Blue Thunder 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Blue Thunder 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 28, 2026

If you've ever had the opportunity (?) to take a ride in a helicopter, especially one in "doors off" mode, you may know how different it feels to be in that kind of vehicle as opposed to even a small airplane. There's definitely a visceral sense of danger at times in helicopters that tends not to be the case for more, say, enclosed modes of air travel, but one way or the other, even those a bit apprehensive about ducking underneath a rapidly revolving rotor to climb into a chopper might jump at the chance to take a flight in Blue Thunder, the high tech "character" at the center of the film currently under discussion. Kind of interestingly, at least within the context of Blu-ray releases for the home theater market, this film and the short lived Blue Thunder: The Complete Series are getting simultaneous releases, though the feature film had a prior 1080 release by Sony way back in 2009 (see below for a review link). (It looks like bargain label Mill Creek offered its own 1080 re-release in 2013.) Arrow is now revisiting the title in 4K UHD, with its typical assortment of newly produced bonus features.

As mentioned above, Blue Thunder had a 1080 release in 2009 courtesy of Sony, and Martin Liebman's Blue Thunder Blu-ray review offers a plot summary, list of supplements and Marty's reaction to the technical presentation.

Blue Thunder 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: This release does not include a 1080 Blu-ray, so these screenshots are taken directly from the 4K UHD disc and downscaled to 1080 and SDR. Color space in particular is therefore not accurate, and I recommend those interested to look at some of the screenshots in Marty's review linked to above for a probably better representation of the palette, even given the age of that release. Since this release does not include a 1080 disc, the 2K video score above has been intentionally left blank.

Blue Thunder is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. Arrow's insert booklet contains the following information on the presentation:

Blue Thunder is presented in its original 2.39:1 aspect ratio with 2.0 stereo and 5.1 audio. The film is presented in 4K resolution in HDR10 and Dolby Vision.

Blue Thunder has been restored by Sony Pictures Entertainment. 4K scanning and digital restoration from the original 35mm picture negative was done by Prasad Corporation. English 5.1 audio restoration by Deluxe Audio Services, Hollywood.

Color grading, conforming, and additional restoration was completed by Roundabout, Santa Monica with colorist David Bernstein.

The HDR color grading was approved by director John Badham.

The restoration was supervised by Bill Karydes, Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Marty gave a relatively enthusiastic score to the old Sony video presentation, while also detailing a few deficits in his description. This 4K presentation benefits in some perhaps unexpected ways from the HDR / Dolby Vision grades, which I'd argue tend to help pretty significantly with a palette that Marty described as somewhat drab. That said, the tonal area that repeatedly caught my eye with this presentation were the blacks, which are, yes, impressively deep at times, but which occasionally and briefly offer some passing crush as, for example, some helicopter interior vignettes where foreground shadows can blend into the dark dashboard, or even the actual helicopter at night, where blue kind of becomes black by default a couple of times. Otherwise, though, this offers some really appealing detail levels, especially in some close-ups where you can't pretty much count the pores on Roy Scheider's face. Fine detail on other aspects like sets and costumes can ebb a bit in those aforementioned dark moments. There are some definite variances in color temperature and suffusion, and some later moments including the car chase scene with Candy Clark can look a little blanched with a somewhat gray undertone. Maybe a bit surprisingly, grain doesn't spike overly aggressively in darker moments and generally resolves organically.

Blue Thunder 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Blue Thunder features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 options (the old Sony 1080 disc had English and French language tracks in Dolby TrueHD 5.1). Somewhat like with my recent Soldier 4K Blu- ray review, while I'm assuming the surround track on this disc is similar if not identical to the one on the Sony disc, I'm a bit more enthused about the overall surround activity than Marty was with regard to that presentation. That said, as Marty overtly mentions in his review, there's great engagement from the get go on the 5.1 track, with "chatter" clearly emanating around the soundstage, and engagement of the side and rear channels is especially prominent throughout the many flying scenes. There are some really fun panning effects (not necessarily relegated to in flight material). Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Blue Thunder 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: Marty's review linked to above has a bit more information on some of the ported over supplements offered here.

• Audio Commentary is from 2006 and features director John Badham, editor Frank Morriss and motion control supervisor Hoyt Yeatman.


• Flight Risk (HD; 13:45) is a 2025 interview with director John Badham.


• A Rollercoaster Ride (HD; 12:41) is a 2025 interview with Candy Clark.


• Catching Up (HD; 13:32) is a 2025 interview with Malcolm McDowell.


• Ride with the Angels: Making Blue Thunder (HD; 44:45) is a three part in depth retrospective of the production.


• The Special: Building Blue Thunder (HD; 8:13) is an archival 2006 featurette focusing on production design.


• 1983 Promotional Featurette (HD; 8:26)


• Extended Scene (HD; 1:29) is a slightly longer version of the car chase featuring Candy Clark.


• Theatrical Trailer (HD; 1:31)


• Image Gallery (UHD)

Arrow's Limited Edition includes a nicely appointed insert booklet, with a rather long essay (in a pretty small font) by Dennis Capicik, and a number of production photographs, along with the usual technical information and credits. Packaging also features a slipcover.

Blue Thunder 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The insert booklet essay by Dennis Capicik actually expands on some of the opening comments in Marty's review linked to above in terms of this film being part of what Capicik calls "the rise of technology in 80s action pictures". Blue Thunder is kind of slightly ridiculous to begin with, and then arguably becomes even more unhinged, but that very cartoonish quality is frankly probably part of its allure. Arrow is providing fans with solid technical merits and some appealing supplements. Recommended.