The Accountant 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

The Accountant 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Doesn't Add Up

Warner's UHD release of The Accountant joins the growing list of 4K titles that seem almost purposely designed to provoke a collective shrug about the nascent format. It's not a bad disc; it just doesn't offer any noteworthy improvements over the already-impressive Blu-ray. Those who have invested in a UHD setup may enjoy the prospect of expanding their collection, but The Accountant certainly won't inspire newcomers to venture onto the bleeding edge of home theater technology. Warner already missed the opportunity for such a "killer app" when it withheld from UHD the IMAX version of Sully, which was specially formatted and color-corrected for large-format presentation and could have provided the 4K crowd with something distinctive that Blu-ray couldn't match.

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

The Accountant 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.

As noted in the Blu-ray review, The Accountant was completed on a 2K digital intermediate, which has been up-converted for Warner's 2160p, HEVC/H.265-encoded UHD. Some up-conversions are better than others at creating the illusion of additional detail, but The Accountant looks very much the same on both Blu-ray and UHD. Lightly applied HDR encoding has intensified the contrast and added a touch of brightness here and there, but for the most part the UHD colorist seems to have left well enough alone. The film has a number of darkly moody sequences, e.g., before and after the climactic shootout, and these appear largely as they do on the Blu-ray, with only fleeting and modest efforts to brighten the darkness. Colors are almost identical, with sporadic minor tweaks (mostly to the blues). Regardless of whether it's presented in SDR or HDR, The Accountant's subdued and monochromatic palette doesn't lend itself to "pop".

I have retained the Blu-ray's video score of 4.5, but the separate 4K score is something of a question mark. Should The Accountant's UHD treatment receive a higher grade for not mucking up an already excellent image or a lower one for adding virtually nothing to the viewing experience that one cannot find on standard Blu-ray? I have opted for a middling score, which reflects my assessment that studios should not be wasting their UHD firepower on films that cannot showcase the format with a meaningful upgrade.

[System calibrated using a Klein K10-A Colorimeter with a custom profile created with a Colorimetry Research CR250 Spectraradiometer, powered by SpectraCal CalMAN 2016 5.7, using the Samsung Reference 2016 UHD HDR Blu-ray test disc authored by Florian Friedrich from AV Top in Munich, Germany. Calibration performed by Kevin Miller of ISFTV.]

The Accountant 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Like the Blu-ray, The Accountant's UHD disc offers the same choice between 7.1 and 5.1 soundtracks, both in lossless DTS-HD MA, previously reviewed here. Also, as has become typical of 4K releases from both Warner and other major studios, the UHD offers a much larger selection of both audio and subtitles options than the Blu-ray. A full list appears above this review.

The Accountant 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The UHD disc has no extras. The standard Blu-ray included in the set contains the same extras that have been previously reviewed.

The Accountant 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Warner has a number of upcoming films for home video that can support UHDs sourced from 4K DIs, including Live by Night and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Hopefully those will give the studio a better opportunity than The Accountant to show what it can do with 4K discs. This particular UHD is strictly for early adopters desperate for new product. The Blu-ray is more than sufficient—and much less expensive.