Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

The Meg 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman November 15, 2018

Warner Brothers and Best Buy have collaborated on a store-exclusive SteelBook release for the aquatic Monster movie 'The Meg.' This review focuses on the SteelBook packaging and, from a technical perspective, exclusively on the UHD video presentation, with emphasis on the Dolby Vision color enhancement. Michael Reuben has reviewed the UHD presentation with its HDR-10 coloring. This is not a replacement of his review but rather a companion look at a second color format option available on the disc.

For a full film review, please see my friend Michael Reuben's analysis here. The movie score above reflects my own. What can I say: I am a sucker for movies like this!

The Meg 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 Meg's upscaled 4K/Dolby Vision presentation is a celebration of color and clarity, digital sharpness and resplendently intense hues. In the opening scene, there's a wonderful contrast between the dark red emergency lighting and Jonas' bright flashlight, emitting a powerful, blinding white beam. The color intensity, stability, and contrast look amazing, and it sets a standard for the rest of the UHD that it largely lives up to. Moments later, above the water's surface, a helicopter flies across the top of the water towards the research station. The clash of the gorgeous pastel dawn-time sky colors, nuanced and finely transitional, against the blue water, is brilliant. Colors on the deck, from Mr. Morris' shoes to the yellow safety guardrails, present with impressive single-shade boldness, an intensity that will become a highlight of the Dolby Vision coloring across various garments seen throughout the film. The station's bowels, its steely gray O-level location that leads to a control room dotted with brightly and intensely colored readouts and beaming white lighting (which is similar to various submersible interiors), make for reference visuals in every scene, ditto a conference room paneled by richly colored woods. On the surface, during many bright daytime exteriors when the team fights off, and fights against, the title baddie, colorful clothes pop with a sometimes blindingly intense saturation and lifelike vividness that the Blu-ray's SDR color presentation cannot hope to approach. Nighttime black level depth is terrific when Jonas arrives on the rig, and various lower light scenes thrive. Skin tones are also firm and natural to the various character complexions seen throughout the movie.

The downside is that clarity and brightness are so intense, particularly under the bright sun on the surface, that several shots and scenes border on appearing too harshly bright and mildly washed out (which carries over to textures too). Most shots look amazing under the sun, but the image truly thrives under the artificial lighting inside the research facility.

Sharpness and clarity are likewise generally stellar. The presentation is more than capable of revealing every fine, intricate detail in sub cabins and in the control center within the research facility. Industrial design supports, complex computer terminals, and even basic wall and flooring textures, mundane as they may be, reveal every minute detail with enough command to almost, sometimes, distract from the central action. Even upscaled to 4K from a 2K Digital Intermediate based on the native 2.8K digital source resolution, the level of clarity, intimacy and sharpness put The Meg's UHD in a category well above the 1080p Blu-ray. Facial textures are unsurprisingly a strength. The 4K sharpness allows each short hair on Jonas' head and the thick stubble on his face to practically be countable and tactile. Facial pores and winkles are about best-case-scenario clear and complex for an upscaled, digitally sourced film on UHD. Environmental sharpness on the surface, even just looking at water, is amazing. The UHD presentation is absent any glaring source or encoding artifacts, which per Michael's review of the 1080p Blu-ray disc was a sore spot for that presentation. This is a complete UHD experience. It's a noticeably superior image to Blu-ray and a very enjoyable compliment to a movie that's great fun if one can take it for what it is.

The Meg 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For a full audio review, please click here. Note that the link directs to the 1080p Blu-ray, which shares the same primary Atmos soundtrack as this UHD.

The Meg 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The SteelBook packaging is streamlined, without much color flair (perhaps curiously considering the movie's largely colorful nature), featuring a predominantly blue-gray color scheme for its front, rear, and spine presentations. On the front, Janus (presumably) floats opposite the title creature, the latter with its jaws wide open, jaws which will easily devour the swimmer in one gulp. It's a nice perspective view that conveys the creature's size and the danger that drives the film. The title appears above in a yellow-green color, brighter in the middle, fading off to the edges. Key cast is list in small print above. The rear side reinforces the creature's size; it's basically a full-panel image of its mouth, with sharp and well-used teeth encircling the perimeter. No text of any kind appears to interfere with the image. The spine features the film's title in relatively small print, center (mine comes complete with yet another spine slash right through the letter "M"). A Blu-ray disc logo appears at the top and the WB shield at the bottom (the UHD logo is curiously nowhere to be found).

Inside, the digital copy code is tucked underneath the left-hand side tabs. The two discs, one Blu-ray and one UHD, are housed on the right, staggered-stacked. The interior image is a two-panel spread featuring a top-down bird's-eye view of festive swimmers and floaters on Sanya Bay with The Meg making its entrance on the right, swimming towards the left. A credits cluster appears unobtrusively on the bottom-right.

As for the on-disc content, the UHD contains none, but the bundled Blu-ray contains featurettes and trailers. Full coverage can be found here. For convenience, below is a listing of what's included.

• Chomp on This: The Making of The Meg
• Creating the Beast
• New Zealand Film Commission
• Introductory Trailers

The Meg 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Meg is obviously not for all tastes. Responses to the film seems to be varying wildly (with opinions perhaps favoring the "blah" side of the ledger), but chances are fans of brain-off Monster and Disaster movies will enjoy it. The cast nicely balances the challenge of taking the material seriously while still having fun with the nonsensical side of things. UHD brings the movie to life, visually and sonically alike. The 4K resolution and Dolby Vision colors are a treat and the Atmos soundtrack is of reference quality, but the extras are disappointingly few. The SteelBook is the best way to own the film. It's simple but looks great and captures the movie's spirit and essence on both the front and the back. Highly recommended.