6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Following the events of Avengers: Endgame, Sam Wilson/Falcon and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier team up in a global adventure that tests their abilities—and their patience.
Starring: Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Emily VanCamp, Wyatt Russell, Erin KellymanAction | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Disney / Buena Vista split its recent quartet of Disney+ SteelBook releases "down the middle" so to speak, with Obi-Wan Kenobi: The Complete Series and Andor: The Complete First Season coming from the Star Wars side of the streaming service, and with Moon Knight: The Complete First Season and the series currently under review representing the Marvel side of things. In one interesting way, however, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is at least something of an outlier in that the other three series and/or miniseries and/or limited series all started streaming in 2022, while this effort goes back a year to 2021, which may lead some fans of the show to ask its home theater media releasing studio, "Hey, what took so long?" There may be an even more salient question some may want to think about when watching this series, as is alluded to in a rather thoughtful making of supplement included on this two disc set, namely, what does it mean to be an American, especially an American? That may seem like an easy question to answer on its face, but as Anthony Mackie in particular gets into in the supplement, for Black men in particular it can be a tricky, indeed almost a trick, question, and that's just one of the interesting subtexts informing this series.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is (are?) presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Disney / Buena Vista and Marvel Studios with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists the Blackmagic camera capturing at source resolutions of 6K, with a 4K DI, resulting in an often beautifully well detailed transfer, though as I've advised in many of the other simultaneously released efforts from Disney / Buena Vista in either 1080 or 2160, there's little doubt that there are even greater levels of fine detail in this 4K version when stacked up against this completely excellent 1080 release of the series, so those with 4K home theater setups should probably think about opting for that version. That said, those without 4K systems are still going to get a fantastically well detailed and beautifully saturated presentation that offers some generally superb fine detail levels, especially on practical items like sets and costumes. This series may have just a tad less CGI wonderment than some of the other day and date Disney+ SteelBook releases I've reviewed recently, but some of the FX work, while perhaps a bit more fleeting, both literally and figuratively as in Falcon's flying antics, still tend to look nicely sharp and at least reasonably well detailed. This has some of the same very minor flirtations with banding that I noted in our Moon Knight: The Complete First Season Blu-ray review, but nothing that I'd say amounts to much more than a very momentary distraction.
As with the video side of things, I'd advise fans to think about the 4K UHD release of this series, since it, like all the other recent Disney+ properties, offers Dolby Atmos audio while the 1080 releases offer "only" DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks. The surround activity throughout the six episodes of this series is often extremely immersive, starting with an absolutely fantastic sequence early in the first episode featuring Falcon marauding through various mountains and valleys in a scene that frankly would have been perfectly at home with X wing fighters in Star Wars. While, yes, the Atmos track on the 4K UHD discs offers noticeable verticality and more enveloping surround characteristics as both Falcon and various combatants go whizzing to and fro through the air, the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 version offers a nicely layered and really enjoyable designed vignette that fills the side and rear channels with considerable effects activity as well. Both flying scenes and some of the other action set pieces understandably provide some of the most noticeable surround activity, but even less "showy" moments, like a pseudo-"announcement" of the "new Captain America" in a stadium offer great background spill. Scoring also regularly populates the surround channels. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English, French and Spanish subtitles are available.
Disc One
We're several years on now from when this series originally streamed, and so a "second season" seems unlikely at this point, though evidently there are plans for the story to continue in a feature film. Kind of remarkably given how provocative some of the material in this series may be for some, it frankly did not strike me as overly screed like in any significant way. Technical merits are solid, and the supplements are enjoyable. The SteelBook packaging is handsome, though perhaps a bit on the generic looking side. If you have 4K equipment, I'd personally opt for that version, but otherwise this 1080 release comes Recommended.
2022
Collector's Edition
2021
2024
2020
Collector's Edition
2021
Cinematic Universe Edition
2018
2021
2022
2018
2014-2015
2017
2018
2024
2019
2020
2020
2019
1951
2022
2014-2015