Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Sony has re-released the acclaimed modern classic 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' with newly remastered 2160p video from a 4K master. Audio has received a boost with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Several new supplements are included on top of most of the extras found on the previous standalone release.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

If Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's 1080p remaster was a work of art, its 2160/HDR-enhanced presentation is a masterpiece. It's amazing to see how much the UHD format can improve upon a texturally rich, photographed on film, and 4K-mastered source. Where the 1080p Blu-ray found an incredibly filmic quality, the UHD offers much the same but with a surge of detail that's several steps above in terms of clarity and intimacy. The film's richly defined clothes, complex facial features, wooden strucutral locations, and other elements are breathtakingly organic and vastly superior to the Blu-ray in every way. Grain structure is attractively balanced as well, accentuating the richness of texture that abounds both near and wide to the point that it's safe to say that few, if any, home video releases have found this much tactile clarity and textural wonder. Colors are fabulously balanced, too. The HDR enhancement doesn't push very hard. Leafy greens are a little showier, flesh tones a bit fuller. The differences between the two formats is more than negligible, but the HDR only goes as far as it must to compliment and tweak, not overwhelm or significantly alter. Black levels are pure. The print is meticulously clean and no source or encode artifacts are apparent. Along with, and maybe a hair above, Angels & Demons and Pineapple Express, this is hands-down the reference UHD disc currently on the market.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's Atmos soundtrack is superb. The film's elements play in expert harmony, with the added middle-back and top layer sound emplacements adding a greater sense of depth and immersion to the proceedings. The musical track in particular plays with a grandiose flair and balance, held up by a strong foundational low end and a wide sense of depth of delivery and width of engagement around the stage. Instrumental clarity is stellar, particularly in some of the more impactful, deeper lines that pulse through the movie and play like the lifeblood of many action scenes. The listener will feel centralized in the orchestra and hear it as richly as one would expect in real life. Sword clanks yield impressive clarity through a range of light pings and heavy gongs. Movement about the stage -- whether flowing characters or gentle breezes -- enjoys a precision of excellence and pinpoint placement that perfectly aligns with the on- and off-screen action. With firmly planted and realistically clear dialogue, this track is nothing short of a pleasure in every regard. Few are as good as this.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unlike most Sony UHD discs which feature only the obligatory selection of "Moments" and "Cast & Crew" stills, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon contains a mixture of extras unique to this release as well as some carryover material from previous Blu-ray releases. A UV digital copy code is included with purchase. Also of tangential note is that Sony's UHD menu system was fine for minimalist content in the initial batch of releases, but with more to maneuver through and its rather slow function on Samsung's UBD-K8500 player, it's more unwieldy now that it needs to be.

• Audio Commentary: With Director Ang Lee and Writer/Producer James Schamus.
• Audio Commentary: With Cinematographer Peter Pau.
• NEW! Anniversary Edition Introduction by Director Ang Lee (2160p, 0:52): Lee introduces the film for its UHD release and speaks on the deleted scenes. Note that this feature is not presented with HDR coloring, so Lee will look like he's suffered the world's worst sunburn if viewers don't turn HDR off. That's something Sony will need to fix for future special features.
• NEW! Deleted Scenes (2160p, HDR, 7:50 total runtime): Scenes include Haan and Sue Meet, Preparing for Marriage, Only Honor Counts, A Tour of the Gardens and a Glimpse of Jun-Pei, A Celebration in the Desert, and Why Do You Have to Go?. These are presented with HDR colors.
• NEW! Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - A Retrospective (2160p): A three-part feature in which Cultural Critic/Film Journalist Tasha R. Robinson interviews three key members of the filmmaking team. The first features Director Ang Lee discussing the film in In Conversation with Ang Lee (29:58). In Conversation with Tim Squyres (25:11) looks at how the American-born Editor cut the film, which was shot in Mandarin. Finally, In Conversation with James Schamus (25:59) features the Screenwriter and Producer discussing the film's worldwide success and his relationship with Ang Lee. Again, this piece contains no HDR colors, so without turning it off, the speakers and film clips look like they're on fire.
• NEW! The Making of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2160p upscaled, 19:02): A vintage piece that explores the key elements behind the making of the film, including the shooting locations, challenges of the shoot, the qualities the cast and crew brought to the film, stunt work, and much more. Again, no HDR colors results in an image-destroying red push.
• NEW! Music Video (2160p upscaled, 3:48): A Love Before Time (English Version). No HDR=red push.
• NEW! Music Video (2160p upscaled, 3:47): A Love Before Time (Mandarin Version). No HDR.
• A Conversation with Michelle Yeoh (2160p upscaled, 13:49). Same supplement from the original disc. No HDR.
• Photo Gallery (2160p upscaled, 6:50): Same supplement from the original disc. No HDR.
• Moments (2160p, HDR, Atmos): Categorized scene collections from the film. Included are Fights (19:26), Shu Lien (6:53), Li Mu Bai (12:05), and Jen (14:26).
• Cast & Crew (2160p, HDR): Still images of key cast and crew.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It feels like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has been on schedule for a remaster and re-release for some time now. With the debut of UHD only months ago, there was never going to be a better timeframe for a re-release, and Sony has hit it out of the park. 4K/HDR video and Atmos sound are stellar, amongst the finest currently available. The new supplements are good. The only downside is the suddenly unwieldy menu system and the need to turn HDR on and off depending on the supplement. Despite those minor (and fixable) flaws, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's UHD release earns my highest recommendation.