Christopher Nolan 4K Collection (4K UHD Review & Unboxing)

December 29th, 2017 by Brian White

Comparable to what should seem like the enjoyment of seeing a slew of gifts under the tree on Christmas morning why is the 4K enthusiast community in such an uproar over the Christopher Nolan 4K Collection? We’ll tackle that question down below, but right now let’s take a moment to pause in thought about this monumental release. Not only did it take a lot of work to get the three different studios to agree releasing them all in one boxset, but ladies and gentlemen this 7 films in 4K from one of the greatest directors of our time, Christopher Nolan. Sure we’re missing several titles within it, but beggars can’t be choosers. Even if they just released The Dark Knight only on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, I would have been like a pig rolling around in mud. However, they didn’t stop just there. This historic 4K boxset released by Warner Bros. includes The Prestige, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar and Dunkirk. Let’s take a closer look at this set down below and I promise to try and answer that question I posed in the beginning of this paragraph the best I can.

Here’s the deal ladies and gentlemen. This set does not contain the Digital HD redemption codes for each of the films. I repeat. This 7-film 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray boxset does NOT contain any Digital HD redemption codes for any of the movies. That sucks! I know. However, let’s review real quick why that is. Remember me saying up above that this boxset consisted of flicks from three different studios? Well that’s an act of God alone to get that level of cooperation to release something of this kind of historic magnitude. Unfortunately, we’re not so lucky with the digital distribution rights regarding Disney, Paramount and Warner Bros. I hate when this is said to me and I feel even worse having to say it, but it is what it is. If the Digital HD codes are that important to you, then I’m afraid the individual releases are what you MUST buy then. Too bad Warner Bros. couldn’t have just thrown you some bones and include codes for their films, but no. The uproar in the 4K enthusiast community doesn’t stop here though with this boxset.

The second criticism you’ll hear most 4K enthusiasts complain about here is what I’ll call “Case-Gate.” You’ll notice in my unboxing pictures below that housed inside this cardboard shell here are three individual multiple spindle cases. That means all those slipcover lovers are out. I’m not quite sure what the adoration of a cardboard slipcover is, but man oh man do many 4k enthusiasts love them. Some people are so insane to the point where they won’t even buy a 4K release if it doesn’t have a slipcover. Others who receive product online without them spend a day and an insane amount of gas driving to stores everywhere to find one with a slipcover. I don’t know about all you, but give me a sturdy clamshell case any day of the week. So like I was saying you get three multi-spindle 7-disc Amaray cases here, one for the 7 movies in 4K UHD, one for the 7 movies in 1080p and one for the 7 special features discs. That makes it a total of 21 discs here. That’s a lot! However, once again if you want slip covers or individual cover art, you MUST buy the separate individual 4K releases. Yep, sorry about that. I did hear one good thing about this “collection-style” packaging. The 4K discs here are safer on their own spindle than in the individual cases where they’re simply stacked with the other Blu-ray Discs inside the case.

Sadly it doesn’t stop there either. Many in the 4K community also report that much of the packaging, specifically the cases, are damaged. I’m living proof of that (see below in the unboxing pictures). Others have voice reasonable complaints that their sets were either missing discs or had duplicates of films in there. Thankfully that wasn’t the case for me. However, I will say this though. I would kind of expect a historic boxset release like this to have some kind of booklet inside. There’s nothing inside here, not even a three page leaflet to welcome you, etc. It’s bare bones only here, but it’s also cheaper than buying each 4K release individually too. So there is that.

Last but not least there’s “Audio-Gate.” I can’t even begin to tell you how many have voiced complaints over these 4K releases containing no Atmos surround audio tracks. Even after explaining to them these movies were not finished in Atmos and Nolan wants you to experience them as they were originally designed and not artificially injected people still proclaim a double dip is coming. I don’t know about that, but I do know that Nolan himself personally oversaw the remastering of the DTS-HD Master Audio tracks here in regards to The Dark Knight Trilogy. However, most folks say they sound only a smidge better than the original Blu-ray ones. Rumor has it they were upgraded from 16-bit to 24. What say you? Do these 4K releases sound better to you? “Sound” in down below. I really believe Dunkirk should have had an Atmos track. Nolan needs to get with the times, but I digress as these still sound great.

Alright now that we have all that housekeeping out of the way up above what do you say I walk you through the unboxing of this multi-disc set? That’s a rhetorical question by the way. That’s why we’re here so we’re doing the unboxing regardless of whether you like it or not. Along the way I’ll also link each film title to the individual 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray review. So let’s get started here.

So remember me making the comparison up above that this 4K boxset is like Christmas morning presents? Well, I just couldn’t help myself in the below photo. It is what it is.