The Hunt for Red October 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		5.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

The Hunt for Red October 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Paramount has released Director John McTiernan's 1990 Cold War submarine thriller 'The Hunt for Red October' to the UHD format. The disc, which is currently exclusive to a five-film Jack Ryan box set, features new 2160p/Dolby Vision video. The UHD disc carries over the 2008 Blu-ray's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack and adds no new supplements.

The Hunt for Red October 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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

The Hunt for Red October's 2160p/Dolby Vision-enhanced UHD presentation is an unequivocal improvement over the 2008 Blu-ray release, but it's not an "eye candy" type of image. The movie natively lacks dazzle. It's a darker film to begin with, often playing out in lower light locales, such as submarine interiors and somewhat dimly lit offices and other land-based environments, which are only rendered even darker but much more evenly and agreeably so, on the 4K format. Texturally, the image is a pleasure. Grain is fairly dense but consistent and even, impressively filmic and complimentary to the source. The picture is, largely, a hint softer than it is absolutely crisp, but it's reflective of the film's photographic style. Certainly textures are boosted a fair bit over the Blu-ray. Stability and clarity are enhanced and both characters and environmental details enjoy an increase in absolute definition. Faces are firmer, military uniforms and civilian clothes alike appear crisper, and various instruments and readouts onboard submarines appear more more solidified and refined. The boosts are not astronomical, but they are tangible and very welcome.

The Dolby Vision color enhancement renders an already fairly dark and bleak movie even more so. There's an unmistakable push to gray. Take a look at the scene in chapter two when Ramius meets with the October's political officer and murders him after the boat's orders are opened. Skin tones are much less peachy and the wood grain accents lose a little bit of luster. A scene a few moments earlier when Ryan meets with Vice Admiral Greer pushes more towards a grayscale. With that in mind, smaller, but no less crucial, color bursts appear more refined. Various lights illuminating buttons on consoles and panels onboard the Dallas appear more intensely saturated and accurate, aided in part by the darkening of surrounding details. Look at a shot at the 12:11 mark, a good example of most everything the UHD transfer does to the film: tightens details, reduces luminance, and solidifies colors. The opening green graphics and white text (which is prone to wobble) are brighter, as are some shots, such as when Ryan visits a boat yard in chapter four where the intensity of various sparks and the glow of operating welding equipment shine much more bright on UHD and more evenly illuminate the submarine and everything around it while maintaining strict, deep blacks at the frame's top-center portion. But the movie largely goes a little darker, with more firmly presented low-light colors, a presentation which compliments the entirety of the viewing experience. From sub interiors to a low-light briefing Ryan gives to the Joint Chiefs and the president's national security advisor in chapter four, the tonal shift in colors to darker does the film well.

Flaws are few. There is some obvious wobble accompanying the opening text and a few very minor pops and speckles appear intermittently throughout, but on the whole this is a very satisfying image; just keep the film's native texture and photographic approach in mind and the UHD's benefits become ever more clear and very enjoyable.

The Hunt for Red October 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Hunt for Red October's UHD disc includes the same Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack from the 2008 Blu-ray. For a full audio review, please click here.

The Hunt for Red October 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The UHD release of The Hunt for Red October contains no new bonus content, but the disc does carry over the John McTiernan commentary track. It's buried in the language options rather than found under a "Special Features" tab. The disc's menu offers only options for "Play," "Settings," and "Scenes." The bundled Blu-ray does include the scant collection of previously released extras, including the aforementioned commentary. For convenience, below is a list of what's included. For full supplemental content coverage, please click here. An iTunes digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Audio Commentary
• Beneath the Surface
• Theatrical Trailer

The Hunt for Red October 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Even decades into the post-Cold War world, The Hunt for Red October remains a thrilling exploration of politics, military might, and the human condition. John McTiernan directs with confidence and finesse, building an appropriately large-scale story yet still very intimate character tale within the movie's complex framework. McTiernan was an action movie fan's delight in the 80s and early 90s. Red October is his film of the most dramatic substance in the power triangle it shares with Predator and Die Hard as one of his best works. Paramount's UHD release of The Hunt for Red October delivers a very stable and agreeable 2160p/Dolby Vision transfer that is a marked improvement over the Blu-ray, one that offers more textural stability and more tonally supportive colors. The studio has unfortunately stuck with the existing, and dated, 2008 soundtrack and included no new supplements. Worth the upgrade, though it's a shame about no remixed Atmos soundtrack.