Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Kong: Skull Island 3D Blu-ray Movie Review

Warner Expands Its Catalog of Crippleware

Warner Brothers claims that it is still supporting the 3D format, but how seriously can we take that claim when the studio continues to shortchange 3D fans with inferior audio? Kong: Skull Island (or "K:SI") is the third title from Warner this year for which the studio has offered a Dolby Atmos track on the standard Blu-ray and UHD versions but removed it from the 3D disc. Repeated inquiries to the studio have failed to yield a satisfactory explanation for this pattern of omission. Either Warner is deliberately sabotaging its own 3D efforts, or the people making these technical decisions have no idea what they're doing. (The two theories aren't mutually exclusive.)

In the case of K:SI, the omission is especially galling, because the 3D presentation is so good and because the Atmos track offers such obvious sonic improvement over the lossless DTS track with which the 3D disc has been hobbled.

Kong: Skull Island 3D Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

(Note: Screenshots accompanying this review have been captured from the 2D disc. Additional 2D captures can be found here.)

The image on Warner's 1080p, MVC-encoded 3D Blu-ray displays all the strengths in sharpness, detail and color reproduction that are apparent on the standard Blu-ray. The 3D image, which was generated by post-processing, employs familiar 3D tricks such as having objects fly out of the screen at the viewer, including embers, rock fragments, seismic charges dropped from the air and, in one memorable moment, an object that could fairly be described as an oversized portion of calamari. The sense of depth enhances the illusion of multiple spatial planes in specific sequences like the flight of Col. Packard's helicopter squadron, as they swoop and hover over Skull Island in precise formation and are then scattered by Kong's attack. The giant spider that approaches from above and announces its deadly presence with legs and webbing that shoot down from overhead is even more threatening with the addition of the third dimension (and the creature's demise is even gooier).

But the real achievement of K:SI's 3D image lies less in its obvious pop-out moments than in its continuous expansion of the film's wondrous landscapes, especially those that weren't created in a computer. Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts routinely uses extreme long shots to emphasize the smallness of the human figures making their hazardous way through beautiful but forbidding terrain, and the 3D image gives these scenes such vivid depth that you feel as if you could step into them and join the expedition. Kong's mastery of these environs through sheer size as he towers over every creature around him is accentuated by the enhanced sense of space, and his epic battle with the queen "Skullcrawler", who is almost as big as Kong, has even greater scale and impact in 3D.

3D presentation is sometimes dismissed as a gimmick, and there have certainly been films where it added little to the experience. But K:SI is a sustained demonstration in the format's ability to enhance a film by drawing the viewer ever deeper into its imaginary world. It's just a shame that, in the case of K:SI (as with LEGO Batman and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), Warner has required Blu-ray purchasers to sacrifice a superior soundtrack as the price of entry to the 3D disc's magical realm.

Kong: Skull Island 3D Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

If you have never heard K:SI's Dolby Atmos track (or it's Dolby TrueHD 7.1 core), you are in a better position to enjoy the 3D disc's DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix, which is appropriately loud, active and aggressive and makes full use of all six speakers, including the subwoofer for low frequency effects (the ".1" in 5.1). The rear channels receive a serious workout, with unseen activity routinely announcing itself offscreen before whatever is causing the sound hurtles into view. Dialogue and music are clearly and effectively reproduced.

However . . . if you've heard the Atmos track, you quickly sense that something is missing in the 5.1 presentation. Its sounds don't glide through the listening space with the same fluidity provided by object-based processing. As active as the rear channels may be, their effects remain firmly behind the viewer, whereas the Atmos mix routinely slides these off-camera sounds hither and yon, so that you're less aware of specific speakers, because the sounds seem to be coming from everywhere and nowhere. The difference is immediately noticeable in the aerial battle that opens the film, which is heard but not seen, and the effect continues throughout the running time. K:SI's sound mix is a feature-length demonstration of the Atmos format's strengths, but Warner has refused to share it with 3D buyers. The 3D Blu-ray's audio score has been discounted accordingly.

Kong: Skull Island 3D Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 3D disc contains no extras. The included standard Blu-ray contains the extras discussed here.

Kong: Skull Island 3D Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

K:SI is a thrilling adventure, and it's even more so in 3D. Unfortunately, if you want to see that enhanced presentation, Warner forces you to accept a lesser soundtrack. Shame on them—and buyer beware.