Straight Outta Compton 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.5

Straight Outta Compton 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Straight Ontta 4K with excellent results.

Universal has released Director F. Gary Gray's fantastic 'Straight Outta Compton' to the UHD format. The disc features a fantastic 2160p/HDR video presentation and a new DTS:X Master Audio soundtrack. The package contains the Blu-ray issued back in January 2016, which houses all of the supplements (the commentary track is available on both discs).

Straight Outta Compton 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.

Straight Outta Compton's 4K presentation, upscaled to 4K from a 2K digital intermediate (and originally, according to IMDB, shot at 6K), delivers a hearty presentation that's a solid upgrade over Blu-ray. Overall image clarity and sharpness take a large upward swing. Most notable, perhaps, is its prominent glossy, smooth texturing. Even worn surfaces -- rough concrete, graffiti- and grime-covered walls -- tend to appear rather shiny, but never is the texture a detriment to details. In fact, textural clarity is excellent. Facial definition is a major highlight, with intimate elements very clearly visible with a complexity and inherent definition not available on the Blu-ray. Environments are supremely sharp and detailed. Urban textures like cracked concrete and pavement are finely reproduced, marking a clear-cut upgrade over the 1080p image.

Colors are much more intensely bright and deeply saturated here, too. There has been some discussion of the film's inherent coloring and its presentation on the UHD. Street lights against otherwise dark nighttime exteriors, for example, do give off something of a sickly yellow color, which is more pronounced on the UHD (and also visible in other places, too, like a post-concert meet-and-greet with a record label representative around the 45-minute mark). But unless both the UHD and Blu-ray are incorrectly color graded, this appears to be faithful to filmmaker intent. The palette is otherwise gorgeous. Whites are very bright and clean; the film's opening title card, for example, boasts extremely vibrant whites against an intensely dark backdrop. It's a gorgeous, eye-popping moment and some of the best raw color contrasting yet seen on a UHD. A white Dodgers jersey seen early in the film boasts a much improved sense of intensity over the Blu-ray, while the Dodger blue lettering shines with explosive vibrance. Police car lights are boldly pronounced, particularly contrasted against a relatively dark backdrop at the 23:30 mark (extended cut runtime which, by the way, was the cut viewed for the purpose of this review). Black levels are wonderful, finding another level of absorbing depth and density not seen on the Blu-ray while maintaining extremely strong shadow detail. Light source noise is visible in spots, but all told this makes for a fairly healthy upgrade over the previously released Blu-ray, which is itself a very good image but that cannot match the UHD for textural sharpness and clarity and color depth and vibrance.

Straight Outta Compton 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Straight Outta Compton's Blu-ray featured a wonderful DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 loses soundtrack, and it's no surprise that the DTS:X Master Audio presentation is just as brilliantly engineered and effective. The main difference, obviously, is that there's a greater sense of space and openness to this track; the additional back and overhead channels help better define environments, carry music, and offer additional room for variously traversing and imaged effects to shine. The film opens with one of the most pronounced examples of the track's newfound room. A chopper rumbles with a distinct overhead presence while police scanner chatter and news broadcast clips swirl around the stage with remarkable traversal and imaging. Sounds literally seem to emanate from everywhere and move anywhere; it's a wondrous example of today's surround technology. Environmental ambience is pleasantly open and engaging, drawing the listener into various locales with precision sound placement. Music is of course the major highlight. It stretches far, never wants for added clarity, and enjoys the fruits of a perfectly proportioned and intense low end support; bass is critical, of course, to getting the most out of the music, and this is a subwoofer-intensive track that also finds amazing balance to the low end push. Dialogue is clear, center focused, and well prioritized. This is a gem of a soundtrack from DTS and Universal.

Straight Outta Compton 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Straight Outta Compton's UHD disc contains no new extras. It does carry over the F. Gary Gray commentary track and offers both cuts of the film: the extended cut (2:46:44 runtime) and the theatrical cut (2:26:44). The bundled Blu-ray, identical to the previous release, contains all of the extra content. Below is a list of what's included thereon. For full supplemental reviews, please click here. A fresh Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Deleted Scenes
• Deleted Song Performance
• N.W.A. The Origins
• Impact
• Director's Journey
• The Streets: Filming in Compton
• N.W.A Performs in Detroit
• Becoming N.W.A.
• Audio Commentary

Straight Outta Compton 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Straight Outta Compton's UHD release offers a strong upgrade over the Blu-ray. Deeper blacks, more intense colors and brilliant whites, and increased sharpness and detail make the picture quality a standout improvement, even as it's sourced from a 2K digital intermediate. The DTS:X Master Audio soundtrack offer a nice improvement over the BD's 5.1 track, too. Highly recommended.