4K Ultra HD – HK Edition – Universe – 120 min – 02 January 2021
Video format
• Intermediate Master: 2K
• Standard HDR: Dolby Vision
• Ratio: 2.39
Soundtrack
• Cantonese Dolby Atmos
• Mandarin Dolby Atmos
Subtitles
• Traditional Chinese
• Chinese Simplified
• English
It is brought to the attention of our dear readers as well as the viewing equipment specified and used by each tester of the MaG team, the rendering may differ from one installation to another, whether or not it is calibrated, as well as personal preferences and expectations may influence the rating. Moreover, the images in the article are not representative of the edition tested.
WORK – Explosive my love
A series of bombings took place in Hong Kong, causing fear among the population. The former demining agent Poon Shing-Fung, who fell into a coma following an explosion, became the main suspect because of his ties to the criminal organisation Vendetta. After his awakening, Poon was interrogated and imprisoned. He escapes to discover the truth and prove his innocence...
Driven to a hell train, this large-scale action polar that does not leeve on the specsacular (and very medium CGIs) relies on a scenario rich in rebounds (in no way a sequel to the first Shock Wave) to address the « domestic terrorism ». And if credibility explodes as soon as it moves (on any occasion then), the internal conflict that mobilizes the character embodied by Andy Lau (Infernal Affairs, The Secret of Flying Daggers) is the emotional motor driving the locomotive forward!
IMAGE – Never without my visor!
Despite a 2K DI, the images captured in 8K greatly benefit from this UHD transfer encoded in Dolby Vision; proof if it is that a good upscaling 4K (a few traces of aliasing) can be visually impressive (did you doubt it?).
It significantly strengthens the pique (the pores of the skin, the kevlar fibre coating of the heavy holding of the deminers, the damage caused by explosions), refines the contrasts (the levels of black have been adjusted for more details in the shadows), produces a more vibrant colorimetric palette (the primary ones take better advantage of it) and increases the brightness of the light sources (the gyrophars of the intervention vehicles, the reflections on the bodywork, the headlights of the metro trains) with precision.
SON – Boom, boom boom!
Badly immersive is thundering, this mix of Dolby Atmos with the dynamic fighting takes us to the heart of exciting action scenes where the shots and other explosions sound superbly.
The voices that can move around the space (including the back) are not lacking in consistency, the spatialization that is very realistic is particularly fluid (the pyrotechnic effects like urban atmospheres come literally from all directions), the LFE channel that makes the ground vibrate is essential to narration, the aerial scene that is full of activities is no longer flourishing (the score, the announcements in the speakers, the blast of detonations, etc.) and the music, vector of feelings, develops very widely.
CONCLUSION – Waiting for the deminers...
Revealed from a special armored combination to protect it from a possible explosion, the present 4K Ultra HD that has been hard trained is ready to save many lives!
Artistic note
7
Video quality
9
Audio quality
10
0
I had liked the 1st but not yet seen what 2 seems even more "American" than the first film. A 3 must come out soon too
Yes, even more American... Without the quality of the CGI (below) unfortunately! 🙁