Mysteries of Ancient China 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		5.0

Mysteries of Ancient China 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 26, 2019

Mysteries of China is a quick-fire historical recreation and discussion of the country's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, set against the story of the famous "Terracotta Army" that was unearthed in 1974. The film aims to balance the tale of the emperor's life and exploits, what his Terracotta Army says of his reign and conquests, and how his rule and the changes he implemented over the land would come to shape modern-day China. The film is not particularly noteworthy. It's a little stale in presentation. It lacks the grace of other big-screen films and the photography doesn't awe on the small screen, which truly great examples of the format still achieve. Even as the subject is fascinating and the access to the Army is unprecedented, the film can't take advantage of its opportunities to form into something special.

The film opens with a look at a new, bold, modern China, which the film states was founded in the shadow of an ancient and storied culture with millennia of rich history behind it. Perhaps none of that history meant more to modern China than the time when the land was conquered and ruled by the first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, whose million-man army unified the land and whose various decrees -- such as modernizing the writing system -- would fundamentally progress the nation to its status as a world power today. The film explores his rule by way of an examination of the famous “Terracotta Army,” unearthed by Chinese peasants in 1974. As the film explores the find’s significance to Chinese culture and history and what it says of the emperor who commissioned it as well as his tactics in battle, it does look more closely at the imposingly large figures themselves, including the unique details and facial expressions that make each soldier an individual.

Avery Brooks (of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fame) narrates the film with a steadfast, reliable cadence. Brooks plays up the film’s dramatic elements and the dynamic history that surrounds the Terracotta Army. The film incorporates a number of historically recreated scenes that take viewers back to both the Qin dynasty and, much more recently, to 1974 when the Terracotta Army was first unearthed. The film offers a simply presented and scripted history lesson that is insightful, but not groundbreaking, that shares information but doesn’t do so in a truly dynamic fashion. It plays flat, sharing details but never bringing them to life.

Mysteries of Ancient China 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.

Much like the film is a bit flat and uninspiring, so too is Mysteries of China's 1080p Blu-ray presentation. The film begins with a good bit of obvious banding across several skies, both daytime and nighttime. Banding is never a constant problem, but its presence and quantity at the beginning is an issue that certainly downgrades the picture. The image is also a bit noisy inside the earthen museum where the warriors reside today. Those issues aside, the picture, which was primarily shot on a Sony F65 8K digital camera, delivers suitably crisp and detailed textures. A shot of the Great Wall in chapter two is particularly striking, while imagery at the recreated dig site or the museum as it exists today find high yield textural elegance on the various statues and earthy remnants. Color reproduction is excellent, whether considering the earthy statues or more dynamic natural greens or a blitz of colors in the high speed modern day footage that opens the film.

The UHD disc offers a fairly substantial upgrade. It includes the option to choose to view the film with either HDR or SDR colors, the latter of which offers a textural boost but no major change to colors. The former is certainly the way to go. The HDR colors are incredibly rich, bringing a new, dramatic life to the film that boasts very clear, clean, rich colors at the open, critical in bringing the dazzling sights of an ultra-modern China to the screen. The added depth, brilliance, clarity, the overall vividness is striking both when watching straight through after viewing the Blu-ray and in conducting a direct comparison. This is one of the more effective uses of HDR on the market. It's a perfectly tuned boost that remains true to the tonal foundations but brings an exceptionally more vibrant, rich, and nuanced offering that the Blu-ray simply cannot reproduce. Textural increases are also obvious. Adds to sharpness and overall detail are often striking, giving nearly every inch of every frame a much more stable, realistic appearance. The banding that was an issue on the Blu-ray disc is all but eliminated here. Some noise does remain in low light shots, but the UHD largely clears up the most egregious problems that hold back an otherwise solid Blu-ray that does play down in comparison to the greatly superior UHD/HDR disc.

Mysteries of Ancient China 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mysteries of China features a Dolby Atmos soundtrack which is shared between each version. It's a large track meant to match the visuals' size, scope, and splendor. Indeed, it's big but not overly boomy. Avery Brooks' narration is consistently audible and detailed, presenting with strong, muscular clarity and grounded center positioning, even if it seems to play above the speaker rather than inside of it. Music spreads wide across both axes and presents with faultless instrumental clarity and positive, weighty, complimentary low end in support. A few location atmospherics, some more prominent than others in various historical recreations, enjoy good, firm stage placement and definition. The overhead channels offer nothing that is plainly discrete at the top end, but the added immersion, particularly in terms of musical output, is most welcome.

Mysteries of Ancient China 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Mysteries of China's packaging claims it includes "exclusive interviews" and "behind the scenes footage," each receiving its own bullet point. Apparently that is a breakdown of the single supplement included, though it reads like multiples are to be found. Regardless, both the Blu-ray and UHD discs offer the same material, with the difference being that the trailers are in 2160p/SDR on the UHD disc. A digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• Behind the Scenes (1080p, 10:04): Producer/Director Keith Melton discusses the project's lengthy origins and development and the real history that inspired the movie and recreating it for the film. He speaks about the major attraction that the terracotta warriors have become. Also covered is photography and additional technical details, using scenes from The Last Emperor, working with Top Production Pictures and earning government approval, crafting a script, the predominantly Chinese cast and crew, post production work, and more.
• Trailers (1080p/SDR or 2160p/SDR, 8:55 total runtime Blu-ray, 8:54 total runtime UHD): Included are trailers for Flight of the Butterflies, Humpback Whales, Journey to Space, Rocky Mountain Express, The Last Reef, and Wonders of the Arctic.

Mysteries of Ancient China 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mysteries of China is a good foundational program that offers little of interest beyond some of the intimate images of the Terracotta Army. But rather than spend the majority of its runtime studying that amazing focal point, they serve as necessary pillars in a larger history about how the Qin dynasty helped shape China as it exists today. It's not at all the pinnacle of big screen, large format documentaries, but history buffs should find it to be an agreeable outing. Shout! Factory's Blu-ray/UHD combo release features good 1080p video, terrific 2160p/HDR UHD output, and a well-rounded and complimentary Atmos soundtrack. Supplements are limited to a 10-minute making-of and a handful of trailers. Recommended.