7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Comic caper movie about a plan to steal a gold shipment from the streets of Turin by creating a traffic jam.
Starring: Michael Caine, Noël Coward, Benny Hill, Raf Vallone, Tony BeckleyHeist | 100% |
Crime | 95% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 5.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Peter Collinson's "The Italian Job" (1969) arrives on 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include two audio archival commentaries; making of featurette; deleted scene; vintage promotional trailers for the film; and more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
Kino Lorber's release of The Italian Job is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray release is Region-Free. The Blu-ray release is Region-A "locked".
The release is sourced from an exclusive new 4K master that was prepared after the Italian Job was fully restored in 4K at Paramount Pictures. The native 4K presentation of the film can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR. I viewed the entire film with HDR.
Even before the film's title appeared on my screen, I knew that the new 4K makeover will be underwhelming. Right before the Italian mafiosi destroy the red Lamborghini and its driver in the tunnel, there are a few wonderful panoramic shots and they all look problematic. Why? The sky is not blue. It is cyan and has a very harsh neon-esque appearance. The greens and some of the whites are also quite awkward. (See screencaptures #6, 7, and 8). The rest of the 4K makeover reveals all sorts of different anomalies that would be very distracting to anyone that has prior experience with the film. For example, virtually all blues and variations of blues are shifted toward cyan, so in numerous areas, the color balance is visibly off. In some areas, the shift completely destabilizes white and white nuances. (See screencapture #3). In other areas, the altered white and white nuances collapse together with gray and silver. (See screencapture #15 where the silver car has a completely different appearance now). In other words, the odd fluctuations are everywhere and impact different indoor and outdoor footage. Unsurprisingly, the cyan shift also changes the native color of one of the three Mini Coopers -- the blue one now looks cyan (see screencapture #36). I think that this particular change is impossible to ignore. However, anyone that knows the film will discover a seemingly endless supply of errors because as it is timed here the film quite simply looks like a modern production with mostly digital qualities. Also, there is quite a bit of footage that reveals crushing in darker and brighter footage. (See screencapture #26). All of this is extremely disappointing because the new 4K files could have produced a presentation of the film that is vastly superior to the one that was offered via the this release in 2009. Why? The new 4K files do not have any traces of filtering, so delineation, clarity, and sharpness are superb. Image stability is outstanding, too. The entire film looks immaculate as well.
Does HDR/Dolby Vision change anything? No. In native 4K and 1080p, the entire film has the same incorrect harsh neon-esque look. There are a few sequences where the saturation levels seem to be slightly better handled with HDR, but elsewhere the cyan spikes look even more pronounced. Also, in native 4K, some of the outdoor footage where the sunlight should be prominent looks even more neutral than it does in 1080p. All in all, I think that the new 4K makeover is a missed opportunity to deliver a definitive presentation of The Italian Job.
There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.
I viewed The Italian Job with the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. I thought that it was outstanding. Clarity, sharpness, depth, and dynamic potency were phenomenal. As you know well, the film has a lot of racing action so there is plenty of material that impresses in different ways, too. I only tested a few areas with the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track because it was the only lossless track on the previous release. It is very good and I suspect that a lot of viewers will prefer it.
The color blue has a very important role in The Italian Job. However, after the film was fully restored in 4K at Paramount Pictures, this role is greatly diminished. It is not only because one of the Mini Coopers does not look as it should, the entire film is oddly graded and now has the appearance of a contemporary production. This is very unfortunate because it is incredibly easy to tell that the raw 4K files are of exceptionally high quality and could have produced a definitive home video release.
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