Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.5

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Paramount has released the Brad Bird/Tom Cruise Action film 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol' to the UHD format. The disc replaces an excellent 2012 Blu-ray. While this UHD adds no new extras and simply ports over the existing Dolby TrueHD 7.1 lossless soundtrack, it does feature new 4K/Dolby Vision video.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Wow. This is a relatively new movie that makes the transition to UHD with a leap and a bound over the previously released, and excellent, Blu-ray. The image just takes over the screen and dominates the viewing area like few others. The intensity of color, the precision of detail, the cinematic texturing...everything about it immediately screams "reference." While the previously released Blu-ray aced the 1080p format, this UHD reveals there was much room for improvement. Textural bounties are substantial and an honest upward movement from 1080p. Skin tones are much more refined, with greater depth to pores, complexity of fine lines, and more able revealing of of sweat, blood, and the like. Clothing textures are wonderfully presented, with special mention going to dense fabric Russian military uniforms that are critical to a sequence in the first act. The clarity of lines and detail of adornments are superb, and the tactile nature of the fabric really stands out; it would almost be a surprise to touch the television and feel glass rather than material. The film takes place across a number of different environments, including many dense city locations where the image finds, grabs, and reveals every little micro-texture, near the screen and far from it, with amazing clarity. Granular presentation is constant and very agreeable. It's largely evenly distributed and lends to the image a first-class filmic texturing that, even on a (relatively small) 65" screen absolutely recreates the feel of being in a well maintained first-run cinema.

Yet for as big an impact as the add to textural definition may be, it's the Dolby Vision color palette that makes all the difference. This is a brilliant, almost at times blinding, presentation. Every scene finds a significant boost to color vibrance and nuance alike. The 12-bit Dolby Vision coloring manages to intensify the palette, even in darker scenes, yet still maintain tonal balance and expert contrast. Every color, even bland grays, enjoy a significant increase in saturation and accuracy. Whites are perhaps the greatest beneficiary. The added pronouncement to white levels is incredible. Look at a shot at the 15:40 mark where Simon Pegg's character is racing down a staircase, surrounded by a fairly large amount of screen-filling white paint around a gray staircase and large off-gray and light blue circular support accents. The absolute increase in brilliance is astonishing, and flipping back and forth to conduct an A-B comparison is a near-blinding experience when the input is switched to the UHD. The Dolby Vision take on the scene looks so much more alive in the shot, and in pretty much every other place in the film, too. Bolder colors never move away from that balance between firm saturation and stability and great intensity. Black levels are superb, inky and refined yet still much more alive and healthy than the Blu-ray. The new and improved color density and shine is breathtaking. The one, very minor, drawback is that a few shots are so brilliant as to border on being overpowering and maybe a touch artificial or plastic-y, but such are few and far between: this is an absolutely stellar UHD release from Paramount.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unlike the previous three Mission: Impossible films to receive UHD releases, Ghost Protocol does not include a new soundtrack. It simply recycles the same (excellent) 7.1 Dolby TrueHD lossless presentation from the 2012 Blu-ray. For a full audio review, please click here.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol's UHD disc contains no supplements, but the pair of bundled Blu-ray discs, identical to those released back in 2012, bring over all of the previously released content. For convenience, below is a list of what's included on the Blu-ray bonus disc. For full supplemental reviews, please click here. A UV/iTunes digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Mission Accepted -- Suiting Up in Prague
• Mission Accepted -- Heating Up in Dubai
• Mission Accepted -- Vancouver Fisticuffs
• Impossible Missions -- The Russian Prison
• Impossible Missions -- Shooting in IMAX
• Impossible Missions -- Art Department
• Impossible Missions -- A Roll of Film
• Impossible Missions -- Life Masks
• Impossible Missions -- Stepping Into the Storm
• Impossible Missions -- The Sandstorm
• Impossible Missions -- Dubai Car Crash
• Impossible Missions -- Lens on the Burj
• Impossible Missions -- Props
• Impossible Missions -- Composer
• Deleted Scenes
• Trailers

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ghost Protocol is another entertaining Mission: Impossible film -- one of the best of the five (and soon to be six) -- and its UHD release is top-class. The new 2160p/Dolby Vision native 4K presentation is a striking example of the format's capabilities, even in bringing new life to a relatively new movie that has already seen an A-grade Blu-ray. No new audio or extras are included, but both are already great as-is (still a shame about the Atmos absence). Highly recommended.