7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Documentary | 100% |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.43:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Digital copy
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Hell On Wheels: The Complete Fifth Season is due relatively soon on Blu-ray, the first volume in what supposedly brings the long simmering AMC drama to a close. Shows like Hell on Wheels and older series like the little remembered Dale Robertson outing The Iron Horse celebrated America’s love with train travel and perhaps more saliently the development of the whole rail industry. As I mentioned in the Hell On Wheels: The Complete First Season Blu-ray review, growing up in Utah meant that knowledge of the transcontinental railway was a regular part of one’s school life, including regular field trips to Promontory Point, where the so-called Golden Spike was pounded into the tracks, completing the link between the east and west coasts. The “romance” of the American rail system’s fascinating history may dull us to the fact that other continent spanning nations, like our neighbors to the north, had their own adventures in creating rail lines meant to link distant cities. Rocky Mountain Express, one of two Shout! Factory releases of IMAX offerings (the other being Flight of the Butterflies 4K +3D), chronicles just one “small” piece of Canada’s rail “puzzle”, albeit an extremely treacherous if simultaneously gorgeously scenic one. The United States’ own rail history plays into the story at one point, since a perilous decision to route Canada’s own tracks further south than some argued for was made to directly challenge any American attempts to usurp Canadian rail passengers.
Rocky Mountain Express 4K is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of Shout! Factory with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 1.78:1. As
with previous Shout! 4K UHD releases, the label has gone the extra mile by also providing HDR and SDR viewing options. Watching Rocky Mountain
Express with HDR is a subtly but noticeably different experience, with deeper, truer blacks and better delineations in elements like the tones of green
in the vast foliage the train careens through. There's often breathtaking clarity and depth of field in the many wide vistas on display. There's also a
noticeable uptick in (admittedly rare) instances of fine detail, as in a printed steel plate on the front of the steam engine in an early scene. There's some
very minor and transitory banding on display in the very lightest gradients. Also, minor judder is prevalent in quicker pans and some aerial shots,
though more languid pans offer no discernable anomalies.
For a few more thoughts on the 1080p presentation of Rocky Mountain Express, please see my Rocky Mountain Express Blu-ray review.
Rocky Mountain Express features a great sounding Dolby Atmos track (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 core), one which supports the front and center proclivities of the voice over narration, while also providing an extremely wide spread for elements like the enjoyable score and effects like the click-a-clack of the train riding the rails. There are a number of nicely done effects, all of which receive great spatial placement due to the engagement of the Atmos speakers. Especially redolent are several moments when the train either enters or exits various tunnels, where there's a really appealing "whoosh" that clearly pans over the listener, and is so forceful it almost changes the air pressure in the room.
Both the 4K UHD disc and the standard 1080p Blu-ray disc included in this package contain the same supplements:
Rocky Mountain Express 4K is gloriously scenic and it contains a lot of admittedly interesting information, but it's a surface deep experience and is therefore best seen as an introduction to its subject rather than an encyclopedic overview. Director Stephen Low's self confessed obsession with railroads infuses this piece with a certain sense of wonder, but the documentary probably would have been better served by a longer running time and a bit more of an examination about both the engineering challenges as well as what was evidently a gaggle of extremely eccentric characters involved in the construction. Technical merits are first rate, and Rocky Mountain Express 4K comes Recommended.
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