The Revenant 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		5.0

The Revenant 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 28, 2016

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

The Revenant’s original Blu-ray release will almost certainly be on my Top 10 list at the end of 2016, unless some unforeseeable conjunction of expert filmmaking and superior technical merits on a disc presentation intervene. I found The Revenant to be one of the most visceral viewing experiences I’ve had recently, one bolstered by the stunning cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki, who won a well deserved Academy Award for his efforts.

For my thoughts on the film, please see our original The Revenant Blu-ray review.

Those either just having adopted or thinking about transitioning to UHD will also want to read Martin Liebman's fun and informative article here.

The Revenant 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Revenant 4K is presented on UHD Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. I go into some of the provenance of the capture and subsequent DI in our original The Revenant Blu-ray review. Suffice it to say that this new 4K version is a stunning visual experience, though it's one that's manifestly different from the 1080p Blu-ray version. I was pleasantly surprised when the film opened with the pan across Glass and his family that there was no judder whatsoever, something readers of my other 4K UHD reviews will know has been a recurrent feature of some of my early viewing experiences in this format. That relief was somewhat tempered a few minutes later in the initial hunting scene with Glass and his son, when there was brief but noticeable image instability in the tops of the trees as the camera panned across them. But what struck me from the outset was the much more naturalistic color grading this version has been given. There's a slightly warmer look to large swaths of the film now, and the greens that are so prevalent up through the bear attack (and a bit beyond) are much more finely gradated, with a subtler range of tones. A number of the dream sequences are less honey hued than amber now, something that makes them pop even better against the barer palette of much of the rest of the film. The cool blues and slate grays of many of the wintery ice bound sequences now are much warmer and natural looking, something that I actually found quite pleasing, though individual tastes may vary. The level of detail in some of the more gruesome scenes is stomach churning. One especially horrifying example is when Glass emerges from his "hide shelter" (those who have seen the film will know what this refers to), where the level of detail in blood splatter and what looks like little bits of gristle is much more precisely rendered (for better or worse) in this new 4K version. There are still some bluish tints to several key sequences, including (to cite just two examples) the "vision" Glass has of his son by the church and the attempted rape scene with the Native American girl, but even here the grading seems less sterile and cold than in the Blu-ray version. Levels of detail are outstanding throughout, and I'd easily rate this as a reference quality disc for early adopters of this format.

Note: I did experience a much longer HDMI handshake than usual after the initial Fox logo but before the actual disc main menu. As is typical in situations like this, I had audio but no video. This particular lapse lasted for well over a minute, and I was in fact about to try rebooting when the video element suddenly burst into view.

The Revenant 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Revenant 4K sports the same DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track assessed in our original The Revenant Blu-ray review.

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

The 4K UHD Blu-ray contains no supplements. The 1080p Blu-ray disc included in the package contains the same supplement detailed in our original The Revenant Blu-ray review.

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

Lubezski's cinematography is one of the highlights of The Revenant, and the 1080p Blu-ray was a revelation in and of itself. The fact that this new 4K iteration is even more abundantly detailed and nuanced in terms of color gradations is another revelation. This version offers what to my eyes is a much more naturalistic accounting of several sequences which were color graded rather cooly in the 1080p version. If you haven't yet sprung for the "regular" Blu-ray release, this release is a no brainer. Because of the manifest differences in appearance and levels of detail on this new version, I even recommend double dipping for early adopters of the format who want a remarkable viewing experience. Highly recommended.