Silverado 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.5

Silverado 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

"I don't wanna kill you, and you don't wanna be dead."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown September 26, 2025

Sony first released writer/director Lawrence Kasdan and co-writer Mark Kasdan's fleet-footed 'Silverado' on Blu-ray in 2009 via a well-reviewed, well-received DigiBook edition. Now, the studio returns to the classic 1985 western with a striking new spit-shined 4K UltraHD Blu-ray release, complete with Dolby Atmos audio, most of the previous edition's extras, and SteelBook packaging. The film stars a who's who cast that includes Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Danny Glover, John Cleese, Rosanna Arquette, Brian Dennehy, Linda Hunt, Jeff Goldblum, Todd Allen, Richard Jenkins, Walter Scott, James Gannon, Jeff Fahey, Amanda Wyss and Brion James.

"Me, I'm riding along, minding my own business. Four cowboys come by and we decide to ride together for a while, friendly as can be. I always figure you might as well approach life like everybody's your friend or nobody is; don't make much difference. We get out in the middle of that frying pan and suddenly everybody's pointing their gun but me. I guess they admired my horse... the whole rig. I don't care much about the rest, but I surely will miss that bay. Least they didn't kill me. That was right considerate, I thought. They were laughing when they left me. Thought it was real funny. I walked for a little while but there was no use, so I gave it up. Figured it was just bad luck."

Silverado tells the story of four gunslingers that find themselves banding together to free a small frontier town from corruption. Emmett (Scott Glenn), recently freed from prison, is on his way to California but first must bust his brother Jake (Kevin Costner) out of prison before he's executed. On his way, Emmett stumbles across a man named Paden (Kevin Kline) who has recently been robbed and left for dead on the desert floor. The two team up and head to Turley where Emmett finds his brother, Paden finds the man who took his horse, and they both meet Mal (Danny Glover), a black man that's denied service at a local saloon because of the color of his skin. Eventually, the four team up and head to Silverado for their own reasons: Emmett and Jake to say goodbye to their family before heading off to California; Mal to reunite with his father; and Paden to consider an opportunity with the town's sheriff, Cobb (Brian Dennehy). Instead of finding peace and quiet, they discover a town on the edge and under the thumb of corruption. Will they band together to save the town of Silverado or put themselves first and ignore the troubles that they've unwittingly walked into?

Click here to read the rest of Martin Liebman's review of the film, which he says "recalls the genre at its most basic, embracing a happy-go-lucky, tongue-in-cheek, rough-and-tumble, goodhearted approach to its material, presenting a serious story in a semi-serious tone thanks to its insistence on reveling in the classic themes that made the genre great." Adding, "every character plays their parts seriously but with a twinkle in their eye that reinforces the film's oddball yet incredibly alluring and highly entertaining concoction of serious Western with tongue-in-cheek undertones."

Silverado 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

I'd be the first to tell anyone to never, ever, ever rely on good screenshots when evaluating a 4K or Blu-ray video presentation. But if you'll allow for some shameless hypocrisy, even for just a moment... my God, take a minute and peruse the screengrabs attached to this review. Go on. I'll wait. Enlarge any one of those images and you're not only in for a treat, you're getting just a taste of what's in store when it comes to Sony's 4K 2160p outstanding restoration and video transfer. Created using a meticulous scan of the original 35mm negative, the studio's wholly faithful yet stunningly renewed presentation is quite easily one of the best catalog video presentations of the year, if not the entirety of the 4K format. Leaps and bounds beyond the already impressive 2009 Blu-ray, the image is awash with rich, lovely, perfectly saturated colors and lifelike fleshtones. You can thank the Dolby Vision enhancements if you'd like, but really this is color timing (or perhaps retiming) at its finest. Primaries pop. The bright blues of the desert skies pierce the picture. Reds erupt and earthtones deliver. Black levels are deep and inky, yet delineation is revealing in every instance and exactly as forgiving or oppressive as it was originally meant to be. Contrast is flawless too, and detail is simply top tier. I can hardly believe I just watched a film from 1985, much less am sitting here rewatching to remind myself just how magnificent it all looks. Textures are razor sharp, filmic grain is present, consistent and unobtrusive, edges are crisp without any signs of ringing, and every bit of stubble and palpable, nearly touchable swath of fabric is as striking as those screenshots suggest. Add to that a complete lack of banding, macroblocking, digital noise, print blemish or any other issue and you have, hands down, a video transfer that should earn Silverado a place on any Best of 2025 list come year's end. I can't recommend this 4K beaut any more emphatically.

Silverado 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Silverado's Dolby Atmos mix is also more stirring and immersive than most catalog remixes. Heaping audio perfection atop video flawlessness, Sony's track delivers in every regard, with Bruce Broughton's soaring musical score emerging as the highlight of the track. Dialogue is crystal clear and always intelligible, fidelity is outstanding, and prioritization is precise and so remarkable as to make one forget they're watching a movie. LFE output adds plenty of kick too, with shootouts faring especially well and the heavy hoof-beats of horses register as thunderclaps. The soundfield is even better, with enveloping ambience, deadly directional effects that sometimes ricochet across every speaker, and enough spatial expansion to make the windy deserts and bustling small towns sound every bit as real and believable as a fan could hope for. Looking over my notes, I haven't recorded a single scene or sequence that disappointed in the slightest and, again, cannot express just how respectful Sony's efforts prove to be and just how affecting the results. Silverado has never sounded better. I can't fathom a day when it ever will again.

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

Well, that's strange. The 2009 Blu-ray DigiBook release of Silverado included a wonderful audio commentary with film historians and professors Frank Thompson, Paul Hutton (UNM), and Steve Aaron (UCLA)... and here it's MIA. Sony was also the studio behind the first BD edition so I can't imagine why the commentary has been left on the cutting room floor, but sure enough, it's nowhere to be found. Otherwise, the rest of the previously released material is included, so I guess that's something.

• A Return to Silverado with Kevin Costner (SD, 21 minutes) - The first of two central extras ported from the previous Blu-ray release, this featurette finds Costner reminiscing about his time on set and the lessons he learned from Kasdan; lessons he would go on to apply to his own westerns when he became a director. He also recalls the westerns of his childhood with a gleam in his eye, making it clear just how much love the Dances with Wolves helmer holds for film.

• The Making of Silverado (SD, 37 minutes) - Another lengthy extra ported from the 2009 release is "The Making of Silverado, a more traditional behind-the-scenes production doc that explores everything from the film's influences to its casting, locations, shoot and release. The only downside is it's yet another vintage extra, meaning there isn't anything in the way of newly produced retrospectives to be had. An audio commentary, a roundtable or a proper revisit would have been a real boon. Ah well, beggars can't be choosers I suppose.

• Original Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2 minutes)

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

Silverado remains a tried and true western classic and has every right to live on among the best and brightest the genre has to offer. More fun and light on its feet than others, it also has plenty of heart and humor on tap. By the time guns are drawn, shootouts clear streets and the film's riveting third act grows more serious, you'll actually care who lives and who dies, and that's saying something. Sony's 4K UltraHD Blu-ray release is somehow even better, with one of the best catalog restorations and video transfers of the year and fantastic Atmos audio. The only place the new SteelBook edition falls short is its supplemental package, which offers nothing new and fails to port over the audio commentary from the 2009 DigiBook. Still, it doesn't get much better than this. Silverado's 4K release comes highly, highly recommended.