Right from the off the Aquaman Atmos mix serves up a huge dynamic range. Just remember to select this track from the disc’s menus bizarrely, as with many other Warner Bros 4K Blu-rays, playback defaults to a much less dynamic/exciting DTS HD Master Audio track. Just sit back and enjoy the mentalist (informal British meaning…) show.Īquaman’s frequently jaw-dropping visuals are joined by an even more exceptional - again, borderline nuts - Dolby Atmos audio mix. Photo: Aquaman, Warner BrosĪside from these minor niggles, though, I’m struggling to find anything negative to say about Aquaman’s picture quality. It also felt as if some of the shots delivered with IMAX framing (especially during the Sahara desert exteriors, and the scene on an island where Black Manta is given his laser weapon) felt a little awkwardly framed, with too much sky at the top. The shots of Aquaman and Mera entering Atlantis for the first time, for instance. There are times, probably inevitably, where some of the biggest special effects shots look slightly softer than the rest of the film. These sections tend to look particularly rich in detail - especially where the shots don’t feature too many special effects. It’s important to add here that the 4K Blu-ray picture opens up from a 2.39:1 to a 16:9 aspect ratio during all of Aquaman’s set pieces, to reflect the IMAX experience these sequences were created for. The extra sense of clarity is enhanced, too, by the film’s almost complete lack of noise or grain, while the boost in detail joins with the sensational HDR and color work in creating consistently epic three-dimensional spaces. Despite the 4K image apparently being an upscale of the cinema release’s 2K digital intermediate.Īmazingly, Djimon Ansou is under there somewhere Photo: Aquaman, Warner Bros While the grandstanding wide color and extended dynamic range of the 4K Blu-ray picture might be its highlight, though, the transfer also enjoys an effective increase in sharpness and detail over the HD Blu-ray.
Especially the armor and skin of the underwater characters and creatures. Tucked away within the extremes of color and light is some exceptional subtlety, too, that brings out stunning nuances in the backdrops of the underwater scenes skin tones and even some of the remarkable special effects. The film’s full-on look is also, arguably, in keeping with the relatively color-rich world of the Aquaman comic strips - which may join with the film’s broad brushstroke script and Jason Momoa’s laconic charm in explaining why the film seems to be a hit with more people than it probably deserves to be.ĭon’t be fooled by all the showboating, though. At least on such a consistent basis.Īs well as delivering an extraordinary example of the difference HDR can make to the viewing experience, the gleefully unashamed extremes of the Aquaman picture fit perfectly with its deliberately OTT approach - an approach where subtlety is essentially a swear word.Ītlantean royalty. Shots of sunsets and sunrises are arguably the most extreme I’ve seen, while the riot of luminous color that punctuates many of the undersea sequences is like nothing I’ve seen in a 4K Blu-ray before.
Gloriously punchy though these opening shots are, though, they pale into insignificance, literally, when compared with the frankly retina-searing (um, in a good way) intensity of so much of the rest of the film.
The extreme dynamics of the master (which is done to 4000 nit peaks in HDR10, but is also available in an even more explosive Dolby Vision version if your TV can support it) are apparent right from the off, as a stormy night sky is punctured by super-bright torch and lighthouse beams.