Blade Runner [Blu-ray]

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There is also no apparent banding, macroblocking or other nagging artifacts -- simply put, this is beautiful compression work.

One is simply that adding HDR - and quite aggressive HDR at that - to a relatively old film that wasn’t designed for it can bring out noise that was scarcely be noticeable at ‘SDR’ light levels. From the first bursts of flames along the skyline to the flying spinners to the booming base tones of Vangelis' iconic score - it's an audio mix that joyfully pins you to the back of your seat. Vangelis' score really pumps up the LFE tones and gives certain sequences an appreciable sense of dread. And you've probably heard that it's been re-issued and re-configured in so many different versions that Scott's originally-intended themes have been mucked with to the point of abstraction.The intensity really is just staggering at times, especially with the shots of the external city streets. It’s also possible that in mastering the image for 4K, someone has been a bit over-enthusiastic with the sharpness tools. I love it even more on Blu-ray, although it has to be said that you won’t see the magic transformation in HD that you see in more modern features. As you get closer and closer to the practical models, you can see all of the little nooks and crannies with an appreciable amount of detail and depth.

Although it should be said that the Blu-ray does have one stark advantage over the 4K HDR version: it hardly suffers at all with any of the grain I talked about earlier. Visually spectacular, intensely action-packed and powerfully prophetic since its debut, Blade Runner dazzles in Ridley Scott's definitive Final Cut, including extended scenes and special effects. There is also a slight dullness to the dialogue; it lacks the fidelity of modern audio recording for cinema, very much a sign of the film’s age.The first shot of those dark towered spewing flames with the obelisk Tyrell corporation buildings was stunning. Blade Runner is set in a dystopian future where synthetic humans, known as Replicants, are used as slave labor on off-Earth colonies. I had seen Alien and that Blade Runner was also directed by Ridley Scott was part of the pitch my dad made in getting me to watch something I'd never heard of. So when four of these replicants escape an intergalactic colony and head for Earth, Deckard is forced back to work to terminate them.

Dubbed the "Enhancement Archive," platter four is filled with deleted footage, more featurettes and promotional materials. While the A/V presentation for this 4K UHD release is impeccable, I'm very sad to report that the ball was essentially dropped in terms of bonus features. However, Scott has now stated that despite the "Director's Cut" moniker, he was not intimately involved with that version of the film, and that it was rushed into theaters without all of his hoped-for changes. But lest purists fear that Warner has overdone it, I was thrilled to see that there is still some legitimate grain to the image, which retains a film-like and natural look entirely appropriate to the vintage of the film. For classic films on 4K, this is the new demo disc to flash at your pals who don't see the point in upgrading.Clearly the "Final" version is the standout of the set and is sure to give your home theater a nice workout. A commercial flop upon its original theatrical release in 1982, in the intervening years the film has risen phoenix-like from the ashes, thanks almost entirely to a growing legion of cultists who largely discovered the film on tape and disc. The film also looks far more detailed and sharp than the accompanying HD, SDR Blu-ray version, which looks dull, flat and soft by comparison.