Why So Blu?

Don’t Worry Darling (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

One of the more talked about films this year, for all the wrong reasons, was Olivia Wilde’s sophomore effort Don’t Worry Darling. People seemed to want to care about anything but the film itself and were predetermined to not like it upon release for things that have nothing to do with what the finished product is. Well, with it dropping on HBO Max and now on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray, maybe folks can just take a relaxed look at it. Complete with a Dolby Atmos track, the disc will also contain a deleted scene and a featurette. The release date is November 29th. If you’re interested in owning a a copy, you can use the paid Amazon Associates link below to secure yourself one.

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Film

Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) are lucky to be living in the idealized community of Victory, the experimental company town housing the men who work for the top-secret Victory Project and their families. The 1950’s societal optimism espoused by their CEO, Frank (Chris Pine)—equal parts corporate visionary and motivational life coach—anchors every aspect of daily life in the tight-knit desert utopia.

While the husbands spend every day inside the Victory Project Headquarters, working on the “development of progressive materials,” their wives—including Frank’s elegant partner, Shelley (Gemma Chan)—get to spend their time enjoying the beauty, luxury and debauchery of their community. Life is perfect, with every resident’s needs met by the company. All they ask in return is discretion and unquestioning commitment to the Victory cause. But when cracks in their idyllic life begin to appear, exposing flashes of something much more sinister lurking beneath the attractive façade, Alice can’t help questioning exactly what they’re doing in Victory, and why. Just how much is Alice willing to lose to expose what’s really going on in this paradise?

Olivia Wilde’s sophomore effort, the follow up to Booksmart, continues to showcase some of her talents behind the camera, but ultimately is a film that doesn’t feel like it was quite ready to go by the end. It’s not for nothing though, as there are some really good visuals to go along with strong performances from the cast. Don’t Worry Darling is a film you’ll find yourself wishing it offered a little more and stuck in your head for a while after, rather than just being the thing you watched and moved on to the next.

Certainly the appeal of the film was for general audiences, but the film really needed to dive in and be a bit weirder. Even if some abstract stuff doesn’t land or may confuse a common moviegoer, it still strikes as memorable. The film’s central mystery is one that you probably have a good handle on from the outset, or even the trailer, but they could have dressed it up in some more bold, Avant Garde ways. It has a reveal that is pretty half baked and begins the fall apart when you spend just a couple minutes thinking back upon it after its finished.

Now, the film does offer plenty. Though it sags a hair in the middle, it does feature some cool sequences as well as top notch performances. Florence Pugh and Chris Pine, to the surprise of no one, are absolutely the crux of this film. Gemma Chan is pretty tasty in it, too, just quite severely underused and has a turn that seemingly feels undercooked and out of nowhere. In addition to the acting, much of the set design and cinematography is pretty gorgeous to look at. Even if I didn’t quite understand some of the camera movements in the film, they at least intrigued me and made me want to know what I wasn’t getting.

Don’t Worry Darling is a film you are kind of rooting for to be better than it is. Something original and star driven with a promising up and coming director at the helm. Unfortunately, it jumbles and doesn’t all come together very well, despite many of the details (cast, costume, production design, cinematography) being set up for great success. Perhaps another draft of the script may have helped? Nonetheless, its a fun rental/streaming curiosity for those interested.

Video

Disclaimer: Screen captures used in the review from the standard Blu-ray, not the 4K UHD Blu-ray disc.

Encoding: HEVC / H.265

Resolution: 4K (2160p)

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Layers: BD-66

Clarity/Detail: Don’t Worry Darling arrives on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray as a native 4K title finished with a 4K digital intermediate. It has some very fine details to showcase in a vibrant and sharp picture. The crisp image features a candy feast of color for your eyes that is well saturated and definitely pops. The image showcases some solid depth and scale and should be right about what you’re expecting from a fresh new movie on the format.

Depth: Depth of field is pretty rock solid here with some good pushback and scale presented. Movement is fluid and smooth with no issues coming from jitter or blur in the rapid action moments.

Black Levels: Black levels are natural and deep and really help to contrast and create some bursts of color and bring out the definition of the things in the frame. No crushing witnessed.

Color Reproduction: Colors are well saturated and really radiate off of the frame. From the gorgeous clothing to the upholstery on display, everything pops well. Fire, displays, reds and certain targets colors really benefit from some HDR glow.

Flesh Tones: Skin tones are natural and consistent from start to finish of the film. Facial features and textures are clear as day from any given distance in the frame.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean.

Audio

Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, English Descriptive Audio (US), English Descriptive Audio (UK), French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital

Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish,

Dynamics: Buckle your seat belt, as Don’t Worry Darling’s Atmos track will rock your room as you view it. The track is well mixed for good volume placement with a nice fun balance between the effects, vocals and music in the film. It plays with you in all of the best ways to keep you on your toes and makes the experience much more fun.

Height: The ceiling channels bring some more natural occurrences from the top, but isn’t afraid to play in some of the more dream sequence-like scenes that happen every now and then.

Low Frequency Extension: The subwoofer is a monster on this track. It hits to great effect and pound the ground and shakes the room. This is pretty intense to a level where I had to check my levels on it to make sure I hadn’t bumped something by accident.

Surround Sound Presentation: This one does make use of the room up and down and all around. Sound travel is accurate to screen and rolls with good power. Rear and side channels build terrific ambiance and track well with what’s off screen due to an angle change.

Dialogue Reproduction:  Vocals are crisp and clean.

Extras

Don’t Worry Darling comes with the standard Blu-ray edition and a redeemable digital code.

The Making Of Don’t Worry Darling (HD, 17:12) –

Alice’s Nightmare Deleted Scene (HD, :54)

Summary

Don’t Worry Darling isn’t a bad time, but its not quite all the way there. This 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray presentation is pretty much top notch and the Atmos track is quite powerful. Extras aren’t really much at all. This is definitely a rental or HBO Max curiosity to check out before one might think about a purchase.

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