Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Mission: Impossible III 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Paramount has released the J.J. Abrams/Tom Cruise Action film 'Mission: Impossible III' to the UHD format. The disc replaces an aging Blu-ray which first released in 2007 with an MPEG-2 video encode and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. While this UHD adds no new extras, it does feature new 4K/Dolby Vision video and a new Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack.

Mission: Impossible III 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.

Seeing that the film's Blu-ray -- even as its was released more than a decade ago and encoded in the MPEG-2 format -- wasn't all that bad, certainly for its time and even today, there wouldn't appear to be room for the sort of massive leap forward from Blu-ray to UHD, as was the case with the first film, or even the moderate yet very successful 4K take on the second. Indeed, this UHD's textural improvements over the Blu-ray are more incremental than they are substantial. The image's refinements are there and not difficult to see, but they are not drastic. Take a look at the film's very first shot of a bloodied and bound Ethan Hunt, his face filling the right half of the screen. The UHD offers a refined and very strong image here. It's organically and complimentary grainy, skin textures are finely complex, blood and sweat are clearly visible, and the colors are bold and accurate, down to the finest, slightest gradations. But it's not a huge leap from the 1080p image, at least texturally. The modest boost in sharpness is obvious, but not substantial. And so remains the quality of the entire image: visual excellence, but not a major leap upward from the Blu-ray. Look at a number of headstones seen during an establishing shot for a funeral scene around the 30-minute mark. The increase in sharpness and clarity are obvious, but not massive. That doesn't make this image a disappointment. "Refinement" has often been the case with the UHD jump, and that's definitely the word to use here.

On this disc, the improvements brought by the Dolby Vision color enhancement are more substantial than the image's textural qualities. Take a look at a scene in a convenience store early in the film. The multitude of colors, even if they're not the scene's focal point, are much more refined on the UHD. While they are not garish on the Blu-ray, the UHD adds a new level of depth and accuracy -- even under the harsh store lighting -- that gives the scene a much more balanced, a more tonally even, appearance. Skin tones enjoy a healthy improvement as well, appearing a bit warmer but naturally so. Black levels are a strength, and whites dazzle, particularly various title cards. The image does reveal a handful of pops and speckles here and there and a few shots appear intermittently and inherently soft (such as shots of Laurence Fishburne during his revealing scene), but source and encode flaws are not particularly problematic. While this disc doesn't offer a significant improvement from the Blu-ray, it's certainly a much better image overall, and it makes for a solid, if not a bit ordinary (meaning it hits the baseline for quality), UHD.

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

Mission: Impossible III originally released on Blu-ray with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Paramount has replaced that with a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack for the film's UHD debut, foregoing the opportunity to offer a more expansive 7.1 lossless or Atmos presentation. While the track is an improvement over the Blu-ray, it's not quite as robust and dynamic as it might have been. Action scenes do offer plenty of strongly defined surround support details. Chaotic elements scream through the stage with impressive zip and zoom and width and depth and stretch along both axes. Gunfire and explosions lack that last little push into the "thunderous" category, though, failing to really punch as hard as possible. Action scenes are very enjoyable, but they're not quite at reference levels with the bass just a little too tame, a touch too flat, for that. Environmental elements are crisply defined and organically inserted. Music follows much the same presentation standards as the action. It's loud, fidelity is terrific, but it's just a tad short on low end engagement and intensity. Dialogue is clear and refined with natural front-center placement and seamless prioritization.

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

Mission: Impossible III's UHD disc contains no supplements beyond regurgitating the audio commentary track, but the pair of bundled Blu-ray discs, identical to those released back in 2007 (disc artwork is different), bring over all of the previously released content. For convenience, below is a list of what's included on that disc. For full supplemental reviews, please click here. A UV/iTunes digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Audio Commentary (Disc One): Actor Tom Cruise and Director J.J. Abrams.
• The Making of the Mission
• Inside the IMF
• Mission Action: Inside the Action Unit
• Visualizing the Mission
• Mission: Metamorphosis
• Scoring the Mission
• Moviefone Unscripted: Tom Cruise/J.J. Abrams
• Launching the Mission
• Deleted Scenes
• Theatrical Trailers
• TV Spots
• Photo Gallery
• Excellence in Film

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

Mission: Impossible III remains this reviewer's favorite film in the franchise to date. Abrams finds just the right balance between the first film's faithfulness to the source and blend of old school-meets new school action and John Woo's fun, but tonally offset, action-packed sequel. Paramount's UHD release is solid, but in no way spectacular. The image offers a modest textural boost and a more substantial improvement to color. The TrueHD track is good-not-great, and it remains disappointing that it, and the others, were not remixed to Dolby Atmos. No new extras are included but this three-disc set does carry over all previously released content. Recommended.