Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Salt 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Mildly Seasoned

Reviewed by Michael Reuben March 4, 2016

Big-budget action films are a staple when introducing a format, especially if they've been as successful as Phillip Noyce's 2010 Salt starring Angelina Jolie. Salt had a preposterous story, but so do most action thrillers. What typically distinguishes them is skilled direction and a protagonist (and star) who catch and hold your interest. Salt had both, and now it's part of Sony's first batch of UHD 4K releases.

My colleague Martin Liebman has already detailed the tricky path to playing a UHD disc in one's home theater, and as previously noted in my review of Mad Max: Fury Road 4K, I have little to add except a warning to anyone who isn't a dyed-in-the-wool early adopter to wait for a better quality player than the overpriced Samsung UBD-K8500. Playing Salt 4K required a now- familiar ritual of initiating and re-initiating (and re-re-initiating) the HDMI handshake between Samsung's player and a Sony XBR-75X940C, despite the stated compliance of both devices with all applicable standards. The process is becoming more familiar, but it isn't getting any easier.

Screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Although I am a less enthusiastic fan of Salt than Marty, I recommend his review of the 2010 Blu-ray for an informative and spoiler-free analysis of what makes the film worth seeing. The feature score for this UHD review has been copied from Marty's 2010 write-up.

Salt 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Salt stands out in this first batch of UHD releases, because it was shot on film rather than digitally (by the great Robert Elswit, an Oscar winner for There Will Be Blood). If IMDb is to be believed, Salt was finished on a 4K digital intermediate, which should make it an ideal candidate for demonstrating the superior resolution of UHD. That is not the case, however. It may be that, once we are able to capture 4K screenshots, an A/B comparison of still images from the Blu-ray and the UHD will reveal better sharpness and detail in the latter, but the immediate impression from watching the two versions in motion, one after the other, is that they are both excellent images. In part, this is a tribute to the quality of Salt's Blu-ray, which is superb, and it may also reflect the film's cinematography, which has many dark sequences and relies more on closeups and medium shots than large vistas. But at least in the current state of UHD viewing, with all the limitations detailed in these early reviews, I did not feel that I was seeing a more tactile, life-like or absorbing image.

A more noticeable difference, however, is supplied by the HDR encoding, primarily in the form of enhanced contrast and blacks that are just a shade deeper. Salt's palette is relatively realistic, without the kind of intense, saturated colors that occur in a fantastical setting like the wasteland of Mad Max: Fury Road. It speaks well for Sony's handling of the title that the film's original colors have been respected and not intensified for unnatural "pop". The enhanced contrast provides a touch of additional clarity to the film's action scenes, especially when the editing pace accelerates, and the enhanced blacks contribute to the thriller mood, but the difference is incremental and does not rise to the level of a DVD/Blu-ray comparison.

As I noted in reviewing Fury Road 4K, video scores are necessarily provisional at this stage of the game, but I see no reason to rank Salt's UHD any lower than its Blu-ray, which received a 4.5.

Salt 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Salt was not released in Dolby Atmos, and the 2010 Blu-ray featured a robust 5.1 track encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA. For its UHD debut, however, Salt has been given an Atmos makeover, which, to my ears, is more form than substance. As described in Marty's review, the original track was a powerful and well-balanced sonic assault, featuring wide dynamic range, deep bass extension and intense surround activity. The Atmos track features (maybe) a little more air and a slightly expanded soundstage, but it's not as if the mix has been "reinvented". Switch to the Blu-ray's original mix, and the big scenes still pack the same punch.

Salt 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Who here remembers MGM's corner-cutting Blu-ray releases, where they omitted all the DVD extras from the Blu-ray disc, but tossed in a copy of the fully loaded DVD as compensation? It was better to have the extras than not, but switching discs to get to them was a nuisance. Sony has done much the same thing with Salt. The 2010 Blu-ray featured major extras: three (3) cuts of the film, each with distinctive differences and the option to play the non-theatrical versions with a marker designating changed scenes; a commentary in which those versions were discussed; a picture-in-picture option with interviews and behind-the-scenes footage; and seven featurettes of varying length that, in total, provided a comprehensive overview of making the film. And that's not even counting BD-Live, the now-abandoned "MovieIQ" capability and a gallery of trailers. (A more detailed description the extras can be found in the 2010 Blu-ray review.)

On the UHD? Just the commentary, ma'm. If you want to see Noyce's director's cut or the "extended version" that ends differently and, according to the commentary, was the initial version of Salt, then you'll have to change discs. Ditto if you want to learn about the stunts, casting, costumes and how the script was reconceived for a female protagonist to accommodate Jolie, who, when she was asked by Sony Pictures to appear as a Bond girl, responded that she wasn't interested because she'd rather be playing Bond.

Salt is one of those discs where the extras truly add to the experience of the film. If studios want UHD to succeed, they'd better start porting over those extras to UHD instead of forcing users who want to see them to load up the Blu-ray, especially for a film like Salt where the image improvement isn't dramatic. Because of the handling of the extras, I have lowered the score from 4.0 for the Blu-ray to 2.5 for the UHD. (If one were scoring the UHD disc sold singly, the number would be lower.)

Salt 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Salt is good example of a film that is only marginally improved by the transition to UHD—and if you like alternate cuts and extras, the UHD is a step backwards. The disc will probably sell, because there's so little to choose from at this point, but it's not one I would rush to acquire, especially if you already have the Blu-ray.