8.8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
In April 1986 an explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the USSR becomes one of the world's worst man-made catastrophes.
Starring: Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Paul Ritter, Emily Watson, Jessie BuckleyDrama | 100% |
History | 76% |
Psychological thriller | 66% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 2.00:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.00:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: DTS 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: DTS 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: DTS 2.0
English SDH, French, Spanish, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Korean, Norwegian, Swedish
Blu-ray Disc
Four-disc set (4 BDs)
Digital copy
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Note: HBO released Chernobyl on 1080 Blu-ray discs over a year ago. This review repeats relevant sections of my original
Chernobyl Blu-ray review.
There’s a completely horrifying sequence relatively early in Alain Resnais’ acclaimed masterpiece Hiroshima mon amour where actual newsreel (or at least archival) video of
survivors of the American atomic blasts against Japan is shown, and the gruesome injuries on display are both beyond disturbing and (at least for
this
particular viewer)
unforgettable. There may not be anything quite as graphic presented in Chernobyl, which is not to say this unsettling miniseries
documenting what is probably the greatest disaster of the nuclear age (other than bomb dropping, that is) shirks from offering “up close and
personal”
looks at exactly what radiation poisoning does to humans and other living beings. What's perhaps even more disturbing about the actual
radiation leak and subsequent horrifying poisoning is the reaction by officials that this stunning "docudrama" reveals, and that alone could very well
send significant chills up and down the spines of anyone who expects those in charge to respond appropriately to disasters. The less than honest
approach the Soviet government took to the disaster is almost frighteningly monolithic as presented in this miniseries, but Chernobyl
almost
ups the ante from the get go by depicting the suicide of a major player in the scandal, a man who took his own life at least in part due to his
shocked realization that not only were obstacles put in place during the disaster itself, an almost willful "ignorance is bliss" attitude
seemed
to penetrate to the highest echelons of Soviet society that meant that the Chernobyl meltdown could in fact be repeated one day due to the very
lack
of attention to details that contributed to the horror.
Chernobyl is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Warner Brothers Home Entertainment and HBO with a 2160p transfer in 2.00:1. As I mentioned in our Chernobyl Blu-ray review, I was personally a little surprised to see this was finished at a 4K DI, considering the lack of "wow" visuals the miniseries offers, but that turns out to be of some benefit to this presentation's occasionally if not consistently rather significant upticks in fine detail, despite some ubiquitously dark framings. Dolby Vision also helps to accentuate shadow detail at least at times throughout every episode, and I was repeatedly struck by how much better I could see admittedly mundane items like patterns in carpet or the textures on props even in very dim lighting conditions. There are some very interesting if subtle changes to the palette courtesy of HDR and Dolby Vision, with the miniseries' frequent employ of teal, green and blue gradings offering even cooler looks in this presentation. Other items like the almost crimson dress Emily Watson wears in her introductory scene also pop with greater suffusion in this version. That said, almost all of the above changes can be on the subtle side, perhaps unavoidably tamped down by the miniseries' repeated emphasis on a drab, at times desaturated palette, and dark framings that tend to inherently mask fine detail levels. The biggest change I personally noticed actually was something of a surprise for me. As mentioned in our review of the 1080 version, this was captured with Arri Alexa Minis, but I have to say the digital grain really didn't even catch my eye, other than subliminally, in the 1080 presentation, while it's much more noticeable in this presentation. It's especially visible against some of the brighter backgrounds, and kind of ironically given how dark so much of this miniseries is, can occasionally look just slightly noisy in such moments.
Chernobyl features the same generally well done DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that was featured on the original release of the miniseries on 1080 Blu-ray disc. The track is often quite subtle, given the "combustible" nature of the story, but which does burst into some energetic activity especially in some of the tunnel digging or other crowded interior scenes. A lot of this piece tends to be on the "talky" side, and as such immersion is generally limited to occasional ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track.
Both the 1080 and 4K UHD discs have the same supplements on the same respective discs.
Disc One
- Episode 1: 1:23:45
- Episode 2: Please Remain Calm
- Episode 3: Open Wide, O Earth
- Jared Harris as Valery Legasov: The Professor
- Stellan Skarsgård as Boris Scherbina: The Apparatchik
- Emily Watson as Ulana Khomyuk: The Scientist
- Episode 4: The Happiness of All Mankind
- Episode 5: Vichnaya Pamyat
At the time I wrote the review of the 1080 release of Chernobyl, I had just recently returned from a beautiful European vacation where my wife and I visited several places we hadn't ventured to previously, including northern England (where my father was born) and Scotland, and one of the things that really surprised me on our train trips through this gorgeous countryside was the prevalence of some atomic power plants off in the distance, something that those of us on the west coast of the United States don't really have that much experience seeing (Trojan, the closest plant to my hometown of Portland, was decommissioned several years ago). Perhaps because many of us in the United States haven't been that "up close and personal" with any nuclear power plants, Chernobyl is kind of ironically all the more devastating of a miniseries, one with a full display of foibles leading to tragedy, but a certain underlying heroism trying desperately to peek through and rectify things. This is not an easy piece to watch, but it is unbelievably compelling. Technical merits are solid, with a subtle but noticeable uptick in both detail and highlights in this 4K UHD version, and with the same generally excellent audio the 1080 release had. Chernobyl comes Highly recommended.
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