. Generally, action scenes are awash in high intensity maneuverings. With the volume adjusted, there's a very strong sense of fluid sound movement, good imagining, and precise placement of stationary sounds. Jarvis speaking with Ultron in the 21 minute mark offers very good stage filling vocals, including a top layer component, a good example of the track's ability to deliver large and enveloping yet contained sounds, especially outside of more chaotically expansive elements during the film's high impact action scenes. But the uneven low end gets in the way of what should be a much more consistent and enjoyable sound presentation. Take the Hulk vs. Hulkbuster sequence. Most of the battle sequence actually isn't that poor of a sonic performer in terms of low end output as the titans clash and buildings collapse, but other scenes or even one-off sound effects requiring a little more thump don't always get it, as battle sounds sometimes just fall flat in terms of bass support. Music does spread nicely and plays with positive clarity, and dialogue is centered, detailed, and well prioritized. Much like the previous film, this presentation is of the hit-or-miss variety.

Avengers: Age of Ultron 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Avengers: Age of Ultron's UHD disc contains no extras, but the bundled Blu-ray carries over all the supplements from the original 2015 BD release. For convenience, below is a list of what's included. For full supplemental reviews, please click here. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase.

• From the Inside Out - The Making of Avengers: Age of Ultron
• The Infinite Six
• Global Adventure
• Deleted & Extended Scenes
• Gag Reel
• Audio Commentary: Director Joss Whedon.

Avengers: Age of Ultron 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Age of Ultron is a more character driven and introspective film compared to the original. It's not necessarily slow, but it's more deliberately paced, as much inward gazing as outward momentum building as it looks more closely at the life of a Superhero and the consequences of saving the world. Action is tight and intense and the visual effects are unsurprisingly first-rate. Disney's UHD release delivers a solid 2160p/HDR video presentation. The Atmos soundtrack isn't bad when played back at high volume but it lacks the finesse and low end output the material demands. No new extras are included but the carryover content is fine. Recommended. And for packaging enthusiasts, this is also being released as a Best Buy exclusive SteelBook.