Source France | Publisher : 20th Century Studios | Release date : 07 February 2024
Video format
2160p24 – Ratio 2.76
HDR10 / BT.2020 – HEVC encoding
Master intermediate 4K
Soundtrack
English Dolby Atmos
English Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
Subtitles
English
French
Rated 4.5 out of 5
Artistic : 8.5 | Video : 9 | Audio : 10
It is brought to the attention of our dear readers that, in addition to the specified and used viewing equipment, the rendering may differ from one installation to another, whether or not it is calibrated, as well as personal preferences and expectations may influence notation. Moreover, the images in the article are not representative of the edition tested.
Test equipment and condition (Config. HP: 5.1.4)
Video broadcaster : Philips 65OLED908 (HDR Filmmaker Mode)
Sources : Oppo UDP-203 Audiocom Reference | Zappiti Reference
Pregnant : Sennheiser Ambeo Soundbar (Dolby Atmos | Dolby Surround), SVS SB-4000
WORK - Robot lives watch
As a future war between the human race and artificial intelligence rages, the former Special Forces agent Joshua is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI.
When Blade Runner and Cinema Malick play Revelation Now by considering Cameron, « IA » hope for the future of the great show in Hollywood...
Ambitious and original science fiction (even if with references) visually stunning (especially for a budget of only 80 M)$) where the universe is immediately credible, the themes intelligently addressed (Avatar never far away), the action generously removed (cf. the spectacular climax) and the emotions undoubtedly predominant.
In an optimistic response to TerminatorThis humanistic and dystopical fable on progress (to see artificial intelligence differently) is an anomaly (well programmed) in the Hollywood landscape that has the means to become a revolution if we cherish it. A nugget!
IMAGE - Child in the Shell
Digital capture in ultra-panavision format 2.76:1 (as The Eight Salopards for the last to have exploited or Ben-Hur 1959) with mostly the compact Sony FX3 (a shooting in mode « guerrillas »), photography with a consciously imperfect vintage signature (distortion, bokeh, flare factors, silver grain added in post-production and vaguely greying blacks) Greig Fraser (Rogue One, Dune, The Batman) is even more striking in 4K Ultra HD thanks to a UHD HDR10 transfer confusing beauty which, despite a rather light average bitrate of 45.2 Mb/s, is devoid of any compressive traces.
Even if deliberately deprived of depth (it is piled) and endowed with a certain softness, the image benefits from the definite contribution in resolution offered by the support. The details on the faces and decors of New Asia gain in finesse, the special effects are perfectly integrated and the false texture 35 mm better restored.
Measured but indeed real, the contribution of the WCG increases the vivacity of the primaries (where the blues and reds predominate) of a colorimetric palette with just exquisite dated appearance, with beautifully saturated hues (cf. the verdony of the landscapes) and with healthy carnation.
As for the extended dynamic range, generously pushed to be connected with this retro-futuristic world (an average luminance of 315 cd/m2 with peaks exceeding 900 nits), it shows even stronger contrasts (a darker shade with more modeled shadows) and light sources better capped in heights (cf. urban lighting of the megalopolises) at increased intensity (the headlights of the motorized machinery, laser rays, various electronic devices and j-pass).
SON - Freedom, I shout your name
With a sound design immediately identifiable (police droids, futuristic vehicles) and a vehement dynamic, the Dolby Atmos soundtrack (reserved for VO) forms a hearing bubble as subtle as it is engaging where the effects (fire bursts, explosions, movements of robotic squads), the atmospheres (the crowd in urban areas) and the music ofHans Zimmer envelope the listener with quite crazy precision.
The acoustic space is wide as possible, the verticality of the remarkable mixing (the aerial presence of NOMAD, the alarms in the grinding plant, the depressurization of the lunar shuttle, etc.), the clear dialogues and the bass box, never limited on the side of the infra-graves (explosive charges, super-heavy tanks), particularly well exploited.
Powerful and well-distributed (good operation of the seven enclosures at its disposal) even if less detailed (compression is not foreign), the VF Dolby Digital More 7.1, however, provides a very large performance based upstream on high-end mixing and careful dubbing.
CONCLUSION - The Sons of AI
Against the current of modern blockbusters since seeing artificial intelligence being victimized by the human species (deployed rightly as the cancerous scourge of our planet), this fable of humanist SF imbued with a strong visual identity is to be found on 4K Ultra HD support with exceptional audio and video performances. Do androids dream of Buddhist temples?
[...] of photography and true artist to whom one owes much to the plastic of The Batman, The Creator or Rogue One, the most authorizing blockbusters of recent years. Dune has [...]