Catch-22 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Catch-22 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf November 24, 2025

Described as a “satirical war novel,” author Joseph Heller’s 1961 book, “Catch-22,” initially triggered a race to acquire the movie rights, with producers looking to make something out of the writer’s vision for World War II insanity. Director Mike Nichols eventually claimed the project, building on career momentum provided by the successes of 1966’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” and 1967’s “The Graduate.” He was the right man for the job, tasked with untangling Heller’s work, bringing in “Graduate” co-writer Buck Henry to make sense of the material and find a cinematic way to explore it. “Catch-22” definitely plays like a difficult book-to-screen adaptation, pushing its way through time and temperament to track the dwindling patience of the main character and his full-body desire to get out of military duty. It’s not an easily classifiable feature, and it’s rarely a consistent endeavor, but there’s a certain darkness here that Nichols captures exceptionally well, best served when he isn’t trying so hard to be humorous.

Captain Yossarian (Alan Arkin) is a bombardier who’s desperate to escape his military duty during World War II, only to face his superior, Colonel Cathcart (Martin Balsam), who keeps changing the number of missions required to end his service. Yossarian is losing his mind, but he’s stuck in a “catch-22,” facing an American military that won’t set him free due to insanity because insanity is what they need in the skies. He’s begging to be grounded, but nobody will help, sending him on an odyssey into the wildness of the war, interacting with the likes of Lt. Milo (Jon Voight), who’s working to profit during combat, helping to create a “syndicate” of trade to make him and his bosses extraordinarily rich. Lt. Dobbs (Martin Sheen) is ready to murder Cathcart for his leadership offenses. And Father Tappman (Anthony Perkins) is a chaplain thrown into the middle of chaos. Yossarian is left to endure all the actual madness of the conflict, finding a particular moment with a dying airman leaving him scarred and confused, inspiring him to detach from his reality as he deals with others.

Nichols does an excellent job creating a sense of despair for Yossarian in “Catch-22.” Viewers certainly understand his state of mind in the feature, which examines the bustle of military action and the deafening roar of vehicles, putting the character in a middle of a pressurized situation he wants to escape. 35 missions is the requirement for service, but Cathcart isn’t sticking with the rules, upping the number to 50 and more over the course of the picture, providing the first of many cracks in Yossarian’s psyche, inspiring a journey for the character that blurs time and place, while his urgency to escape duty provides as much of a through line for the endeavor as Nichols allows.

“Catch-22” is episodic, staying with Yossarian as he interacts with others and experiences new levels of horror. He’s tormented by his encounter with a dying airman, left with the memory of a situation he couldn’t help, seeing himself in finality that inspires his quest to slip away from duty. Henry and Nichols play some of these experiences for comedy, approaching vaudeville levels of play as they tangle dialogue exchanges and track rising tempers. And there’s a sense of the absurd as Yossarian does whatever he can to disrupt his commitment, including attending his own medal ceremony in the nude. “Catch-22” isn’t terribly funny, but Nichols maintains pace and events for the first hour of the offering, having fun tracking Milo’s reckless manipulations and theft of equipment, which, at one point, leaves Yossarian without a parachute in his plane. And the supporting cast is outstanding, pulling together a wide range of talent to help add color and impishness to the feature, with Bob Newhart, Orson Welles, Norman Fell, Richard Benjamin, Austin Pendleton, Charles Grodin, and Paula Prentiss adding their own special sauce to the effort. And technical achievements are impressive, including stunts and physical encounters around planes, giving the offering some unexpected visual immersion.

Catch-22 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Screencaps are taken from the Blu-ray

"Catch-22" arrives on UHD after apparently skipping a Blu-ray release, listed by Shout Factory as a "New 4K restoration from the original camera negative." The Dolby Vision viewing experience is a little strange, as the feature contains a lot of opticals, which register a bit harshly at certain times. Detail is satisfactory, providing a good sense of textured skin particulars on the large cast, exploring differences in age and wear and tear. Costuming is also fibrous, examining heavier uniforms. Exteriors remain deep, preserving background action and the large scope of the production. Interiors maintain dimension, securing decorative additions, including plenty of military equipment. Color acts a bit oddly with skin tones, which periodically slip into reddishness. Outdoor experiences maintain crystal blue waters and defined desertscapes. Clothing brings out brighter primaries on dresses, and blood remains a deep red. Blacks are decently deep. Highlights are tasteful. Some encoding issues are present, running into blockier backgrounds on occasion. Source is in mostly good condition, but scratches and points of damage are periodic.

Catch-22 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There's a 5.1 DTS-HD MA option for "Catch-22," but the engaging mix is a 2.0 DTS-HD MA "dual mono" track, which offers a more immediate listening event for the movie. Dialogue exchanges are intelligible, but dramatic intensity clearly pushes recording equipment to its limits, leading to a few distorted encounters. There's no traditional score for "Catch-22," which makes use of only one piece of music. Sound effects are also battered by heavy explosions and roaring engines, but remain appreciable. Some brief damage is detected. Interesting quirk: both tracks offer an intentionally(?) unintelligible opening sequence, with chaotic plane activity making it impossible to hear the characters, but subtitles clearly identify dialogue.

Catch-22 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary #1 features director Mike Nichols and filmmaker Steven Soderbergh.

• Commentary #2 features movie critic Drew McWeeny.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (3:27, SD) is included.

Catch-22 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"Catch-22" grows a lot heavier in its second half, getting into the darkness of Yossarian as he confronts a few realities about military service and the casual cruelty of other officers he's worked hard to deny. The change doesn't help the feature gallop to a conclusion, and some viciousness needs a lot more time to bake to fully understand, with the writing becoming more random, which doesn't feel intentional at times as editorial labor starts to reveal itself. Nonlinear storytelling has its limitations, but Nichols is eager to capture the craziness of the situation and the potent displays of indifference that greet such psychological and physical violence. "Catch-22" jumps around to moments of madness, lust, rage, and confusion, making for a mostly engrossing study of survival, which is skillfully communicated by Arkin, who has the challenge of reacting to so much around him, and doing it in distinctly different ways. Nichols ultimately does away with a traditional score (only an excerpt from "Also sprach Zarathustra" remains to add a musical moment to the effort) and maintains focus on the futility of it all, crafting an evocative understanding of the weariness and disillusionment found in military service.