Mad Max: Fury Road 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Mad Max: Fury Road 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

What a lovely...cover.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III October 2, 2020

More than four years after the standard 4K edition of George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road was released, Warner Bros. and Best Buy have collaborated on a Steelbook variant, now available in-store and online. Disc contents are identical, with the only real differences being exterior packaging design. With the standard edition still holding steady in price, this is a relatively low-risk collectible for those who don't own the film on 4K yet.

For a synopsis and appreciation of the film, please see Michael Reuben's review of the standard 4K edition as well as Kenneth Brown's earlier review of the Blu-ray. I'm in total agreement -- Mad Max: Fury Road is a fantastic slice of dystopian action and drama with some of the best practical stunt work ever captured on film.

Mad Max: Fury Road 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

For a critique of the 4K's 2160p transfer, please see our review of the standard 4K edition. This was one of Warner Bros.' very first 4K releases alongside Pan, The Lego Movie, and San Andreas; while it shows some room for improvement, Fury Road still offers a solid visual experience that proportionately beats the Blu-ray.

Mad Max: Fury Road 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For a critique of the Dolby Atmos mix (first made available on the 2007 Blu-ray), please refer to our review of that release. Also note that the 4K disc features different dubs and subtitles than the Blu-ray, which are listed above.

Mad Max: Fury Road 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All on-disc supplements are contained on the included Blu-ray and are detailed in our review of that release. Again, the only difference here is the exclusive Steelbook packaging.

• Steelbook Packaging - Opting for a simpler design than most recent Steelbooks (and recycling a few design elements from Titans of Cult's 4K Steelbook, released in June), Best Buy's exclusive is almost monochromatic in appearance and has a prominent rust-colored palette with a matte finish that does not attract fingerprints. Its bold front-cover design features a round "What A Lovely Day" emblem with distressed black marks surrounding it; the area surrounding this emblem is slightly debossed inside a half inch-wide rectangle frame that gives the front cover a very faint three-dimensional appearance. It looks quite nice in person and suits the film's rugged atmosphere without mirroring its prominently orange-and-blue color scheme.

  Everything else about this design, however is a little bland. The back cover maintains the rust motif but only offers small film credits at the bottom, while the interior print is darker brown and similarly plain except for graffiti-style text that repeats the front cover. It almost works but begs for more variety -- there's too much brown, gold, and unused space for my liking. But hey, the front cover looks cool and that's enough for me.

Mad Max: Fury Road 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road is a rightfully championed action film with blistering stunt sequences and an extremely memorable atmosphere. Although Warner Bros.' 4K edition was one of their very first and shows a little room for improvement -- not the mention that its Dolby Atmos mix is also featured on the Blu-ray -- it still remains the best available home video presentation. Given the standard 4K's current price tag of well over $20, this exclusive Best Buy 4K Steelbook is only a few bucks more and features a very nice design...on the front cover, at least.