Criminal 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Criminal 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Criminal 4K is yet another in the (slowly) expanding universe of 4K UHD releases that may leave some early adopters wondering "Why this film?" A meandering science fiction premise doesn't really provide a ton of visual bells and whistles, and this release doesn't up the ante aurally either, offering the same DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix as is featured on the standard 1080p Blu-ray of this title.

Criminal 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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

Criminal is presented on 4K UHD with an HEVC / H.265 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. As I mentioned in our Criminal Blu-ray review, while the film was digitally captured in a variety of resolutions (up to 6K), it was finished at a 2K DI, which I assume in turn provided the basis for this 4K presentation. As with many other releases on 4K UHD sourced from 2K DIs, there's an appreciable and perhaps even surprising uptick in detail levels, with aspects like skin crags, pores and beard stubble being more precise looking and almost palpable at times. Once again HDR comes into play in terms of several of the rather interestingly color graded scenes, scenes which offer slightly unusual tones in both the green and brown spectrums, and which in this 4K UHD version have a more nuanced range of intermediary tones. Shadow detail is also at least incrementally improved in several long interior scenes which are at best dimly lit and which at times play out in near darkness. The overall look of this presentation is somewhat warmer than on the 1080p Blu-ray, especially with regard to things like flesh tones. Depth of field on the bookending sequences at the beach is also quite spectacular on this version, and "little" elements like the waves behind Costner in these scenes have better detail levels than on the standard 1080p Blu-ray.

Criminal 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 4K UHD release sports the same DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track described in our Criminal Blu-ray review.

Criminal 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 4K UHD disc offers no supplemental material, and the score above reflects that lack. The standard 1080p Blu-ray included in this package has the same supplementary material detailed in our Criminal Blu-ray review .

Criminal 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

4K UHD enthusiasts with nothing better to watch may want to check out this disc, but it's in what I would term the second tier of recent 4K UHD releases, meaning it's perfectly competent but nothing special (either in terms of the actual content of the film or in terms of the 4K UHD "experience").