Step Brothers 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

Step Brothers 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Sony has released the popular Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly 2008 Comedy hit 'Step Brothers' to the UHD format. The release boasts a new 2160p/HDR video transfer and a new Dolby Atmos soundtrack. No new extras are included, but this three-disc set does carry over the two Blu-ray discs that originally released back in 2008.

The Showdown.

Step Brothers 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.

Step Brothers was shot on film but reportedly finished at 2K. The resultant upscaled 4K/HDR UHD presentation is nonetheless very good, featuring a steady, complimentary grain structure that rarely fluctuates in intensity. The image is handsomely filmic for the duration. Clarity is excellent throughout, with no soft spots or poorly resolved details to be seen. Textural abundance is commonplace, with skin details a particular highlight. Much of the film takes place indoors, and detailing is quite good in these scenes, but it's exterior, bright and sunny scenes where the image shines. The Mixer sequence towards film's end is one of the visual highlights for both detail and color. Here, skin details are revealed with striking clarity and depth, clothing textures are super-crisp, and environmental details, like drums, umbrellas, tables, and wine glasses, feature high yield sharpness and definition. The 11-year-old Blu-ray was certainly no slouch in terms of textural complexity and film-like delivery, but the UHD's added resolution does enhance the image from top-to-bottom, albeit not to any great extreme.

The more significant departure comes by way of the HDR color grading. The film's already fairly warm color palette is rendered a little more so here, with flesh tones that often push towards a flush, orange shading. The HDR colors generally both deepen shades while presenting with more brightness overall. Added stability to blue skies, natural greens, clothes, and accents around various locations -- the Doback house, a therapist's office, various job interview sites -- find greatly improved color intensity without appearing jarringly intense. Sony has found a sweet spot color presentation, taking a movie that's inherently warm and contrasty and reached just the right add to color brilliance to bring every shade to life without tinkering with the film's overall look and feel. Add more intense whites and improved black level depth and shadow detail and this is easily the new, definitive home video version of Step Brothers.

An interesting aside to the review: the original Blu-ray.com review of the 2008 release includes screenshots measuring at 2.39:1 while those accompanying this review, sourced form the 1080p disc included with the 4K release, measure at 2.40:1. Sony has included what appears to be the exact same Blu-ray as it was released in 2008. I also took screenshots from my own copy of the 2008 disc and compared them with this release and they are by every account identical. It's unclear why the review of the 2008 disc measures a pixel differently. Note that test shots were taken from the 2008 and this 2018 release from both the theatrical and extend cuts and everything measured out at 2.40:1. For all intents and purposes, though, these are the same discs. The variance likely occurred somewhere in the screenshot chain and not at the source.

Step Brothers 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This UHD release of Step Brothers includes an all-new Dolby Atmos soundtrack, replacing the 2008 disc's TrueHD 5.1 track (also included here is an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, in addition to a myriad of alternative language and subtitle options. This review's sole focus will be on the Atmos presentation). Though it's certainly not unusual to find Comedies that frequently match, or exceed, Action films for raw sonic intensity, depth, movement, and immersion, Step Brothers' track is fairly straightforward, with the added rear and top-layer channels usually only helping to solidify immersion and create a more seamless listening environment rather than enhance any serious, high-charge sound effects. The track doesn't really engage in full-blown sonic intensity until a heavy-beat tune in chapter seven when the stepbrothers go to interview for a job...in tuxedos in one of the film's funnier segments and one of its more prominent listening spots. The low end depth and wide and deep stage engagement is a treat that helps highlight the comical overtones. Good ambient effects appear in several locations, such as mild musical background atmosphere in a posh restaurant in chapter 10, followed by some very impressive, comically amplified microphone reverberation minutes later, which might be the best example of spacious openness in the film, at least until the Catalina Wine Mixer towards film's end. When required, the track proudly and prominently opens up with impressively seamless immersion, but it's usually content to deliver the basics with unflinching clarity and proper stage positioning, such as when Brennan plays with Dale's drums and chaos ensues, considering both the drumming and the scrum to follow. Dialogue drives the film, and it plays with proper front-center placement, lifelike clarity, and unflinching prioritization.

Step Brothers 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

For this UHD release of Step Brothers, Sony has included both Blu-ray discs as they released in 2008, which carry all of the supplemental content. The UHD's only "extra" is a tab featuring cast and crew still photos (2160p/HDR). Also of note is that the UHD does offer both the Theatrical (2160p/HDR, 1:37:47) and Unrated (2160p/HDR, 1:45:31) cuts of the film. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase. This release ships with a non-embossed slipcover. For convenience, find below a list of what's included on each Blu-ray disc. For full supplemental reviews, please click here.

Blu-ray Disc One (Feature Film):

• Audio Commentary: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, and Adam McKay with special guest Baron David, scored by Jon Brian.
• Boats 'N Hoes Music Video Editor
• Deleted Scenes
• Extended & Alternate Scenes
• Previews: Additional Sony titles.

• Line-O-Rama
• Gag Reel
• Job Interviews
• Therapy
• Prestige Worldwide Full Presentation
• Boats 'N Hoes Music Video
• Dale vs. Brennan
• The Making of Step Brothers
• The Music of Step Brothers
• Charlyne Moves In
• L'amour En Caravane
• Red Band Trailer

Step Brothers 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Step Brothers finds a middle ground between classic 80s Comedy beats and more modern and crude humor. The film is imperfect, and there's always a feel that the filmmakers could have achieved more with the concept, but the pairing of Ferrell and Reilly carries the film to success, more so than they would find in some future endeavors. Sony's UHD release of Step Brothers is the new definitive home video presentation. Strong 2160p/HDR video content is the highlight while the new Atmos soundtrack, while not a revelation, offers a firmer, more immersive listening experience. No new extras are included, but this set does carry over all the content from the previous two-disc Blu-ray set. Recommended.