The Fast and the Furious 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

The Fast and the Furious 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Universal has released the franchise-starting Action film 'The Fast and the Furious' to the UHD format. The new release includes a 2160p/HDR video presentation and a DTS:X Master Audio soundtrack. No new supplements are included but the bundled Blu-ray, identical to that which Universal released a decade ago, carries over all of the legacy content.

The Fast and the Furious 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

The Fast and the Furious speeds onto the UHD format with a very stable and filmic 2160p transfer that has been given an HDR color spectrum enhancement. The movie looks great. It's crisp and clean, maintaining an extremely light grain structure that compliments rather than defines the image. The UHD's excellence becomes obvious at the beginning during the nighttime truck chase to begin the film. Deep, accurate blacks -- both on the cars and across the nighttime sky -- play well against the warm city colors and the green neon lights under the vehicles. The image only gets better. Close-up shots are superb, presenting with fine-point details that showcase sharp, accurate intimacy across the entire character roster with all sorts of facial features and skin details the beneficiaries, from smoothly shaved heads to dense beards, from applied makeup to fully revealing pores. The picture really opens up at Race Wars, under the bright sunlight where cars gleam and character definition soars. Clothing details are precise, car interiors show every gauge and button with superb command, and the desert terrain and pavement both enjoy pinpoint clarity near and far. The Blu-ray simply cannot approach the UHD's total clarity and organic sharpness, whether intimate character portraits, densely packed locations like Dominic's garage, or the wide-open arid raceways at Race Wars.

Colors are very organic. The HDR spectrum doesn't juice up the palette but it does bring out the the brightly colored cars with superior intensity and stability. Whether brightly polished chrome, freshly waxed whites and blacks or showroom shiny colors of great variety -- greens, oranges, purples -- the cars command the screen with remarkable sheen and color depth and polish. There's certainly an overreaching warmth about the picture, pushing skin tones a bit orange and red. But there's no mistaking the superiority off the UHD's color spectrum over the Blu-ray, which is comparatively lacking -- and by a good margin -- anything approaching the level of depth and finesse and pop the UHD has to offer. The Blu-ray appears far lighter, presenting loud colors with a foundational shading but failing to come close to the vastly superior tonal density and stability the UHD has on offer. Look at Brian's orange car at Race Wars at the 72-minute mark. It's a remarkable transformation.

The Fast and the Furious 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Fast and the Furious lives up to its name under the UHD's DTS:X Master Audio parameters. The track is insane, to say the least. It's loud but not overbearing. Movement is fluid, bass is deep, and the feel for elemental harmony is tangible. Universal's soundtrack explodes from the beginning with prodigious beats coming, well, quickly and furiously, a storm of audio adrenaline that sets a pace for the track that it only builds upon. Car races and chases are a delight. The feel for speed and movement from all directions absolutely pulls the listener into each car's cockpit or right along the side of the road where all that's missing is a swish of high speed air. The track is a master of all elements at all ranges, from piercing highs to growling lows that extend through the stage and expand thanks to the height channels which create a more fully enveloping sonic landscape. None of the channels get a moment off during races and chases. The stage absolutely comes to life with some of the most intense and fluid and precise engagements ever presented for home consumption. The sheer size and intensity perfectly replicate a finely tuned theatrical experience. It is every bit as race-worthy as the cars in the movie; it'll go toe-to-toe with the best. Add in superbly engaged and detailed music, well defined atmospherics, and perfectly detailed dialogue and the track could not be a better match for the movie.

The Fast and the Furious 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Fast and the Furious' UHD disc only includes the legacy Rob Cohen commentary track. That track, plus all of the other extras, can be found on the bundled Blu-ray. For convenience, below is a list of what's included. For full supplemental content coverage, please click here. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Dom's Charger
• Quarter Mile at a Time
• The Fast and the Furious Video Mash-Up
• Deleted Scenes: With optional director commentary.
• Hot Off the Street
• Paul Walker Public Service Announcement
• The Making of The Fast and the Furious
• More than Furious
• Tricking Out a Hot Import Car
• Turbo-Charged Prelude to 2 Fast 2 Furious
• Multiple Camera Angle - Stunt Sequence
• Movie Magic Interactive - Special Effects
• Featurette on Editing for the Motion Picture Association of America
• Visual Effects Montage
• Storyboards-to-Final Feature Comparison
• Sneak Peek at 2 Fast 2 Furious
• Music Videos
• Theatrical Trailer
• Audio Commentary: Director Rob Cohen.
• U-Control: Tech Specs.
• U-Control: Picture in Picture.

The Fast and the Furious 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Fast and the Furious has earned a terrific UHD, at least in terms of picture and sound quality. The 2160p/HDR video is by-and-large terrific while the new DTS:X soundtrack is superb. No new extras are included, but the set contains a prodigious amount of carryover content. For those just interested in picture and sound upgrades, this one is well worth it. Highly recommended. Note that the film is also part of a larger UHD Fast and the Furious 8-movie collection.