For All Mankind 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

For All Mankind 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 17, 2022

Al Reinert's "For All Mankind" (1989) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the release include archival audio commentary recorded by the director and commander Eugene A. Cernan; on-screen interviews with fifteen of the Apollo astronauts, NASA audio highlights and liftoff footage, and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Al Reinert’s For All Mankind is a film that nowadays brings out different emotions in me. It reminds me of a glorious time when America was united behind a group of men determined to make history. When they did, the joy and elation the nation experienced were truly unprecedented. This was a time when it was right to be proud and patriotic, so when I am reminded of it, I always feel good.

But For All Mankind usually makes me extremely sad, too. It is because it revives chilly memories of an era when the world was on the brink of World War III, divided by political ideologies that nowadays seem utterly preposterous. A young, optimistic and very patriotic President Kennedy delivers one of his greatest speeches in it as well, so my mind inevitably ends up pondering what America could have been if he had survived that horrible day in Dallas. Perhaps we would not have become as prejudiced and divided as we are today.

For All Mankind chronicles the history of the Apollo 11 mission while it effectively reconstructs the preparation work and journey of the three astronauts -- Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin -- that landed on the Moon. The big picture is carefully assembled through personal recollections -- with the best coming from Armstrong and Aldrin -- as well as a wide variety of terrific archival footage.

It is important to note that the many men whose voices are heard on the archival footage remain unidentified. Initially, it feels a bit strange, but it is not long before the intent becomes crystal-clear -- the voices belong to us, the overwhelmed human race, witnessing an event of historic proportions.*

Despite plenty of easily recognizable native limitations, the bulk of the archival footage looks quite incredible. Reinert and a team of specialists reportedly spent hundreds of hours working on the film elements supplied by NASA, rebalancing and improving color, contrast, clarity, and stability. As a result, even some of the trickiest archival footage, like the one from the actual landing on the Moon, now looks great.

What else is there to say about For All Mankind? As cliche as it may sound, it is impossible to grasp the true nature of the excitement, concerns and fears that were part of the atmosphere that surrounded the Apollo 11 mission if you have not seen it. Simple words can only go so far in describing what America and the rest of the world felt on July 20, 1969. The Apollo 11 mission was a monumental event the likes of which had not been witnessed before.

I have seen a number of great documentaries over the years, and I own copies of most of them in my library. If you asked, I could easily describe them to you, but I don't remember them vividly. I do For All Mankind. I know it like the palm of my hand, and I recall exactly how I felt when I first saw it because it made me dream impossible dreams. I hope that those of you that are about to see For All Mankind for the first time have a similar experience.

*Criterion's release makes it possible to see For All Mankind with optional on-screen titles that identify the astronauts and mission control specialists. Standard English SDH subtitles are provided as well.

For All Mankind 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Criterion's release of For All Mankind is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray and Blu-ray offer presentations of a recent 4K restoration of the film. Also, on the 4K Blu-ray release the film can be seen in the original 1.37:1 ratio as well as the theatrical 1.85:1 ratio.

The following text appears inside the booklet that is provided with this release:

"For All Mankind is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. On the 4K Blu-ray disc, it is also presented in the alternate 1.85:1 theatrical framing. The 1.33:1 picture reflects the 16mm compositions as captured by the NASA astronauts and mission control and has been slightly windowboxed to ensure that the maximum image is visible on all monitors. Based on the late producer-director Al Reinert's previous supervision and approval, this new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director 8K film scanner at MTI Film in Los Angeles, from the 35mm negative blowup of the original 16mm film. The original 5.1 surround soundtrack was mastered from 35mm magnetic tracks. On the 4K Blu-ray, the feature is presented in Dolby Vision HDR (high dynamic range). On the Blu-ray, it is presented in high-definition SDR ((standard dynamic range).

Colorist: Lee Kline."

Please note that the screencaptures from the 4K Blu-ray that included with this article are downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc, including the actual color values of this content.

For All Mankind entered the Criterion Collection, on Blu-ray, in 2009. You can see our listing and review of this release here. As clarified above, this upcoming 4K Blu-ray release offers different presentations of the film. (The original release had only the 1.37:1 version). I did test the 1.85:1 version, but I prefer the 1.37:1 version and it is the one I viewed in its entirety on 4K Blu-ray.

So, how does the film look now?

My immediate impression is that the 4K presentation squeezes as much detail as possible out. Obviously, various fluctuations remain, so that iconic footage from the surface of the Moon does not look any better than it did in the past (see screencapture #17). However, there are plenty of other areas where density levels are most definitely superior, which means that your perception of depth will be improved as well. Also, with Dolby Vision/HDR enabled, color reproduction is superior. Again, due to the nature of the content there are small chunks of footage where the difference isn't noticeable, but elsewhere I thought that the improvement was undeniable. For example, you can quickly test the footage around the 0.14.10 mark. Even the footage from inside Apollo 11 around the 0.36.50 mark looks better on my system. Most of the footage with the mission control specialists reveals heavy but consistent grain. However in 4K this heavy grain becomes a lot tighter than it is in 1080p. On the other hand, the space footage where grain exposure is very different looks simply terrific (examples can be seen in screecaptures #28, 29, and 30). I think that some additional cleanup work has been done as well because some areas look healthier. All in all, I think that it was a great decision to bring this very important film to 4K Blu-ray, and now that I have seen the technical presentation, I could not be happier. (Note: This is a Region-Free 4K Blu-ray release).

For All Mankind 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. Also, the release makes it possible to see For All Mankind with optional on-screen titles that identify the astronauts and mission control specialists.

If there is any new work and improvements done on the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, I could not tell. For example, Brian Eno's score sounds as it does on the old Blu-ray release. The recollections and exchanges sounded the same to me as well. Some of the original audio from the mission can be a bit shaky, but this is to be expected.

For All Mankind 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this archival audio commentary by filmmaker Al Reinert and astronaut Eugene Cernan was recorded exclusively for the Criterion Collection in 1999. A veteran of three missions, including Apollo 17, on which he served as commander, Cernan was the last to set foot on the lunar surface, in 1972.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this archival audio commentary by filmmaker Al Reinert and astronaut Eugene Cernan was recorded exclusively for the Criterion Collection in 1999. A veteran of three missions, including Apollo 17, on which he served as commander, Cernan was the last to set foot on the lunar surface, in 1972.

• An Accidental Gift - Al Reinert mined NASA's film repository at the Johnson Space Center to create For All Mankind. This archival program explores his commitment and the materials used, with comments by Reinert; Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean; and NASA film editors Don Pickard and Chuck Welch, film vault curator Morris Williams and lead librarian Mike Gentry. (32 min).

• On Camera - for his film, Al Reinert chose to record audio-only interviews with the Apollo astronauts. Here Reinert presents a compilation of on-camera interviews with fifteen of the astronauts, excerpted from a few of his favorite films about the Apollo missions -- Jeff Roth's The Wonder of It All and Mickey Lemle's The Other Side of the Moon and Our Planet Earth -- as well as from two events honoring the fortieth anniversaries of Apollo 7 and Apollo 8. (21 min).

• Paintings From the Moon - Apollo 12 astronaut Alan Bean was the fourth man to walk on the moon, and he later commanded the Skylab 3 mission, staying a then record fifty-nine days in space. After retiring from NASA, he turned full-time to his other passion, painting. Presented here is a video introduction with Bean and a gallery of his paintings, each work accompanied by commentary from the painter himself. (8 min).

• NASA Audio Highlights - twenty-one sound bites, collected from the first ten years of the American space program. Clip number one if from Alan Shepard's historic first ride into space, and the last is Eugene Cernan's final words on the Moon during Apollo 17. (7 min).

• 3, 2, 1…Blast Off! - a collection of launch footage showing one example of each of NASA's five rocket boosters (the Mercury-Redstone, Mercury-Atlas, Gemini-Titan, Saturn 1B, and Saturn V), which were the launch vehicles for the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab missions. (3 min).

• Booklet - a 28-page illustrated booklet featuring Terrence Rafferty's essay "Fantastic Voyage" and Al Reinert's essay "A Trip To The Moon", as well as technical credits.

For All Mankind 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

My enthusiasm for Al Reinert's film is limitless because the monumental event that is captured in it cannot be described with simple words. This is a true statement, folks. This film brings you as close as possible to everything that took place on July 20, 1969, and gives you a very authentic feel of the atmosphere that existed at the time. I think that it is perfect and in some ways even more engrossing today as we continue to make technological advances that alter our perceptions of what is possible and impossible. This upcoming 4K Blu-ray release introduces a new 4K restoration of For All Mankind that will surprise a lot of film collectors. It is very beautiful and my prediction is that it will become the definitive evidence that documentaries need to be given a new life on 4K Blu-ray as well. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.