Watchmen 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.5
Overall		4.5

Watchmen 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 29, 2018

Warner Bros. has released the fan-favorite noir superhero film 'The Watchmen' to UHD in a three-disc set. The UHD disc contains the lengthy 'Ultimate Cut' but does not offer the theatrical or director's cut in the 2160p format. The studio has opted not to re-encode the soundtrack, leaving well enough alone by simply porting over the well-received Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless presentation from the previous Blu-ray release of this cut. No new extras are included, but the set includes the film's Director's Cut on Blu-ray and a dedicated special features Blu-ray disc.

For a full film review for the Ultimate Cut, please see the original Blu-ray.com review of the 2009 release here.

Watchmen 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc, the "Director's Cut" disc bundled with this package to be precise. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Who watches The Watchmen...in 4K? Warner Bros.' 2160p/HDR-enhanced presentation of Watchmen will certainly prove controversial. First, the UHD release only contains the film in its super-long "Ultimate Cut," a behemoth that runs over 3.5 hours. There is no opportunity to watch the theatrical or director's cuts in 4K, at least at time of writing, so fans of either of those are left to simply re-watch the well-reviewed Blu-ray discs instead. The entire Ultimate Cut does fit on a single UHD disc, and with no compression artifacts of note, it holds up very well given the allotted space.

The most fundamental difference between the Blu-ray and the UHD is the drastic alteration to the film's coloring. While many -- most -- HDR presentations only enhance what's there, offering brighter whites, greater color depth and range, more dazzle and pop, Watchmen's UHD significantly tones down the palette, making an already darkly atmospheric movie all the more dim, dense, and drained. The movie is much more absorbingly dark than it was before, with various scenes almost pushing a grayscale. Skin tones are drained, even in moderately well lit interiors, and only the most intense primaries really stand apart. A purple poster with a bright white lightning strike can be seen at the 27:09 mark on the UHD Ultimate cut disc (the 24:07 mark on the director's cut Blu-ray). This is an example of the 10-it HDR not only altering the color, but improving on the color. The purple is much deeper and more vibrant. There's much more pop to it, and the bright white lightning streaks are more refined, deeper, and less prone to overpowering the purple around them while still adding intensity. The rest of the shot is much more grayscale. The walls are a darker shade thereon, and the red shirt the character is wearing is all but drained of only a modest hint of its color. It's not that it's vibrant on the Blu-ray either, but the UHD certainly tones down the overall brightness factor by a fairly significant level. This is one of the most drastic alterations to a movie by way of an HDR presentation yet. It doesn't fundamentally change the movie, but to does take the initiative to create a much more absorbingly atmospheric presentation. Whether one finds it an enhancement, a compliment, to the movie is ultimately up to the individual viewer to decide, whether preferring much more brightness on the Blu-ray or increased density and decreased color contrast on the UHD.

The film was reportedly photographed in Super 35 but finished at 2K. The resultant upscaled 4K image doesn't offer much increase in textural clarity or efficiency of presentation. The desaturated coloring is a much more prominent feature, and while it appears more accentuating of various environments, the reality is that there's not much detail gain to be found. Some increases in sharpness are apparent, but skin textures, urban environments, and clothes don't offer any regularly significant boost in delivery, despite the up in crude resolution. The image is positively filmic, though, with grain retention continuous and nicely refined. The good news is that what detailing is here is very good. Easy-come complexity is the norm, and viewers will note fine details in all of the expected places, and some unexpected, too, even through the film's dense nighttime scenes and, on the UHD, dramatically drained color.

Ultimately, Watchmen's UHD is a product of a very gloomy, atmospheric movie made all the more so with its HDR presentation. This reviewer found it a positive improvement over the Blu-ray, complimenting the mood and finding a greater visual tonal balance compared to the Blu-ray, but that doesn't matter. What matters is whether this is a more accurate representation of Zack Snyder's vision for this film, and that is a question only Snyder could answer. That's the million-dollar question for every HDR alteration, really, particularly for these "older" films. The UHD looks very good, but prospective viewers -- particularly those intimately familiar with the Blu-ray -- will want to be prepared for a different viewing experience going in.

Watchmen 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This UHD release of Watchmen's Ultimate Cut does not feature any newly remixed Atmos or DTS:X soundtracks, sticking with the very good Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless track from the 2009 Blu-ray. For a full audio review, please click here.

Watchmen 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Watchmen's UHD disc houses no extras, but the included two Blu-ray discs offer plenty. Below is a list of what's included. For a more comprehensive review, please click here for a review of the "Maximum Movie Mode" and here for the special features on disc three. A UV digital copy code is included with purchase. Note that none of the discs contain the commentary tracks that were on the Blu-ray Ultimate Edition feature film disc.

Blu-ray Disc One (Director's Cut Feature Film):

• Maximum Movie Mode

Blu-ray Disc Two (Special Features):

• The Phenomenon: The Comic That Changed Comics
• Real Superheroes: Real Vigilantes
• Mechanics: Technologies of a Fantastic World
• Under the Hood
• Story Within a Story
• Watchmen: Video Journals
• Music Video

Watchmen 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Watchmen's praises have been sung far and wide, and the film has been enjoyed in several variations over the years. This UHD is the first time the film has been seen in 4K, albeit upscaled, for home consumption. Sadly, Warner Brothers has only released the "Ultimate Cut" to the format; fans of either the theatrical or director's cuts will have to stick with the Blu-ray. The picture quality as presented is most drastically impacted by the desaturating use of HDR. Textural improvements are mild at best, negligible at worst. Audio has not been changed, either, and no new extras are included. This is not entirely a comprehensive Watchmen experience; a few extras are missing, notably a pair of audio commentary tracks, and it includes no option to view the theatrical cut, but there's nevertheless an awful lot of content here, supplements-wise and considering two different cuts of the film. Recommended.