Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Giant 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Oil's well that ends well.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III June 22, 2022

Nearly nine years after its Blu-ray debut (which first arrived as part of the James Dean Ultimate Collector's Edition and a stand-alone 3-Disc Digibook later gutted for a keepcase edition), Warner Bros. has restored George Stevens' 1956 film Giant for 4K UHD adopters. It's not an altogether new viewing experience but one that's notably different thanks to better disc compression, tighter grain, and better image detail. However, what most will notice first is the new color grading via HDR10 enhancement, a visual adjustment that some might not find to be worth the trade-off.

For an appreciation of the film, please see Michael Reuben's Blu-ray reviews linked above. I was never quite as taken with Giant to award it a full five stars but it's unquestionably a well-made epic with great performances, unforgettable moments, and other strong fundamentals that still make it worth watching more than 65 years after its debut.

Giant 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

NOTE: This review's screenshots were sourced from the 4K disc but downsampled to 1080p SDR. Although they obviously do not reflect the 4K disc's true on-screen appearance with HDR10 enabled, it nonetheless reveals tangible differences in fine detail, grain structure, framing, and of course color timing in comparison to the Blu-ray.

For better or worse, Giant's new 4K restoration shares several key similarities with Warner Bros.' other recent UHD catalog offerings, such as The Shawshank Redemption, A Clockwork Orange, and The Outsiders. The first obvious strength is that it offers a very clean image overall; one that's free from dirt and blemishes but smooth and polished without the excessive use of digital noise reduction. ("Grain management" has obviously been employed to a certain extent, but more on that later.) Likewise, image detail is striking on clothing patterns and even background details, although it doesn't yield a night-and-day improvement over the older Blu-ray presentation. That earlier release was likewise the result of a 4K scan of the original negative which was restored and color-corrected by MPI and, despite a subtle difference in framing that allows for more legroom and information on the left-hand side, retains the original intended aspect ratio of 1.66:1. Color strength (again, more on that later) is likewise in line with the earlier Blu-ray, retaining a generally even saturation dominated by earth tones and not prone to significant bleeding.

Disc encoding yields more clear-cut improvements, as Giant has been afforded a full triple-layered (100GB) disc that runs at an extremely high bit rate -- Giant's lengthy running time eats up almost all of that storage too, aside from minimal disc space used by the included mono audio tracks. Whereas the earlier Blu-ray was absolutely loaded with artifacts and chunky noise that untrained eyes might recognize as film grain, this 4K disc runs circles around the older release for its clean, crisp appearance that's likewise not adversely affected by banding, posterization, noise, or other eyesores. Black crush seems to appear during some of the darkest moments, but this may be nothing more than a byproduct of added filters, such as a recurring day-for-night establishing shot that's always looked awful.

The start of the inevitable bad news begins softly, and quite appropriately with the disclaimer that significant portions of Giant have never looked great on home video. Countless shots sprinkled throughout the film's lengthy lifespan are blurry and soft, likely when dupes were used in place of the camera negative due to source issues, not to mention other inconsistencies with clarity that can be traced back to unavoidable culprits like optical effects and primary dissolves. While these source issues alone obviously aren't any real cause for concern, it means that portions of Giant's 2160p transfer look quite inconsistent and, combined with the previously mentioned "grain management" and new color timing mentioned below, often take on the underwhelming appearance of a standard-def upscale.

Then there's the HDR10 color enhancement, which yields impressive results in certain areas like costumes and lush green foliage as well as signage and soft lighting that stands out against deep shadows... but since the bulk of Giant's palette is dominated by creamy, off-white background interiors and dusty landscapes, it doesn't get a chance to shine in the way that 4K devotees are used to. It ties in more negatively to the new color timing, which swaps out the Blu-ray's slightly cooler and browner appearance for something that's nearly blanketed by a push towards magenta hues. It's fine enough for deeper values and red-heavy locations like mansion interiors, but certain mid-range shadows and even object outlines take on a pinkish tint that almost resembles ringing or edge enhancement. It doesn't affect all scenes to the same degree -- and many not at all -- but may prove a bit distracting to anyone who's a little more color-sensitive. While this color timing clearly won't be a deal breaker for the wide majority of fans, I feel that a more comfortable middle ground could have been achieved between the Blu-ray's palette and this one.

Giant 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Although the identical designation of both this 4K UHD and the Blu-ray's default DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio might suggest that they're identical (and, given Warner Bros.' spotty track record for lossless audio, proves that lighting can strike twice), the studio's recent press release indicates that Giant's 4K split mono track was "...sourced primarily from a 1995 protection copy of the Original Magnetic Mono soundtrack." As I have no information regarding any source material used for the older Blu-ray's restoration, I can't offer any genuine comparison details between the two aside from negligible volume differences. To my eyes, they're both extremely solid mixes that preserve Giant's one-channel roots and contain no distracting levels of hiss, distortion, other damage, or perceivable sync problems.

Several foreign language dubs are also offered in Dolby Digital mono, as are a handful of subtitle options.

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

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with attractive cover artwork and a Digital Copy redemption code. Bonus features are unfortunately slim, as more than two entire discs of supplements from the out-of-print Blu-ray Digibook have not been included here. If you combine the two releases, you're in good shape though.

• Audio Commentary - This vintage commentary features uncredited production assistant George Stevens Jr., screenwriter Ivan Moffat, and film critic Stephen Farber. It's a well-organized and obviously lengthy track that I'm glad was ported over... and obviously worth more than one measly star on principle but, considering the hours upon hours of missing extras detailed in the review linked above, I couldn't go any higher.

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

George Stevens' 1956 film Giant is an epic drama that, for some, ranks among the very best in American cinema history, partially due to the unfortunate death of rising star James Dean before its theatrical release. It's been very well represented on home video through the years and nearly peaked with an impressive 3-disc Digibook package released by Warner Bros. in 2013, but the studio's surprising new 4K UHD edition aims to at least unseat it in the technical department. While the new HDR10-enhanced 2160p transfer offers some obvious advancements over that old disc, the new color timing represents a sidestep at the very most. It's still a largely solid effort that should please die-hard fans but, due to the lack of extras, stands as more of a supplemental disc than a truly definitive release.