Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Glory 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Sony has released Director Edward Zwick's beautiful 1989's Civil War masterpiece 'Glory' to the UHD format. The presentation features a new 2160p/HDR video presentation and a brand new Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Additionally, the UHD includes new extras while the bundled Blu-ray, which is identical to that which Sony released in 2009, brings with it several legacy supplements.

Glory 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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

Glory hallelujah, indeed. Sony's 2160p/HDR UHD release of Glory is another to join the ranks of the studio's practically fabled 4K releases. The picture is purely, organically filmic, maintaining a true, highly complimentary grain structure. The grain is not to be labeled as "fine;" it can be slightly dense in spots but altogether yields a consistent and true texture that shines on the format. The resolution brings out the film's Civil War-era details with remarkable clarity and sharpness, including brick building façades, wooden barrels and crates, and various terrains, from sprawling grassy fields to sandy beaches where natural sharpness abounds in every shot. Skin details are perfect, showing extremely fine pores and hairs with resplendent intimacy; even the scar on Shaw's neck appears with tactile detail. Perhaps the most impressive points of examination for clarity are the "blue suits," the Army of the Potomac uniforms. The dense material and the workmanship appear second-to-none. Brass buttons, various affixed patches, and officer sashes are essential highlights to explore.

Those blue uniforms, the brass buttons, and that red sash are only amongst the highlights of the perfectly dialed-in colors that the HDR spectrum brings to life with a great solidification over the Blu-ray, holding fast and and steady to core accuracy while fine-tuning contrast and color nuance. Sandy beaches sparkle, green grasses dazzle, bright blue skies pop, and the fireballs and streaks of light during the nighttime battle to take the fort at film's climax leap off the screen. The HDR color spectrum does nothing to alter the movie's tonal foundation. This is instead a perfectly dialed-in refinement that adds depth and applies slight color punch as necessary. Everything remains true, from the murkiest to the brightest. Skin tones appear rich and alive and black levels are handsomely inky and accurate. Whites are brilliantly crisp, particularly undershirts that stick out from the Union uniforms, finding an intensity and clarity that is amongst the finest of the many highlights the UHD has to offer. For both detail and color, the UHD surpasses both previously released Blu-ray iterations. It is not a departure from either one, from either the original 2009 Blu-ray or the 2013 Mastered in 4K disc, but even looking at this against that one there's no comparison for textural finesse, absolute clarity, color balance, and tonal stability. This is Glory at its finest.

Glory 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's sound design translates well to the Dolby Atmos expansion. The opening Antietam battle scene spreads sound with stage command and effortless, seamless spacing. Depth is strong but not thunderous, details are firm but not pure. The sound elements are not as crisp and perfect as some of more modern standards, but the presentation's fluidity and immersion, with some top layer detail gently and seamlessly integrated, all draw the listener into the chaos of battle. Certainly the scene, and the battles to follow, are alive with well defined musket pops, deeper canon fire and explosions, and stage saturating battlefield din, but listeners should expect sounds that are slightly more crude than might be found on today's more high octane and performance engineered tracks. And it suits the movie just fine; the movie isn't about an invigorating aural experience but rather a stirring of the soul. The sound as it's presented here perfectly compliments the movie but does not define it. Driving rain and rolling thunder in chapter four create a fully detailed and wonderfully immersive feel for the rainstorm drenching the assembled men while additional natural ambience filters into the stage as necessary and as environments permit, creating a well-rounded feel for the Civil War locales seen throughout the film. James Horner's score is pure joy. Dialogue is clear and center positioned and always well prioritized even in battle. Sony has also included additional English language options, including DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 tracks. A plethora of additional language and subtitle tracks are also included, far surpassing the number on either of the older releases.

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

Glory includes extras on both the UHD and Blu-ray discs. See below for a breakdown of what's included. New extras are marked as such and reviewed. For coverage of the legacy content, please click here. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

UHD Disc:

• NEW! Picture in Picture Video Commentary in HD Resolution (1080p, Dolby Digital 2.0, 2:02:14): The film plays in full screen at 1080p. It contains commentary from Edward Zwick, Matthew Broderick, and Morgan Freeman who appear in a small window (which appears sourced from SD video). Zwick's comments are identical to those found in the legacy audio commentary but the Broderick and Freeman comments are new to Blu-ray. Obviously the entirety of Zwick's commentary is not here, but the full track does carry over on the included Blu-ray.
• NEW! Glory Theatrical Trailer (1080p, 1:29).

• Audio Commentary: Director Edward Zwick.
• Virtual Civil War Battlefield
• The Voices of Glory
• The True Story Continues
• Original Theatrical Making-Of Featurette
• Deleted Scenes: With optional director's commentary.

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

Glory is one of this reviewer's favorite films, easily top five, probably top two, and arguably number one. It's outstanding from the top down and, like so many movies, made complete by one of the best scores ever recorded for film courtesy of the late, great James Horner. His score and the film in so many categories were wrongly denied a number of deserved Oscar wins and nominations in addition to the several it earned, but at least now three decades after its release fans can experience the film as fresh, clear, and colorful as the day it released to theaters. Sony's UHD is nothing short of spectacular, offering perfect texture and color, a rich Atmos soundtrack that gets everything and more out of the source sound elements, and a nice compliment of bonus materials. Glory's UHD release earns my highest recommendation and it will appear in a place of honor on this year's end of year best-of list.