General Evans Above Archive for May 20, 2022

The Batman 4K review

May 20, 2022 – permalink

Though there was some initial reluctance when fans heard that Robert Pattinson would be the next Caped Crusader, Matt Reeves’ The Batman quelled those fears with a dark and moody outing. Gotham City’s favourite genius vigilante is up against a serial killer named the Riddler (Paul Dano) who has been killing the city’s elite. Can Batman stop Riddler and uncover the corruption that has long plagued the city? The cast also features Zoë Kravitz as Selina Kyle / Catwoman, Jeffrey Wright as Lieutenant James Gordon, John Turturro as mobster Carmine Falcone, Andy Serkis as Alfred and Colin Farrell as Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot / Penguin. Warner Brothers Home Entertainment has released The Batman on 4K and I was given a chance to look at it. The WB likes disclaimers, so here goes: Though Warner Brothers provided me with a copy of this release to review, the thoughts and opinions below are mine.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded native 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The video presentation is a stunner. The image is razor sharp with an amazing amount of detail in costumes, faces, hair and locations. The details hold up in even the darkest scenes and, hey, with Batman you get a lot of those. The black levels are deep but, again, this is where 4K shines as everything still stands out. It’s a dark palette but the HDR colour grading really makes things like displays and fires pop. The image is clean and free from artifacts. Stunning.

On the audio side, The Batman comes with English, German and Italian Dolby Atmos tracks, English, French (Canada), German, Italian and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks as well as English Descriptive Audio. Subtitles are available for English SDH, French, German SDH, Italian SDH, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish. The Atmos track takes advantage of the height speakers and between that and the wonderful surround usage you’ll be so much in the action that you might vote for the next Gotham mayor. Your subwoofer will shake the roof off, while the musical score in powerful and dynamic. Dialogue is clear, centred and well prioritized in the mix.

The three disc set of The Batman comes with the 4K disc, a Blu-ray version and a bonus materials Blu-ray. A digital code is included. The extras include a look at the fight choreography, insights into Pattinson’s casting and character choices, an examination of whether Batman and Riddler are two sides of the same coin, a piece on Catwoman, looks at the new Batmobile and car chases, a look at one of the gadgets in Batman’s arsenal, an almost hour-long “making of” featurette, a look at the costume design, a piece on Penguin’s makeup, and deleted scenes.

The Batman has amazing video, stunning audio, and a great selection of extras. Heartily recommended.