Elizabeth 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Elizabeth 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Universal has released the 1998 film 'Elizabeth,' directed by Shekhar Kapur and starring Cate Blanchett and Geoffrey Rush, to the UHD format. New specifications include 2160p/HDR video. Rather than remix for Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, Universal has merely ported over the existing DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack from the 2010 Blu-ray, which is also included here. No new extras are included, but the UHD disc does include the trio of supplements from the original disc.

Elizabeth 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

Universal's 2160p/HDR UHD release of Elizabeth offers a dramatic improvement over the aged VC-1 Blu-ray. The picture lacks the processed appearance of its Blu-ray predecessor, replaced here with a much more faithfully filmic image. Grain is light but retained as an essential component to presenting the film in its natural filmic state. Details are boosted as well, improving from an unpleasing look of digital tinkering and over sharpness to a more naturally flattering and faithfully filmic appearance where core textures are visibly expressive and true, right down to fine hair, freckle, wrinkle, and pore skin elements. Likewise, period clothes enjoy greatly amplified depth and material density. Period locations spring to life with greatly superior sharpness and depth and even grasses and natural elements appear much more authentically clear and accurate. This is a very significant boost for the image in terms of resolution prowess and faithful filmic imagery. It blows the old Blu-ray away.

Likewise, the HDR color grading significantly improves upon the old Blu-ray. Gone are the gaudy and overamplified colors of 2010's transfer, replaced here with an overall darker contrast but one that offers more finely nuanced gradients, superior vividness to bright primaries, and more stable accuracy. It's not as "bright," per se, but the color grading is significantly richer and more robust, more lifelike in every frame. The push to a more natural color palette is very pleasing, and viewers will find far better black level depth and shadow detail, more vivid whites, and more naturally oriented skin tones. This is a very attractive picture from Universal. It's not the best-looking film on the format, but it is worlds superior to the original Blu-ray and a must see for fans of the film.

There are a few minor concerns, however, including slight wobble accompanying the opening title sequence and a couple of stray pops and errant speckles. There are no major encode faults to report, however.

Note that the Blu-ray disc would not play on my Panasonic DP-UB9000 with the latest firmware update installed. The Universal fanfare played fine, but the disc got repeatedly stuck in a loop on a spinning Universal logo. No such issues with the UHD, thankfully. The Blu-ray was checked through an alternative player.

Elizabeth 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Rather than remix for Dolby Atmos or DTS:X, Universal has simply ported over the existing DTS-HD Mater Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack for this UHD release of Elizabeth. The track is by-and-large fine, offering quality spatial awareness, impressive attention to detail, and a general stage fullness that makes for a pleasantly complementary track to the 4K/HDR visuals. For a full audio review, please see Jeffrey Kauffmann's writing accompanying the original Blu-ray disc by clicking here.

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

This new UHD release of Elizabeth ports over the three core extras from the original Blu-ray release. See below for a list of what's included and please click here for full coverage. This release ships with a digital copy code but does not ship with a slipcover.

• The Making of Elizabeth
• Elizabeth Featurette
• Audio Commentary: Director Shekhar Kapur.

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

Jeffrey Kauffman concluded that "Elizabeth has a lot going for it, including an elegant production design and a commanding performance by Cate Blanchett." That elegant production design enjoys newfound life on this disc, with 2160p/HDR visuals that may not quite reach the level of "striking" but that do dwarf the old Blu-ray in terms of overall image faithfulness to the film source. This is a hearty visual improvement, and even without new audio or extras fans of the film would be remiss not to upgrade at this time.