Why So Blu?

Man of Steel (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

When I first found out they were attempting to go down the road of reinventing, re-branding and rebooting the legendary Superman franchise I just flat out laughed.  Then I found out Watchmen’s Zack Snyder was directing the project.  I have absolutely nothing against the looks and visual style of his films.  I know Snyder has a lot of potential.  After all he did do 300 and created one of the most stunning movie intros ever, in my opinion, in Sucker Punch.  So the cat has talent, that much I can’t deny.  However, then it became known that Christopher Nolan was going to be serving as a producer.   I thought maybe, just maybe, under the tutelage of King Nolan, Snyder could possibly nail it on the head and get Superman right this time out.  After all, there’s no doubt that this franchise needs a hero.  If anybody can do it, it’s definitely Nolan.  I have explicit faith in Nolan, and therefore I entrusted my faith in Snyder too. So prepare to soar and be dazzled (because we’re talking about Superman after all).  This is 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray review is made out of steel so treat it accordingly.

Film 

As far as the history books go I assume we can all skip on by past the Siegel’s family threat to Warner Bros. that they had to start production on a Superman movie by 2011 or face the legal wrath that the family could sue for additional royalties from previous films.  Blah, blah, blah.  The story behind Man of Steel is actually based upon an idea by David S. Goyer that Nolan pitched to the studio around the time that The Dark Knight Rises was wrapping up production.  Snyder was hired on as director back in October of 2010.  I guess you can say he’s the veteran here, but in my eyes, he’s still very much the pupil under Nolan’s uncompromising wits.  I was so confident that we were in good hands here because if Nolan knows one thing…it’s story.

Now as I mentioned before, Man of Steel is a complete reboot of the Superman film series, which puts a slightly new take on the character’s origin story.  However, you already knew what you were getting into once you heard or should I said read the word “reboot.”  The film stars Henry Cavill (Immortals) in the titular title role with Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Michael Shannon as General Zod, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Kevin Costner as Jonathan Kent, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, Russell Crowe as Jor-El (Superman’s father) and Antje Traue as Faora.

Equally important, if you’re a fan of the Dark Knight trilogy like I am, you’ll be stoked that we’re also in good hands in the score department with the inclusion of Hans Zimmer  filling the pretty big shoes of John Williams from the previous films.  While I’m sure it’s much to everyone’s surprise that there’s no reference at all to William’s iconic “Superman March,” that’s not necessary a bad thing…it’s a good thing.  Have faith.  Zimmer, in my opinion, is the new John Williams in the modern world (although you can never completely replace Williams’  signature masterpieces) and no one knows his craft better than Hans.  Zimmer’s score is like candy.  It’s so sweet and sensational you just have to have it!

There were so many good things going for this feature that I previously mentioned above so why oh why didn’t I like it as much as I wanted to intially?  Were my expectations set way too high, almost unbeatable, when I first went into this?  Did the wild second half action tromp the fact that the story lacked really disjointed character development, charisma and even good dialogue?  Did the fact that Goyer penned this script solo and it didn’t have Nolan’s loving touch bore me on my first watch?  Honestly, for me, it was a little bit of all of those things.  Believe me, I’m the last person who wants to be saying anything bad about this film.

My world needed a hero.  Unfortunately, Man of Steel wasn’t that savior for me.  Truth be told, I had way more fun with Fast & Furious 6, Star Trek Into The Darkness and Oblivion that year than this…even after a second helping.  And God…you don’t know how sad that makes me.  But here’s the deal.  It’s obviously far from being a perfect film.  The Dark Knight trilogy wasn’t either.  But unlike the Dark Knight trilogy, Man of Steel was relatively forgettable at first sight where as with the Dark Knight flicks they were lingering in my mind for days, weeks and even months after only the first viewing.  I wanted to feel that deep connection so much for this new incarnation of Superman, but sadly I did not…at least back then.

When I first saw this at a press screening years ago I had plans to go see it again in IMAX over opening day weekend.  That’s how much I was banking on the fact that I would love it.  But that didn’t happen, folks.  The theaters did not get my hard earned money or repeat business on this one like I thought they would.  I never thought it was plausible or even possible after becoming so attached to those initial trailers, but I felt so emotionally detached, distant and deprived of any emotions here.  It felt like I was hearing an ex tell me I don’t love you anymore…well not in that way.  And I believe it had much to do with the weak characters and their respective lack of robust development and horrible editing trying to achieve what Batman Begins did, but utterly failing in that respect.  That’s why I’m sad that Nolan didn’t have a hand in writing the screenplay.

Now let’s not get carried or blow things out of proportion here with my sadness.  Like I said before and I’ll repeat again, Man of Steel is NOT an incredibly bad movie.  It just could have been done a lot better and that’s the main reason for my sourness here.  But have no fear, it’s nothing like Superman Returns.  I dig the gritty real world approach that Nolan likes to instill and inject his characters in, but there’s also a lot of things that did not work for me either.  For starters, let’s take a look at Lois and Clark/Superman’s relationship.  I truly appreciate the fact that they modernized things and knew the characters’ portrayals in the Donner films from the 80’s were not going to hold up in today’s times, but they totally flipped the dynamics of Clark and Lois’ relationship head over heels and it just didn’t work for me in my first couple viewings.  Again I appreciate the modern human approach, but this relationship really had me scratching my head and saying really an awful lot.  And I was bored by it.  How’s that possible?  This is the Man of Steel after all.

What’s extremely cool was Krypton.  It was “stellar” to see the ruined planet represented onscreen like it was, almost fantasy or Avatar like.  I loved it!  However, once we came to Earth the story telling flipped flopped so erratically for me.  It worked in Batman Begins because it felt cohesive and formulaic, but I don’t think it was extremely effective here that much.  I really really wanted to feelmore of that loving bond between Clark (Cal-El) and his adopted parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent.  I wanted to be grounded in the story and lost in suspension of disbelief.  But the story was so choppy I never felt comfortable with the world in which Clark grew up in, thus I never felt the essential, emotional connection between the two most important people in Clark’s life.  And the whole Lois Lane thing once again.  Ugh.  It has taken multiple viewings to warm up to her, albeit finally happened this year for me.

So while I’m rambling off all my likes and dislikes let’s talk about the characters.  Henry Cavill, while not as instantly charismatic as the late Christopher Reeve, is completely stoic and chiseled as DC’s headliner superhero.  He wears and fills his tights with pride, enthusiasm and seems to have fun with it (and no that’s not a bash on the missing red tights either).  There just wasn’t a lot for him to work with though in my opinion.  I was taken aback though when young Clark had problems dealing with his superpowers such as x-ray vision and hearing all conversations.  That realism was probably my favorite moment in the movie and I have never seen it explored that way before.  I liked it very much even the second time around when I revisited on Blu-ray for my review here.  However, with the good always comes the bad and I’ll be honest and go on record by saying I’m not crazy of Amy Adams as Lois Lane (although that opinion has changed though after 11 viewings of BvS).  I initially really thought she was erroneously cast in this role, but again that’s just me.  She just didn’t feel like Lois Lane to me until now.

On the flip side, I L-O-V-E the casting of Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as Mr. and Mrs. Kent.  They were outstanding and I wish I could have seen a hell of a whole lot more of them throughout without the hack job editing.  I had no problems with the reincarnation of the characters of Perry White or that of Jor-El.  And while we’re at it, our paragraph wouldn’t be complete without mention of the brilliant Michael Shannon.  I think he did a fine job here too and flexed as much emotion and intensity as he could, but I also feel like he did not have a lot to work with here too in regards to the somewhat weak screenplay.   And what’s not to dig about Antje’s character of Faora?  I mean hey…c’mon!  That’s right, I’m giving you my Fonzie two-thumbs up stare.

I guess that leaves us with the reason why we are all here reading this…the 2013 summer action movie has finally arrived on the brand new 4K UHD Blu-ray format.  And I’m not going to lie to you.  If you like big, robust action in vein of The Transformers, then you came to the right place.  The second half of Man of Steel is action packed and as explosive as Krypton’s core.  Understandably so since this is a reboot of the franchise that there will be a lengthy origin story, but believe me when I say no time was wasted between the moment Clark stupidly received his blue alien underwear to the point where he confronted a cranky General Zod.  However, the way it all went down really wasn’t an iconic moment like the film’s trailers made it look and I didn’t get to see him discover his newfound powers innocently enough like we do in all the other superhero origin films.  And to be completely honest, the last third of the film really did feel like a bombastic, peril Transformers moment taken from any of the last three films.  It kind of took away whatever humanity Zack achieved with the first two acts as it was just in your face nonsensical Hulk-like smashing action.  But nevertheless, it was cool!

So riddle me this?  For someone so concerned with the well being of human life, aka Superman, how does he not care about the destruction him and Zod ensue on Metropolis?  It has been addressed of course in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but come on, about a million people must have perished in that final battle.  I don’t know.  Whenever I think about it more and more I find plot holes I don’t like, but let’s face it, The Dark Knight Rises is notorious for them too, more often than not.  No matter how you slice, the mythos of Superman is a hard one to tackle.  You’re either going to do it completely wrong by going too much with the comics and geek lore or you’re going to risk looking ridiculous by making macaroni and cheese.  Here’s where I think Goyer and Nolan succeeded at least in bringing a real world “feel” to Man of Steel and it appears like the future Justice League universe too.  It’s not prefect, but like it or not Man of Steel was a start and a foundation to build upon.

So up above you have my film score.  I had to account for my high expectations theatrically as well as how they would hold up in the inevitable Blu-ray release and now on 4K.  By all means, don’t let my words above be the final words.  If you haven’t already, you should experience Kal-El’s journey for yourself.  In fact I recommend it.  I will let you in on a little secret though.  When the credits roll, sadly that’s it, folks.  Don’t expect no huge Justice League tie-in like they did for Avengers in all the latest Marvel films.  It’s not there.  However, for a film who’s sole purpose is to launch a shared fictional universe of DC Comics characters on film, I think it works.

The choppy origin story kind of loses my interest just a tad and there are parts with the script that I would have liked to seen played out  differently, but that’s why I’m not making the big bucks, Nolan, Snyder and Goyer are.  What do I know, eh?  I do know this.  Never before has Superman been tackled like this.  They do a great job at making you feel what Clark feels as an alien outcast and puts a “real world spin” (I’m sure you are sick of hearing me say that over and over) on the DC Comics universe, something I hope they continue with.  This isn’t your daddy’s or 80’s childhood Superman.

Man of Steel is an action packed ride on the darker side of the DC Universe.  It’s Superman’s trials and tribulations as he discovers what kind of man he is going to be and how the people of Earth are going to treat him when his powers are discovered and big bad General Zod comes looking for Krypton’s last son.  It’s very much an “alien” movie.  It’s not as good as Nolan’s three Batman films, but it’s very much a start in the right direction that I can now appreciate after seeing it six times.  So how did things look and sound on the new 4K UHD Blu-ray format for this 2013 superhero action flick?  Now we’re talking!

DISCLAIMER:  Let the record show that the more I watch Man of Steel the more it weighs favorably on me.  Hence, the more I’ll admit to liking it a little more each time!  It’s almost at a 4 now.  Take that as face value for what it’s worth if it means anything to you.  The Man of Steel does indeed grow upon me with each taste test and that taste is EVER SO SWEET now that it’s on 4K UHD Blu-ray.  Read on…

Video 

The below video score and relative comments are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K UHD Blu-ray presentation of Man of Steel.  The video score and gradings for the included regular Blu-ray 1080p theatrical presentation of the film can be found in my coverage over here.

I wanted so badly to give this a perfect score of a 5 as this is the best I have ever seen Man of Steel look in the home front, but like in my review of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice over here, grain is prevalent and troublesome at times not to mention the very bleak color palette I can see a lot of HDR color popping enthusiasts nitpick about.  However, like that saying goes that I hate…it is what it is.  So with that off my chest, let’s get started with my critiques of how things look.

• Encoding: HEVC / H.265
• Resolution: 4K (2160p)
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Clarity/Detail: It’s hard to find many faults with this presentation whereas with the movie I can obviously find things to nitpick  about.  And good news for all you pore whores!  Every single pore is accounted for and on proudly display here not to mention hair follicles. stubble, beads of sweat, etc..  I love it!  Let’s just be completely honest and transparent about things.  There’s fine detail abound here everywhere you look.  Any signs of softness is really only due to the overuse of CGI (it is a Superman movie after all) or the grainy noise problems that creep up seldom (we will talk about that in more detail down below in the noise/artifacts category).  When you speak of clarity though, one cannot dismiss the Avatar-like amazing way everything on Krypton looked in the first 30 minutes of the film and those impeccable, awe-inspiring  space battles transpiring on in the background.  Wow!  I never wanted to leave Krypton.  Things were razor sharp and prominent throughout here.  It wasn’t until we arrived on planet Earth that things start going awry with grain and noise becoming problematic in certain scenes skewing clarity, etc., but it’s not as bad as you think.  This is still the real deal, folks, the finest this will ever look in your home…at least for now.  Other standouts in terms of clarity and detail include the fine ribs in Superman’s alien suit, the intricacies of the Krypton sets and costumes employed, the individual grains of snow in the Arctic and even the flaking paint chips on the Clark’s Kansas farmhouse.  If you can’t tell, I’m obsessed with this video presentation.
• Depth: Because of the three-dimensional pop the onscreen characters exhibit against the backgrounds, depth of field is prominent, deep and lavish throughout.  Certain scenes over others really drop you into this DCU atmosphere where you feel part of the vastness of it all like in the space battles on Krypton, the Clark farmhouse landscape and even the streets and never-ending buildings of downtown Metropolis where Superman and Zod battle it out.
• Black Levels: Black levels are always deep, inky and consistent throughout like a real life comic book.  One of my favorite scenes in particular here is the night sequences in the Arctic where Clark discovers the alien craft.  It reminds me to how phenomenal the HDR grading of Mad Max: Fury Road looks in the night time scenes.  This is why I love, heart and embrace this new 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray format with all my soul.
• Color Reproduction: Here’s where things get a bit sidetracked because if you read the forum boards, you will see a lot of fanboys talking about the colors being de-saturated here with the HDR presentation.  While it’s true, this one has a very bleak looking color palette, think of it this way…it’s Earthy looking, natural and every bit intentional as to how this is accurately supposed to display, at least from what I know.  Now let’s talk about when the colors really pop here.  Can I get a loud Amen for all the orange fireballs in the sky and the many explosions that “explode” throughout this one?  Just like in real life, an explosion will blind you in this one and they’re all accurately rendered here in my opinion.  Look no further than the space battles on Krypton for how gorgeous and eye popping these orange fireballs appear in this “down to Earth” 4K UHD presentation.
• Flesh Tones: The skin tones all look natural and authentic throughout.  I think the bleakness of the colors helps this category out too so flesh never looks hot or exaggerated.
• Noise/Artifacts: There are no nasty artifacts, debris or specks in the print.  That’s the good part.  The bad part we need to briefly discuss is about how grainy it gets in the skylines sometimes immediately after we leave Krypton and crash land on Earth.  Grain does not make this a bad presentation, but there are a few scenes like the tornado one for example where I can see snobs questioning that this is what 4K looks like?  Get over it!  There’s nothing wrong with a veneer layer of grain in movies.  In fact I prefer that as grain is inherent in film and it gives it that cinematic experience instead of watching some razor sharp soap opera or something.  So in other words it is what it is.  You have to take the good with a few of the bad.

Audio 

Like I mentioned up above in the video section, the below audio score and comments are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K UHD Blu-ray presentation of Man of Steel.  The audio score and associated comments for the regular Blu-ray version of the film can be found here.  It should be noted that only the 4K UHD Blu-ray disc houses the Dolby Atmos surround track.  The 1080p Blu-ray does not have that, but instead a DTS-HD MA 7.1 one.  Chalk up another win for the 4K UHD format, huh?

• Audio Format(s): Dolby Atmos English, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Dolby Digital French 5.1 (Both Parisian & Dubbed in Quebec), Dolby Digital Spanish 5.1 (Both Castilian & Latin)
• Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
• Dynamics: The dynamic range of this Dolby Atmos surround track will make it’s presence known immediately with its overall brutality and righteous forcefulness as well as with its quieter moments when Clark’s mom is trying to calm him down in the school closet for example.  The dynamics of the soundstage are really quite impressive here.  The loud carnage of everything that unfolds on the screen at you, including the non-stop romp of Act 3, will give your home theater setup one hell of a Superman-like workout.  Trust me on that.  If you love it loud, like Kiss does, then you’re in the right place!  However, it’s also the more subtle moments that shine here as well…the quiet interludes so to speak…that you’re able to lose yourself and indulge in this lossless track as you feel the plight of Clark dealing with who he is, where he came from and the conundrum of what he must do.  The many father and son chats always get me emotional here not to mention Zimmer’s memorable and thought-provoking score throughout.
• Height (Dolby Atmos): The Dolby Atmos element of this surround track really “elevates” your viewing experience, no pun intended, to the next level with many complements such as Zimmer’s incredible score bleeding in and shooting upwards, aerial battles on Krypton, planes flying by, doors on alien ship and Superman’s many flights just to name a select few.
• Low Frequency Extension: From the thunderous booms of the subwoofer during the action sequences to the quietest of lulls at the farmhouse, this track is truly worthy of the film’s title.  The LFE channel is strong, prominent and robust in all aspects from complementing the rousing score to crashing bodies through glass windows and buildings.  The many explosions and fireballs that happen on screen are unforgiving in the way your subwoofer will punish your living room environment keeping you in the heart of all the pulse-pounding action.  Just wait until you hear that Krypton World Engine picking up and slamming cars back down to the Earth’s surface.  I did not know whether to turn the volume down or run and hide.  Ha ha.
• Surround Sound Presentation: This one no doubt probably gave my rear surround speakers one of the biggest workouts of the year so far.  I don’t recall a single moment where I didn’t hear anything in the rear channels.  It’s that immersive.  From the multiple ships and planes blasting by and Zimmer’s score pounding from behind to the voices of children Clark hears when he locks himself in the school closet or rescues them from their inevitable demise after their bus crashes into the water, you’ll never want to watch a front-heavy comedy movie ever again.  I can’t recommend this one enough.
• Dialogue Reproduction: The dialogue is loud, clear and intelligible throughout the presentation and I never had a problem understanding any spoken word, that is when Costner speaks clearly.

Extras

While there does not look like there’s too much to offer here in the way of extras on the rear cover, don’t lead that lead covered sleeve deceive your Kryptonian eyes.  Let me take you on this guided journey and explore the caverns and depths of this special features department here on the Man of Steel Blu-ray set.  In addition to the 4K UHD Blu-ray and the film on a 1080p Blu-ray there’s also “supposed” to be a wealth of extras plus a code redeemable for the Digital HD version of Man of Steel on the UltraViolet platform.  So without further ado, the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Combo Pack that I have in hand directly from Warner Bros. includes the following extras down below.  Before I lead you into discussion of them I ask that you please fasten your red tablecloth around your neck and come fly with me.

Wait just a minute!  Before we take off in flight I just wanted to bring something to your attention.  Don’t believe everything you read.  Man of Steel‘s Ultra HD slipcover and rear cover art promises nearly 4 hours of extras including “Journey of Discovery: Creating Man of Steel” and “Planet Krypton.”  If you own the 2013 Blu-ray Combo set, you would know these clock in at over 3 hours worth of run-time total.  That’s a lot of time, no?  It sure is.  The problem is that these extras are housed on their own separate Blu-ray disc in the 2013 Combo Set.  Sadly, they are nowhere to be found in this 4K UHD Blu-ray set despite being advertised as included.  I have reached out to my Warner Bros. contact to make them aware of it and to see if I can get more information on the alarming matter.  For the time being, all you have is what’s below housed on the 1080p Blu-ray disc.

• Strong Characters, Legendary Roles (HD, 25:59) – Here we explore the legendary characters of the Superman mythology and comics over the years and how they have evolved in this new iteration of the Superman story with the likes of Geoff Johns in his Aquaman hat, director Zack Snyder, David Goyer, producer Alex McDowell and other cast and crew, including a glimpse of Chris Nolan!!!  This gives an insight into the character of Superman and what he stands for.  Good stuff here!  However, it does get really deep especially when they compare the destruction of Superman’s home planet and how we’re currently destroying ours.  And God do I love those Krypton scenes.
• All Out Action (HD, 26:02) – Here we get to go inside the intense training, diet regimen and even sleep that sculpted Henry Cavill into the “Man of Steel” and Michael Shannon and Antje Traue into his Kyptonian nemeses.  Henry learned he could do things in the gym he never thought possible.  This extra also includes interviews with the cast, crew and trainers.  These are the kind of supplements that make me envious as I would love nothing more than a lifestyle of getting paid to work out.  Honestly, I’m a bigger fan of the action because of this supplement.  The capture of the under water oil rig sequence was absolutely amazing how it was filmed.  It’s also fun to see Supe and villains fight with green screen and without their CGI accessories and wardrobe.
• Krypton Decoded (HD, 6:42) – This one is kind of short compared to its two predecessors, but here we are hosted by Dylan Sprayberry, who plays Clark Kent at age 13 in the film, as he gives us the lowdown on all the amazing Krypton tech, weapons and spaceships featured in our feature film.
• Superman 75th Anniversary Animated Short (HD, 2:03) – This two-minute quickie kind of has it all including animated takes of Christopher Reeves and Henry Cavill as well as various incarnations of the Superman character as he appeared in the comic pages.  Listen closely enough and you might just hear some legendary John Williams score too.
• New Zealand: Home to Middle-earth (HD, 6:35) – Oddly enough we have a Hobbit related featurette here as we travel with Peter Jackson and crew across New Zealand as they transform it into Middle-earth.  What’s it doing here?  I honestly have no idea.  It’s truly an Easter egg in every sense.  LOL.

*** THE FOLLOWING 2 EXTRAS ARE WHAT WERE ERRONEOUSLY OMITTED FROM MY MAN OF STEEL 4K UHD BLU-RAY SET ***

• Journey of Discovery: Creating Man of Steel (HD, 2 hrs., 54 mins.) – This immersive feature-length experience allows you to watch the movie with director Zack Snyder, crew and the stars as they share the incredible journey to re-imagine Superman in the film.  Honestly, going into this one I kind of thought this would be a standard picture-in picture track (what is that anymore) as you’re watching the film, but it’s so much more…sometimes there’s even three.  The interviews and featurettes literally take over the screen and you’ll be hard pressed if you ever wanted to hear any of the movie.   But why would you?   Even though it’s billed as learning more while you watch the film, don’t be fooled.  This is one hell of a making of that rivals the Prometheus 3D doc in length.  This one is EVERYTHING you wanted to know and so much more about the film.  Interestingly enough the movie does kick in every now and then and when it does your rear speakers will let you know.  All the in-depth featurettes here make this one well worth the price of admission in my opinion.  You gotta love hearing about two-thirds of the crew throwing up in the crab fishing scenes filmed on a real boat with authentic crashing waves.  I love seeing all the elements, including fire, come together.
• Planet Krypton (HD, 17:18) – It’s the world’s first exploration of Krypton and its lost society or as I like to call it a mockumentary.  It’s goofy, but it’s here.

Summary 

I have to admit.  After not being much of a fan the first time around, I continue to have fun watching this again and again now because of my affinity for its sequel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.  Man of Steel is just one of the movies where you had to get the first viewing out of the way to truly appreciate it.  In my own words, I call that the “Prometheus Effect.”  There’s no doubt in my mind that this 4K UHD Blu-ray will be getting some more spins in the very near future and why not?  It has reference video, audio and even “potentially” some lengthy killer special features to boast about on the included Blu-ray (I believe there should be 2).  I’m sure we’ll see an eventual double dip or repackage with other DC universe titles in the future with Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman on the horizon, but for now I’m really happy with what we have here.  Man of Steel came out on 4K UHD Blu-ray today, but if you like what you read above, please help support our site by ordering it here or via the Amazon link below.  Thank you and enjoy!

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DISCLAIMER: This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray review was judged and graded using the following 4K certified A/V gear found here. 

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