6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Years after the man once known as Tarzan left behind the jungles of Africa for a gentrified life in London as Lord Greystoke with his beloved wife, Jane Porter, he has been invited back to the Congo to serve as a trade emissary of Parliament, unaware that he is a pawn in a deadly convergence of greed and revenge, masterminded by the corrupt Belgian Captain Léon Rom.
Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Samuel L. Jackson, Margot Robbie, Djimon Hounsou, Jim BroadbentAction | 100% |
Adventure | 95% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Czech: Dolby Digital 5.1
Hungarian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Polish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Russian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Castilian and Latin American Spanish. Brazilian Portuguese.
English SDH, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Cantonese, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Swedish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
UV digital copy
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Perhaps fueled by Warner Archive's recent Blu-ray release of the original Tarzan the Ape Man, there's been a bit of renewed interest in the franchise (at least according to current Amazon sales rankings) including 2016's The Legend of Tarzan, and a quick scan of our database shows that we never covered the 4K edition of that title. Released in the very first year of the format's existence, it was passed over by many fans the first time around but stands decently tall as a solid visual upgrade over its Blu-ray counterpart. Unsurprisingly, the audio and bonus features are identical.
As Michael Reuben noted in his review of the Blu-ray edition, The Legend of Tarzan was shot digitally and finished on a 2K digital intermediate. This means that WB's 2160p/HDR transfer is the result of an upscale, and anyone familiar with the UHD format should know that this typically doesn't produce as drastic a difference in quality than films finished in 4K. That's more or less the case here, and for two more reasons as well: The Legend of Tarzan's cinematography favors cold, desaturated hues and this dual-layered disc (66GB), despite being authored with the more efficient HEVC codec, doesn't have the real estate of triple-layered discs (100GB) which are a bit more common these days.
That's not to say that differences can't be seen and appreciated; far from it. The UHD disc's overall level of fine detail, textures, and contrast values is noticeably better in direct comparison, with a greater ability to render subtle gradients without occasionally succumbing to mild banding, crush, and other such compression artifacts. Additionally, the HDR10 enhancement pulls its weight where color depth and black/white levels are concerned, wringing quite a bit more range and a higher level of visual interest out of scenes that looked a bit flat or overly washed-out on the Blu-ray. Both discs earn proportionately solid marks, and if I were grading the Blu-ray by today's expectations I might score it closer to an even 4/5. But since this is more of a "hindsight review", I'll call it like I see it: the Blu-ray will look just fine on small to mid-sized displays... but on anything larger than say, 65 inches, several seams will begin to show and that's where the UHD disc will shine a lot brighter. If that aligns with your current setup, it's well worth consideration.
As mentioned earlier, the excellent Dolby Atmos mix found on the Blu-ray edition is included here as well, and I was just as impressed as Michael was with its overall level of power, fidelity, and precision. Please bear in mind that the 4K disc's dub and subtitle options are different than the Blu-ray edition; for a complete list, please see above.
This two-disc set (you know, back when Warner Bros. made combo packs) ships in a dual-hubbed keepcase with grim, poster-themed cover artwork; a now-expired Digital Copy may or may not be included, and you probably won't get a slipcover at this point either. What you will, get, though, is the same mix of extras on the included 1080p disc. I'll list them below in name only, but more details can be found in Michael Reuben's review of the Blu-ray edition.
David Yates' The Legend of Tarzan is a bit of an anomaly in hindsight: a well-cast and technically worthy but otherwise middle-of-the-road Tarzan adventure, it performed decently well at the box office but fell short of sequel territory. I've got a little bit of a soft spot for it, and anyone halfway intrigued by its cast should at least give this one a fair shake. While Warner Bros.' Blu-ray is a solid enough effort for those with small to mid-sized displays, those with the proper equipment should opt for this UHD release if they unsurprisingly missed it soon after the format's launch.
2016
2015
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2019
Ultimate Edition
2005
2011
2005
2014
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2017
1981
2010
Warner Archive Collection
1932
2005
2017
2017
2009
2014
2016