The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		0.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Paramount has released the fan-favorite 1988 Comedy 'The Naked Gun,' starring Leslie Nielsen and directed by David Zucker, to the UHD format. New specifications include 2160p/Dolby Vision video. Audio is simply a recycle of the existing DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack found on the original Blu-ray release from 2011. No new supplements are included, either, but the bundled Blu-ray, which is identical to the 2011 disc, includes a commentary and the film's trailer. There are no extras on the UHD disc. At time of writing, this release exclusively ships in SteelBook packaging.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Paramount's highly anticipated 2160p/Dolby Vision UHD release of The Naked Gun doesn't exactly excite, but it doesn't exactly disappoint, either. This is a passable, if not somewhat bland, UHD image, one that occasionally has a look of stout and strong filmic excellence but which can appear modestly to moderately processed in the next shot or scene. At its best, the image is flatteringly filmic with a good grain structure, high yield details, and well resolved colors. At its worst, it appears artificially processed and flat, with spiky grain and a soft, hazy look that does not appear to be inherent to the film elements. The picture is uneven, but not wildly so, with the differences in the best and worst sometimes subtle and sometimes a bit more obvious. For the most part, the image hangs out somewhere in the middle, where the essence of the filmic source is obvious but the lack of pristine accuracy and untampered truth are absent. Still, the UHD manages to offer good, crisp details in many shots and scenes, boosting overall clarity over the existing Blu-ray. The color spectrum is nicely solidified and punchy. It's lifelike and true to the film's look, never fundamentally altering any color grades but definitely bolstering depth, vividness, and realism, whether on clothes (though Jane's red dress is a bit oversaturated), ballfield greens, or neckties. Black level depth pleases, white balance is excellent, and skin tones look fine. The print is clean and free of all but a few trace speckles. No encode errors are obvious. This could look better, but it could also look much worse.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Rather than re-encode the soundtrack for Dolby Atmos, Paramount has simply ported over the existing DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack from the 2011 Blu-ray. Below is a reproduction of the original review for convenience.

The Naked Gun delivers a quality DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The opening title music is incredibly rich and enjoys both excellent clarity and precision spacing across the front. Music is sound throughout, including the Something Good tune heard during the love montage. A few heavier effects lack clarity -- the landing of the plane near the beginning is one such example -- but general sound elements enjoy a fair presentation, whether gunshots or the general ambience at the ballgame. There's not much in the way of pronounced surround activity, but the back channels do manage to carry a little weight. However, there's never a real sense of total immersion into the film, which isn't all that unexpected given the film's age. Dialogue is center-based and crisp, and it does well to gently maneuver around the soundstage when necessary, for instance the echoing as heard when characters speak through a microphone or, later, over the ballpark's public address system. This isn't a powerhouse track or even one that's particularly memorable, but longtime fans will be tickled by the boost in general clarity and spaciousness the lossless track yields.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extras are a carryover commentary and trailer from the Blu-ray. Both are included on the bundled Blu-ray. No extras are to be found on the UHD disc. For full coverage of the on-disc supplemental content, please click here.

Currently, this release ships exclusively in SteelBook packaging. The front panel depicts Frank standing atop a police car, in a shooting position, holding a banana rather than a gun. A beaver is peeking out from the bottom left. The film's title appears in huge, bold, bullet-riddled pink letters behind Frank in front of a cloudy blue sky. A stamp that gives the film's subtitle -- "From the Files of Police Squad!" is imprinted in white-on-black with a white border bottom right at an angle. The rear panel features a hodgepodge of odds and ends of items that play some role in the film, usually as part of various gags. All of them are plopped in front of a blue background. The spine is also blue with the film's title, as it appears on the front, center. A black Paramount logo appears at the top.

Inside, the digital copy code is tucked underneath the left-hand-side tabs. The two discs, one UHD and one Blu-ray, are situated on the right in staggered-stacked formation. The inner print is a two-panel spread that features a classic scene from the film: Frank has rushed in to protect the queen, who finds herself on top of a table, on her back, with Frank on top of her. The image fills both panels.

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Naked Gun delivers endless laughs that are derived from a myriad of sources. Deadpan jokes, exaggerated physical gags, O.J. Simpson getting knocked around real good, and one of the most infectiously fun montage sequences ever created all add up to a Comedy classic that's one of the last of the truly great Comedies of the era that ended with the death of John Candy a few years later. Leslie Nielsen delivers what is probably the best comedic performance of his career; his effort is the film's true highlight and the one element that truly makes the movie work so well. Paramount's UHD is identical to the old Blu-ray in terms of audio and supplements but does offer a new 2160p/Dolby Vision transfer which is...OK...and that's about the best that can be said of it. The movie is great, though, and the SteelBook is nice enough, but a better transfer would have made this an absolute must own. As it is...wait for a sale.