Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Paramount has released Director Kenneth Branagh's 2014 film 'Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit' to the UHD format. The disc, which is currently exclusive to a five-film Jack Ryan box set, features new 2160p/Dolby Vision video. The UHD disc carries over the 2014 Blu-ray's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack and adds no new supplements.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit looks terrific on UHD. Though it's reportedly an upscale from a 2K digital intermediate, the image dazzles in terms of both its textural presentation and total image clarity. Unlike the previous four films in the Jack Ryan series -- The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, and The Sum of All Fears -- which offered very significant boosts in terms of textural precision and which delivered mostly radically different color grades under the Dolby Vision parameters when compared to their aging Blu-ray counterparts, Shadow Recruit is instead more of a fine-tuning of the image that was previously seen on the 1080p format. Textural clarity is improved, not to a significant degree but increases in sharpness and intimate depth and detail of various facial textures and other elements are readily evident and much appreciated in bringing out the movie's finest qualities. Likewise, clothing textures are more stout and revealing even at moderate distance from the camera. Dense city exteriors or office interiors are showcases for fine-tuned clarity. A few softer backgrounds appear throughout, inherent to the source.

The Dolby Vision color grading is likewise more of a refinement and less of a revelation or drastic alteration of the film's color palette. Saturation is improved, with more dense and detailed colors that really pop, everything from computer screen displays to Chris Pine's eyes. Skin tones appear more balanced and refined, a little less yellow and more firm and authentic. White brilliance and clarity is one of the true steps forward for the picture, as minor as it might be in the larger image construct. Black level depth and density are likewise improved, finding and enjoying deeper dark saturation without crushing out any details. There are no immediate concerns in terms of source or compression flaws with the exception of the very rare and extremely insignificant pop or speckle. This is a very nice image, but viewers should not expect a transformation when comparing it to the well received 2014 Blu-ray.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit's UHD disc carries over the same DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack as found on the 2014 Blu-ray. For a full audio review, please click here.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The UHD release of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit contains no new bonus content, but the disc does carry over the commentary track from the Blu-ray. It is buried in the language options rather than found under a "Special Features" tab. The disc's menu offers only options for "Play," "Settings," and "Scenes." The bundled Blu-ray does include the collection of previously released extras, including the aforementioned commentary. For convenience, below is a list of what's included. For full supplemental content coverage, please click here. An iTunes digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Audio Commentary: Director Kenneth Branagh and Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura.
• Jack Ryan: The Smartest Guy in the Room
• Sir Kenneth Branagh: The Tsar of Shadow Recruit
• Jack Ryan: A Thinking Man of Action
• Old Enemies Return
• Deleted & Extended Scenes

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit offers good, fundamental entertainment delivered by an almost completely hollow vessel. The story is weak and weary, wholly unoriginal and unimaginative. There are precious few surprises and the film plays out to conclusion just as one expects of a generic Action-Thriller. It's well acted and slickly assembled, but there ends its high points. Tom Clancy fans may be pleased with Chris Pine in the rebooted lead role but disappointed by just about everything else. Paramount's UHD release of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit delivers striking (upscaled) 4K/Dolby Vision visuals. The picture quality is more of a refinement than it is a radical departure from the Blu-ray, but the upgrade proves well worth the cost. Paramount has chosen not to upgrade the audio to Atmos or DTS:X, but the 7.1 lossless track is terrific as-is. No new supplements are included, but the UHD does offer (a somewhat buried) commentary track and the bundled Blu-ray carries over all of the 2014 release's extras. Recommended.