Captain America: The Winter Soldier 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Captain America: The Winter Soldier 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Disney has released the hit Superhero film 'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' to the UHD format (alongside 'Captain America: Civil War;' the first 'Captain America' film was released a couple of months ago). This new UHD release features a 2160p/HDR video presentation and Dolby Atmos audio. The UHD disc contains no extras, but the bundled Blu-ray offers all the content from the 2014 release.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier 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.

Per IMDB, Captain America: The Winter Soldier was photographed primarily at a resolution of 2.8K and finished at 2K. The resultant upscaled UHD image is quite good, a solid improvement over the 2014 Blu-ray (also included in this set) in terms of both textural accuracy and color reproduction under the HDR encoding. Viewing the film prior to conducting the comparison reveals a UHD image that may not be a showcase but that does deliver a well-rounded presentation that enjoys high end clarity, very sharp details, and healthy and natural color reproduction. The picture maintains a mild digital flatness about it, but the textural qualities are certainly appreciable (and the upgrade over Blu-ray appreciated). Whether looking at character close-ups that reveal skin details, clothing lines and fabric definition, props (particularly Captain America's battered shield), and environments, the image's consistency of clarity and high resolution bring the movie to life with impressive overall sharpness that showcases the movie's many textural delights with finesse and oftentimes flawless accuracy and intimacy. When conducting the comparison, small details jump out, small details which benefit as much as primary focal points. Look at Rogers' white undershirt in a scene in the final moments as he's speaking with Romanoff. There's a distinct increase in fabric definition, both around the denser collar and the thinner material underneath it (the shirt also happens to be a great example of the UHD's ability to reveal whites with more brightness and clarity). While the UHD doesn't put a very good Blu-ray to shame, the improvements are easy to spot in every comparative example, ranging from intimate character portraits to larger environmental vistas.

The HDR color improvements are much like the textural upgrades: obvious and vital but never overwhelmingly significant. There's an appreciable add to depth and vitality that, even prior to comparisons, is obviously much more robust than Blu-ray can muster. The UHD reveals a firmer palette, offering greater nuance across the spectrum, from the aforementioned whites to much deeper blacks that manage to add significant depth without compromising low light details or veering into crush. Skin tones are healthier and fuller as well. Colors on Captain America's shield and uniform, particularly once he moves on to the more colorful version later in the film, bear similar fruits, boasting of added intensity and depth without fundamentally altering the core color grading. There are some fun moments of heightened luminance and color intensity, even on little things like sparks during a car chase in chapter 11. That same chapter offers a few daytime explosions that produce much brighter, more intense fireballs: reds, oranges and blazing-hot whites all appear with greater contrast and color punch that the Blu-ray simply cannot approach. The image reveals no source or encode shortcomings of note. This is a quality, just not staggering, upgrade. It's a worthwhile successor to the 2014 Blu-ray and easily the best way to watch The Winter Solider at home.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier's UHD disc features a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Per Disney norms, the track lacks volume at calibrated reference levels and requires an upward volume adjustment (around 7 db) to fully enjoy. Once it's there, the track's dynamics and details emerge. The first prominent effect in the film is a jet zipping through the stage in the opening minutes. The sound offers a substantial low end output and sense of movement through the stage, qualities which are often found throughout. Surround integration comes regularly and with prodigious output. Musical supports are particularly immersive, while general music front-side space is terrific and clarity is faultless.

Action scenes present with healthy, capable immersion and low end delight. Gunfire in chapter five ranks as one of the track's highlights. The scene, featuring a parade of "police officers" pursuing Nick Fury and blasting his car from all sides, sonically explodes from all over with believable intensity, as shots rip through the listening area from all corners and the slams of rounds into the car are met with a healthy low end thump. Various action scenes to follow -- Rogers being jumped in an elevator, his clash with the Winter Soldier in chapter 11 -- deliver well-rounded sonic intensity, full stage immersion, and quality detail to every element, major and minor alike. The overhead channels to do not offer regular examples of discrete effects, but the track's engineering allows for a fuller sense of spacial immersion in the more intense scenes, for action to more fully and intensely envelop the listener. Environmental ambience is nicely integrated as well. Bustling activity at the construction yard in chapter three and whirring "ancient technology" in chapter nine are a couple of brief, but scene-critical, ambient highlights. Dialogue delivery is as-expected: lifelike in detail, naturally positioned in the front-center, and well prioritized even in busier scenes.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier's UHD disc contains no supplemental content, but the bundled Blu-ray, which is identical to that released in 2014, includes the following bonuses. For full supplemental content reviews, please click here. This set also ships with a Movies Anywhere digital copy code.

• On the Front Line: An Inside Look at Captain America's Battlegrounds
• On Set with Anthony Mackie: Cut the Check!
• Steve Rogers' Notebook
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• Gag Reel
• Audio Commentary

Captain America: The Winter Soldier 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Captain America: The Winter Soldier was, and remains, one of the finest movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's smart, deep, very well made, and features some of the most grounded action the MCU has to offer. Disney's UHD release is very good all-around, despite the lower volume audio output. Crank it up, and it's fine. The new upscaled 4K/HDR video presentation makes for a well-rounded UHD image that offers a solid step up from the 2014 Blu-ray. That disc is included and contains all the supplements to be found in this set. Recommended.