Deadpool 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.5

Deadpool 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Deadpool may (commendably) not take itself seriously, but early adopters of 4K UHD may well want to, since this new disc provides both stellar video and audio experiences that many will consider reference quality.

Deadpool 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Deadpool is presented on 4K UHD with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. While there's been some online debate about the resolution of Deadpool's DI, the cinematographer is on record as stating the film was finished in 4K, so I am tending to believe him rather than "casual" passers-by. The 4K source is a major revelation in this new iteration, with an immediate and obvious uptick in detail. I mentioned in our original Deadpool Blu-ray review that Deadpool's suit was one of the highlights of the standard Blu-ray presentation, and both the color and fabric pop even better in the 4K UHD version, with slight but noticeable gradations in the red where it's been distressed that are not as immediately apparent in the 1080p version. HDR provides a beautiful new gamut of tones, with some of the more evocative being on the purple side of things, with some gorgeous violet hues in the first lovemaking montage between Wade and Vanessa, as well as a later scene with the two in a club. "Minor" fine detail like skin pores are precise and defined to a new degree as well. Shadow definition is also markedly improved, making the backgrounds of the yellow- green tinted lab scenes as well as the bar scenes with Weasel provide at least incrementally more information than before. Depth of field is also more impressive even in what are obviously green screened backgrounds, and the intentionally blown out highlights in some of those backgrounds (notably the slate gray skies) show a greater range of tones as well. Some of the green screen work and other CGI still tends to look slightly soft at times, and some of the visual effects suffer minimally from the "artificial" look I and other reviewers have mentioned in our early 4K UHD reviews.

I experienced one very brief HDMI handshake issue at disc bootup (while the original Fox logo and fanfare play), but otherwise experienced no hardware related anomalies. There was some very brief image instability during the credits sequence with regard to both text elements and the panning rotoscoped figures that emerge quasi-3D style.

Deadpool 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Deadpool features on of the most unbelievably fun sounding Dolby Atmos tracks I've personally experienced in my still nascent 4K UHD reviewing career. The first 9:15 minutes or so are going to provide ardent audiophiles with one of the most slam-bang series of immersive effects imaginable. Everything from the clear overhead activity when a helicopter lands to extreme backward to forward panning when a series of vehicles passes over the camera make the listening experience extremely boisterous, to say the least. Individual effects are discretely placed throughout the surrounds to the point that it almost becomes the aural equivalent of watching a tennis match, with tons of back and forth activity. The film's ubiquitous use of source cues, many on the hip hop side of things, exploit the lower frequencies excellently, and dialogue is frequently smartly directional. There's a subtle "muffling" of Deadpool's voice when he's in his mask, but dialogue is always cleanly delivered and is well prioritized even in the noisiest moments.

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

The 4K UHD disc ports over the two commentaries from the standard Blu-ray. The standard Blu-ray included in this package offers all of the supplements detailed in our original Deadpool Blu-ray review .

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

I found Deadpool to be deliriously enjoyable, and it's by far one of my favorite viewing experiences of 2016 thus far. This new 4K UHD version is absolutely top notch all the way around and should be a great reference disc for early adopters to blow their friends away with. Highly recommended.