Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.0

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

The future is here! Sony has released its first wave of UHD Blu-ray (4K/3840x2160p resolution) discs. We've posted a companion article detailing the UHD upgrade experience here. Watch for more reviews for these Sony UHD Blu-rays in the coming days and, of course, Blu-ray.com will be covering every UHD release in the future.

Spider-Man bursts into 10,000 nit HDR

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 was filmed on 35mm and finished at 4K, which is presumably the source for this UHD presentation.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is amongst the first movies released to UHD (alongside Salt) that was shot on film rather than digital, and the results are expectedly stellar. Once again, there's a noticeable refinement to detail and pop to color that's not there on the 1080p version, at least not as clearly and boldly as what's to be seen on the UHD disc.

Take a look at the sky as Spider-Man swings amongst the buildings around the 7:00 mark. The UHD shows a deeper, richer sky blue. Grain is also more pronounced and more uniform, both here and throughout the film, and the sky shows more of a natural smoothness and minor adjustments in color gradation and cloud coverage. Another good early movie moment for comparison comes around the 11:50 mark when Gwen, at the graduation ceremony, is on the phone with Peter, who is "on his way" as only he can be on his way. There's more definition to her hair, yielding more clarity on individual strands and "sections," for lack of a more professional hairdressing term. Facial definition sees a slight boost in clarity and very fine pore detail, as does the flushness in her face. The blue gown, like the sky, offers a deeper and richer color scheme. Skip ahead to chapter five and a sequence in which a dying Mr. Osborne is speaking with Harry. Shadow detailing is improved while blacks simultaneous enjoy greater depth. Makeup improvements on the elder Osborne are obvious. Even the fine textures on the white pillowcase are more finely delineated.

But perhaps the single most telling difference comes in any close-up of the Spider-Man suit. Look at the 22:00 mark. Spider-Man is crouched on a rooftop looking down at the street, and the camera gets up close and personal with his chest, shoulders, and head. The difference between the UHD and the Blu-ray is night and day. The red is more vibrant. The blues on the sleeves and the knee that can be seen in the bottom righthand corner of the screen are deeper. Shadow definition on his chest is vastly superior, allowing for improved clarity and detail in the chest and moving up towards the armpit. The suit's textures enjoy a nice boost in raw definition, too, both the body fabric and the eyepieces alike. On the Blu-ray, the basic, meshy lines on the fabric are visible. On the UHD 2160p transfer, there's a much more tactile look to them, a more pronounced set of lines to see.

The transfer is truly gorgeous in every way. Fine and even grain gives it a beautiful cinematic flavor. Colors leap off the screen, details are incredibly complex both intimately and more broadly around the city, black levels are perfect, and flesh tones are healthy and natural. Compression artifacts are zero. But much like The Smurfs 2, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 looks terrific on Blu-ray, and it looks terrific on UHD. The improvements are subtle and many may not even be able to really tell the difference without ever having seen one transfer or the other before. It's an amazing refinement, but not a revelation. After reviewing a handful of UHD titles, those seem to be the two key words. It's still worth the upgrade, and chances are that once people see UHD in action (particularly "true" 4K titles, like the ones Sony is releasing, and the 2K upscales are also nothing to sneeze at) and with any hardware kinks ironed out, there will be no turning back.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sony's UHD Blu-ray release of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 arrives with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack, leaving behind the previous Blu-ray release's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This review is based on a 7.1.4 setup, which is the "traditional" seven-channel plus subwoofer configuration with the addition of four "object" or "overhead" speakers to the mix. The added overhead layer adds a good bit of spatial immersion to the listen, but rarely does it really command the proceedings. Instead, it offers more a natural integration with the rest of the stage rather than a barrage of random overhead pinpoint details because it can, not because it should. That stuff should be reserved for demo discs and moments that actually demand them, a few of which are included here and, sometimes, fall a little bit short of the expected effect.

For the most part, the movie's additional object-based sound effects come during the most sonically intense action scenes. Listen to the airplane sequence that opens the movie. The sense of real space, blustery wind, and tumbling objects is quite good in the manner referenced above, where most of the effects are more an extension of the track rather and a "listen to me!" sort of wrenched-in detail. Rainfall in another early movie shot doesn't quite provide a convincing effect. There's a clear overhead presence to it, but as the camera tilts upward and the water would essentially be falling on the viewer's face, it never gets to the finish line of lifelike transparency. Scenes featuring Spider-Man swooping through the soundstage are accompanied by a swooshing overhead effect -- that's perfectly integrated with the sound's maneuvers through the other speakers in the configuration -- that's sure to bring a smile to the face. A holographic concierge/greeter/whatever it is at Oscorp offers one of the most pronounced Atmos effects in the movie, thanks largely to a separation from other high energy music and mayhem. The voice seems to emanate from up high and literally transforms the listening area into the cavernous lobby. The two Electro battles in chapters seven and 14 are filled with height channel support details. His booming voice in the first fight has a similar effect to the hologram, and of course all of the mayhem that erupts in combat is only helped by an added, but not needlessly aggressive, sense of overhead space that pulls the listener more deeply and intimately into battle.

The track's other elements are largely impressive, though a few little things might give the listener brief pause. The track offers a command of the stage beyond the heights that sees every speaker constantly, and thoroughly, engaged in battle scenes. Small details and large actions alike swirl about, creating an exhilarating sense of movement and a constantly immersive musical presence that's rightly dominant across the front but also a regular in the surrounds. Electro's music is particularly good at swirling around the stage, and the precision of movement is striking and seamless. the added back two channels are a huge benefit. The track could certainly stand to employ just a little more weight at the bottom end. Bass sometimes seems to be lacking a more pronounced heft. It shouldn't dominate the rest of the sound, but in this track there's room for a little more. Atmospherics in quieter scenes are impressive. The wide-open city exteriors spring to life with strong attention to detail to ambient effects both near and far. Likewise, office interiors offer less intense, but no less crucial, background elements. Dialogue delivery is clean and precise with a natural center focus, but it becomes ever so slightly, and understandably, muffled when Spider-Man speaks through the mask and if there's a charge of activity around him by way of action, music, or ambient effects.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

While The Amazing Spider-Man 2 contains no new "supplements" on the UHD disc (the commentary track is available on the UHD disc), it does offer a slick new menu system (and presumably the early standard for Sony UHD releases) in which different pages are selected by scrolling up and down and side-to-side. Beyond the usual scene selection and language tabs, there's also an option to watch character-specific highlights for Spider-Man/Peter Parker (7:47), Gwen Stacy (9:30), Villains (9:11), and Sinister Six (8:21), all of which offer both 2160p and Dolby Atmos goodness. There's also a Cast & Crew tab that appears to only offer a still image accompanied by character and actor name. All of the previous edition's supplements carry over on the included 1080p Blu-ray disc (click here for more information). A UV digital copy code is also included with purchase.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is an entertaining movie that ends really well...until it sorts out what should have been the entire third movie's plot line in about five minutes. Nevertheless, it's a fun enough watch that translates very well to UHD. Colors pop and details are more revealing. The Atmos track is very good but the overall experience isn't quite perfect. Supplements are the same as those found on the 1080p disc. UHD-enabled fans should definitely make this a priority buy. It's one of the best UHD releases out of the gate.