Eddie the Eagle 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Eddie the Eagle 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Many of us who work in the reviewing line have mentioned how odd the 4K UHD rollout has been. Hardware has been sketchy at times, and some of the major studios have been curiously reluctant to publicize their titles. Adding to this general sense of confoundment is the fact that some of the titles that are released seem like strange choices to highlight (HDR pun probably intended) the potential of 4K UHD. One that probably fits in this category is Eddie the Eagle, an appealing enough film that is nevertheless fairly lightweight and one which really doesn’t offer many of the visual or audio “bells and whistles” that early adopters of a new format are prone to flock toward.

Eddie the Eagle 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.

Eddie the Eagle 4K is presented on 4K UHD with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb kind of weirdly omits data on what resolution the digital intermediate was finished in, though several other online sources posit it at 2K, despite at least some of the film having been digitally captured at 6K. What this means in "tangible" terms is that while the 4K UHD disc definitely displays a noticeable uptick in detail levels and some arguably minor but still increased nuance in tonal varieties, the change here is not as dramatic as some might expect (or at least hope). The nicest upgrades here are "textural", where elements like the rubbery quality of some of the spandex or less "glamorous" costuming like sweaters or jeans display an almost palpable quality that, while present in the 1080p Blu-ray presentation, is not as pronounced. The increase in detail levels does not port over to some of the SFX sequences (some of which were reportedly done at 2K, which may help to explain this anomaly at least in part). What were assumedly green screen sequences like some of the jump material have a rather diffused, gauzy quality that is not significantly altered from the 1080p Blu-ray version. There are also occasional issues with my "traditional" bugaboo judder, which is rather pronounced at times, especially in some of the slower pans. Some other intermittent image instability tiptoes right up to aliasing, tending to crop up on a number of edges and patterns (look for example at elements like the corrugated roof of the shed at the bottom of one of the ski runs). The bottom line is, while this is a generally agreeable presentation, it's not a "knock your socks off" video experience and early adopters of this format may want to spend their hard earned cash on other, more visually splendid, offerings.

Eddie the Eagle 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Eddie the Eagle 4K ostensibly upgrades the 1080p Blu-ray's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix to a full scale Dolby Atmos mix (with a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 core), but the results are a bit like the video presentation: occasionally awesome but not that substantially different from the first version. Part of what keeps the sonic ambience tamped down here is that the surrounds are generally employed most forcefully for the jump sequences, and there simply aren't that many of them in this film, despite its perceived subject matter. During the big set pieces, there's some appealing ambience due to both crowd noises and general environmental sounds, but overall this is a fairly "talky" picture that simply doesn't afford consistent opportunities for the kind of pinpoint placement of effects that is Atmos' sonic calling card. Fidelity is superb throughout, with smart prioritization and decent if not overwhelming dynamic range.

Eddie the Eagle 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 4K UHD disc features no supplemental material, and so the score above reflects that lack. The 1080p Blu-ray included in this package contains all of the supplements detailed in our Eddie the Eagle Blu-ray review.

Eddie the Eagle 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Eddie the Eagle is an undeniably sweet natured film, but it would seem to provide little of the "traditional" wow elements in either the visual or audio departments that would seem to add allure to a 4K UHD presentation. As such, some consumers may simply want to opt for the 1080p Blu-ray presentation, though those who do want to consider purchasing the 4K UHD package will experience generally good if never overwhelming video quality and some agreeable if similarly "routine" sounding audio.