The Dark Knight 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

The Dark Knight 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Why So Delerious?

Whatever one's personal ranking of the three films in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, the indisputable jewel in the crown is 2008's The Dark Knight (or "TDK"). Anticipation for the film's 2008 theatrical release had already reached fever pitch when TDK received a morbid PR boost from the untimely death of co-star Heath Ledger after an accidental drug overdose. Ledger's career-defining performance as the Joker, for which he would receive a posthumous Academy Award, towers over TDK, and Ledger's embodiment of the character, as reimagined by Nolan and his co-writers, has cast a long shadow over every subsequent attempt to revive the role. (Just ask Jared Leto in Suicide Squad.) TDK may be Batman's story, but it's the Joker's film.

TDK's original Blu-ray release in December 2008 quickly became a must-have disc for home theater enthusiasts, and Greg Maltz's review was a love letter to both the film and its 1080p presentation. Since that time, however, dissenting voices have questioned the quality of that Blu-ray, which, like all of Nolan's films to date, was derived from a film-to-video transfer instead of a digital intermediate (a process that Nolan has so far eschewed). Even Greg's review noted a "digital sheen" in the Blu-ray presentation, and other viewers have decried various forms of digital tampering, although, as Greg noted, some of the perceived issues may be inherent in the original photography.

Perhaps the most serious complaint has been that of palette revisionism, as forcefully articulated by film restorationist Torsten Kaiser in an interview given to my colleague Ken Brown and quoted by Ken in his subsequent review of The Dark Knight Rises. According to Kaiser: "By far the biggest error its producers committed was the complete change of the film's original color timing. . . .The original material - I held it in my hands - it was gorgeous. . . . The colors are so different compared to those that appear in the Blu-ray transfer." (The complete interview, published by Blu-ray.com in 2011, can be found here.)

I don't know whether the UHD presentation of TDK will satisfy every critic of the Blu-ray, because the palette does not substantially vary from that of the 1080p version, and much of what was deemed digital tinkering remains (although whether that's what it truly is remains subject to debate, as should be evident from the sources quoted above). If anything, TDK's 4K rendition even adds an occasional artifact not seen in 1080p, a point further discussed in "Video".

However, all such criticisms have to be considered in the context of the UHD's undeniable virtues. The film's striking imagery has become somewhat familiar in the decade since its release, a byproduct of multiple viewings and repeated quotation, including frequent internet postings. (I can't count how many times I've seen the clip of Ledger's Joker laughing in Batman's face or enthusiastically clapping in his jail cell.) The film's 4K/HDR presentation blows the cobwebs off every shot, restoring the heady and hallucinatory allure of the Joker's Gotham and the chaos he unleashes upon it. As is so often the case with a superior new version, watching TDK on UHD takes us back to the excitement of our first encounter with the film and reminds us of why we were so moved and astonished by it in the first place.

Like every other film in the Christopher Nolan Collection, TDK has been newly transferred at 4K resolution from its original negative, then color corrected and HDR graded under the director's supervision. As noted in previous reviews, the simultaneous release in 4K of every feature film that Nolan has made in the prevous twelve years reflects his conviction that UHD is the definitive home video technology of our era and the best way for his films to be seen outside of theatrical venues. In support of that conviction, Nolan has personally overseen every aspect of these releases, from the element selection down to the packaging. Rarely has the notion of "director approved" been more apt or more literally true.

In addition to its single release, TDK is also available in the three-film Dark Knight Trilogy 4K, as well as the aforementioned Christopher Nolan Collection.

The Dark Knight 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

(Note: Screenshots accompanying this review are 1080p captures from the 2008 standard Blu-ray. Additional captures can be found here.)

The Dark Knight was the first project on which Nolan and cinematographer Wally Pfister began mixing IMAX and 35mm footage, previewing their experiment by including TDK's IMAX-filmed opening as an extra on Batman Begins. First on Blu-ray, and now again on UHD, the presentation features a shifting aspect ratio, with the IMAX sections formatted at 1.78:1 and 35mm portions framed at 2.40:1.

A frequent approach in UHD reviews is to highlight a handful of examples of where the 4K image does or doesn't show improvements over the Blu-ray. Certainly that review strategy could be easily applied to Warner's 2160p, HEVC/H.265-encoded UHD disc of TDK, which has been sourced from a new 4K scan that has been color-corrected and HDR graded under the director's supervision. One could point to the finer, more realistic rendition of the cracks and streaks in the Joker's clown makeup (not to mention the skin pores visible beneath the disguise); the fresh intensity of the colors in the clown masks worn by his gang in the opening bank heist; the elegant refinement of the gray streaks in the hair of gang boss Sal Maroni; the exceptional shadow definition in the nearly-all-black shot of Batman lurking outside Jim Gordon's home when his family receives the bad news; and the growing blackness of Harvey Dent's eyes as he interrogates one of Joker's thugs with coin tosses and Russian roulette. There are literally hundreds of such examples throughout TDK's two and a half hours.

But after spending several days watching and rewatching TDK in both formats, I'm left with an overall impression that transcends the details of any single image. Even more than the other two films in the trilogy, which have also received impressive 4K makeovers, there is something about TDK on UHD that is simply hypnotic. I start out watching a specific passage to compare it to the Blu-ray, but then I don't turn it off. The sheer intensity the film's visuals is too mesmerizing to interrupt; the freshness and immediacy with which the UHD brings Nolan's evocation of a world on the brink of collapse into one's viewing room is too addictive to quit. One can object to the heavy cyan wash cast over numerous sequences—a quality the 4K treatment shares with the Blu-ray—or quibble with the added brightness found in scenes like Batman's abduction of Lau from his Hong Kong office tower, and one can certainly fault the occasional video artifact that pops up from time to time as an unwanted distraction. But the overall impact of this new TDK rendition can't be denied. Its pull is irresistible.

About those video artifacts: As in the 4K version of Batman Begins, TDK has a few instances of aliasing, which as noted in the earlier review, isn't something one expects to encounter at this resolution and with today's software tools. The most obvious instance occurs in the film's opening shot, as the camera (the IMAX camera!) pushes in above Gotham toward the building from which Joker's gang begin their assault on the mob bank. Multiple closely space horizontal edges of building slats and grille work vibrate with the motion of the shot. (This does not occur on the Blu-ray.) Another, much subtler example occurs in the long shot where Lucius Fox and Bruce Wayne enter the armory as they are discussing high-altitude jumps; the banks of suspended ceiling lights vibrate noticeably, if you happen to glance upward from the actors. (This does occur on the Blu-ray, and the UHD handles it somewhat better.) As with Batman Begins, I consider this more of a video problem than a 4K problem and have adjusted the disc's scores accordingly.

(Note: The original version of this review incorrectly stated that this UHD was derived from the camera negative. That assertion was based on incorrect information supplied by Warner Brothers. It has now been confirmed from multiple sources that the 4K/HDR master was derived from an interpositive, at Christopher Nolan's express instruction and contrary to Warner's standard policy, which provides that 4K scans should utilize the existing element with the greatest resolution. We regret the error; the scores for Video and 4K have been adjusted.)

(Additional Note: The disc I reviewed was a BD-100. It has been reported that later pressings used a BD-66. Since I do not have that disc, I cannot evaluate what difference, if any, such a change would make to the image.)

The Dark Knight 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 2008 Blu-ray's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track (discussed here) received a 5.0 rating, which leaves me no room to increase it for the UHD's re-encoding of the same track in DTS-HD MA. Still, to my ear, the new version is even more powerful than its room-rattling predecessor, with even deeper bass and a broader dynamic range that expands the contrast between thunderous action beats and quieter passages of dialogue. (This has the effect of rendering the quiet moments more ominous, because you know something big and loud is just around the corner.) Rear channel use remains sparing but effective, and the track's overall volume appears to be louder. Whatever setting you may have used for the Blu-ray's TrueHD mix is likely to be too loud for the UHD's lossless DTS.

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

The UHD disc contains no extras. The three-disc package includes reprints of the feature and extras disc released in 2008, of which the supplemental content is listed here.

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

TDK isn't my favorite of the three chapters in Nolan's Batman trilogy, and I continue to think it suffers from major flaws, particularly in the third act, which is overlong, choppy in its pacing and risks losing its focus on Harvey Dent's fall from grace with the unnecessary distraction of the ferryboat bomb plot. Still, TDK remains a signature moment in both Nolan's work and in the history of Batman sagas. Once you've experienced the film, it's impossible not to feel its reverberations throughout the entire trilogy. It's that powerful a creation, and the UHD gives it the most forceful expression to date. Highly recommended.