Waterworld 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Waterworld 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 24, 2023

The climate may or may not be changing, depending on your point of view, but one thing that appears to be remaining constant is regular releases of Waterworld. Arrow put out its own Limited Edition 1080 release several years ago which I reviewed (see below), and Universal, the film's home studio, has put out its own glut of releases, including a previous 4K UHD release. Happy swimming!

As mentioned above, this is not Waterworld's first "at bat", or whatever the ocean bound equivalent may be, on either 1080 Blu-ray or 4K UHD disc, and those interested can visit my Waterworld Blu-ray review of Arrow's version, my Waterworld Blu-ray review of the first Universal 1080 release, or Martin Liebman's Waterworld 4K Blu-ray review of Universal's more recent 4K UHD upgrade of the film. In what is a kind of interesting marketing strategy, Arrow offers this release with a 4K UHD disc presentation of the theatrical release of the film, while retaining the two 1080 discs featuring alternative cuts from their original all 1080 release. Some of my descriptions below include verbiage from my original review as a result.

Waterworld 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from Arrow's previous 1080 release of the theatrical version. Per my comments above, note that this release offers the theatrical version on a 2160 disc, with the two longer versions still presented in 1080.

Waterworld is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Arrow Video with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. Arrow's insert booklet imparts some different information for this transfer when compared to their verbiage in the 1080 booket (see that review of mine for details):

The Theatrical Cut

This version was restored by NBC Universal in 4K resolution and is presented in HDR10 and Dolby Vision with DTS:X ([sic] - audio is actually Dolby Atmos on this release, though it was DTS:X on Universal's own 4K UHD release), 5.1 and 2.0 stereo sound.

Extended TV Cut and Ulysses Cut versions:

These version were restored by Arrow Films in 2K resolution and are presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with 5.1 and 2.0 stereo sound.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 4K resolution at Company 3, Burbank. Additional 35mm intermediary elements were scanned in 4K resolution for those sections unique to the Extended TV Cut and Ulysses Cut versions. An extensive search was undertaken by NBC Universal to locate all the additional sequences, optical sections and titles necessary to complete these longer versions of the film. Some of the effects sequences in these longer versions were never completed for the theatrical release and so they remain in unfinished form. The film was graded and restored in 2K resolution at Pinewood Studios Group, London. Final grading review and approval was supervised by Director of Photography Dean Semler at Company 3.

Dolby Vision grading was completed by Fidelity in Motion.

I recommend those interested to visit my original Waterworld Blu- ray review of Arrow's 1080 version for some additional screenshots (including some of the longer versions) and my thoughts on all three 1080 presentations in general. The 4K UHD upgrade of the theatrical version is often quite striking, but increases in detail and palette highlights, while definitely noticeable, can be rather subtle at times. Fine detail is nonetheless at least marginally improved and textures on things like the burlap coverings or some the almost caveman-esque costumes are typically excellent. The palette is very nicely suffused for the most part, but I actually found most of the HDR and/or Dolby Vision differences in the brown ranges, which to my eyes look a bit more emphasized in this version than in Arrow's 1080 release. There are some interesting highlights in some of the fire and/or explosive effects, however, which add some rather lustrous oranges and reds to the mix. Some of the special effects, especially compositing, are not especially "helped" by the increased resolution of this format. Grain resolves rather nicely throughout, occasionally looking, yes, splotchy and yellow, especially during opticals (including those generated by the burnt in subtitles for a few passing sequences). My score is 4.25.

Note: I had one passingly scary moment with this disc, when during my first viewing the image froze around three minutes into the actual feature. My player absolutely refused to respond to any commands placed via my remote, and even more troublingly when I tried to eject or stop the disc with the player controls themselves, nothing happened. I had to "hard power off" my player by keeping the power button depressed, but after I achieved that, I was able to eject successfully, and when I rebooted the disc, everything played fine. I carefully checked the underside of the disc to see if there were any anomalies, but saw none. This may have been just one of those inexplicable ghosts in the machine, but I'm noting it here in case anyone else experiences something like this.

Waterworld 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Waterworld in 4K UHD enjoys a sonic upgrade as well courtesy of a Dolby Atmos track. Judging by Marty's description of the Universal DTS:X track, I'd say this is probably more or less interchangeable, and it definitely provides increased immersion (no watery pun intended) and verticality in throughout the presentation. The most noticeable improvements are probably in the glut of sound effects, where, for example, when a plane mysteriously appears at one point, the Atmos track clearly offers some overhead placement of effects that the already excellent DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track included here can't quite muster. Watery effects spill (again, no pun intended) throughout the side and rear channels quite effectively, even if dialogue is, as Marty noted in his review of Universal's DTS:X version, largely anchored front and center. LFE can be quite forceful throughout during some of the action sequences. Optional English subtitles are available.

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

This is yet another beautifully packaged set from Arrow which mimics the label's previous 1080 packaging. The three disc keepcase is housed in a sturdy chipboard box which also includes six collector's postcards, a double sided fold out poster, and a limited edition 60 page "perfect bound" book featuring essays by David J. Moore and Daniel Griffith, along with some archival pictures and writing. There's also a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Paul Shipper. The contents of the three Blu-ray discs are as follows:

Disc One

• Theatrical Version (UHD; 2:15:06)


• Maelstrom: The Odyssey of Waterworld (HD; 1:42:22) is an absolutely fascinating retrospective that may well be of interest to those even without much love for Waterworld itself. This gets into a ton of background information, including what ostensibly went "wrong", and includes a number of well done interviews and some enjoyable behind the scenes footage.


• Dances With Waves (HD*; 9:20) is an archival featurette documenting the shoot.


• Global Warnings (HD; 22:21) features Glenn Kenny analyzing apocalyptically themed films.


• Image Galleries

  Production Image Gallery

  Concept Art (HD)

  Production Stills (HD)

  Behind the Scenes: Hawaii (HD)

  Behind the Scenes: Los Angeles (HD)

  Miniatures and Visual Effects (HD)

  Promotional Image Gallery (HD)

• Original Trailers

  Original Teaser (HD; 2:00)

  Original Trailer (HD; 2:15)

  Original TV Spots (HD; 9:06)

*720

Disc Two

• The TV Cut (HD; 2:56:01) was created for U.S. broadcast television and contains over 40 minutes of additional material, including alternate scenes, but also a few judicious edits (note for example how the "introduction" to The Mariner is kind of hilariously shortened).

Disc Three

• The "Ulysses" Cut (HD; 2:57:13) was done for European broadcast markets and restores some material shorn from the U.S. broadcast version (again, note for example how The Mariner's opening "activity" is back in full in this version).

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

As my 3.5 score for the film itself hopefully indicates, I've never thought Waterworld was the outright disaster some folks seem to think it was. That said, one of the chief pleasures of this release is being able to compare the theatrical cut to the two longer (and really rather similar) cuts made for various broadcast markets. Fans who have had access to previous versions of these longer cuts have sometimes kind of ironically complained about perceived bloat (ironic, considering "bloat" and water, that is), but I found some of the elements in the longer version helpful to the overall story, even if three hours (or six, if you watch both the TV and Ulysses cuts) may be a bit too long to spend with The Mariner. In some ways Waterworld was ahead of its time, at least with regard to some of its "ecological" proclivities, and the film in any of its versions has therefore perhaps aged more gracefully than some other "high concept" spectaculars from days of yore. I declined to recommend the old Universal release, but I had no such qualms about Arrow's 1080 release. While detail levels and palette show differences here, they can be subtle, but fans of the film should be generally well pleased with the 4K UHD presentation of the theatrical cut. . The supplemental features are extremely enjoyable, and the packaging very handsome. Recommended.