4K Remaster. Too many chefs have spoiled the broth!

Rating: 10/10 (10 March 2019)

Terminator 2: Judgement Day. UHD Edition
Ok so this review is going to be a little different from the usual reviews posted on IMDB.
I'm not going to go into too much depth about the actual movie.
Any fan of the action/Sci-Fi genre will know that this movie is a classic.
A game changer in terms of visual effects and a rare sequel that is better than the original.
What I want to talk about is how this latest remastered edition of the film looks and sounds.
Should you good people spend your hard earned cash on this upgrade or are you better off dusting down that old DVD copy and saving yourself a few pennies?
I actually purchased the digital copy of the movie from Prime Video when it was on offer.
The film is remastered in 4K HDR and comes with a Dolby Digital Plus sound mix.
If you shell out for the UHD disc sound is superior.
The sound mix on the disc is DTS 5.1 Master audio.
The disc should provide a crisper image too.
However I believe the added clarity from the disc will only accentuate the issues I found.
I find it disappointing that the disc doesn't offer Dolby Atmos sound but I digress.
The digital copy still sounded good even with the more basic sound mix.
Arnie's shout gun had real kick. A nice deep thud whenever he opened fire on the T1000.
Explosions have real low end rumble and even the subtlety of a closing car door had aural impact.
Surround effects were also very immersive.
The motorbike chase sounded fantastic with all speakers put to good use.
A particular highlight was when the Terminators bike smashed through a metal gate.
The chains could be clearly heared from the rear.
However sometimes I did get a sense of reverb.
A false echo effect that was a little distracting.
For a basic cinema sound format this digital stream was very impressive.
Sound never gave the impression that it was compressed. Dialogue is always clear even when all channels are pumping out high levels of sound.
A shame then that the implementation of height speakers was never put to use. This would have resulted in a far more enveloping audio experience.
What about image quality I hear you ask?
Well this is where things get tricky.
On one hand the use of HDR has been put to good effect and image quality is much crisper than what I have seen before.
There's an abundance of colours bursting from the screen.
The scene with the children in the playground just before the apocalypse has colours popping.
The children's clothing being very vibrant. Unfortunately sometimes things get a little over saturated.
Skin for one thing looks really fake.
Everyone seems to have a waxy appearance. Almost as if all the actors came straight from Madame Tussaud's.
Detail is sometimes stunning. Take Dr Silvermans jacket when he's interviewing Sarah Connor.
Every weave and fibre is visable with immense clarity.
Each strand of Sarah's hair is finely presented.
The scene when John and the Terminator break Sarah out of the hospital has some impressive detail. The wire fence at the entrance is very sharp and clear.
For a movie that is over twenty five years old.
Image quality is pretty decent. There's little to no grain now. I believe it is the noise reduction that causes some questionable flaws.
Skin tones are a overly processed mess.
Shame then that Arnie looks like a wax dummy!
This edition is a upgade over the standard DVD for sure. Is it better than the Blu-ray? Well the digital copy was good for the small price I paid but if I was buying a hard copy I would have been disappointed with the 4K Blu-ray.
From reviews I have read elsewhere it seems the disc suffers the same problems as the 4K stream.
Only the flaws are more apparent on the 4K Blu-ray due to the added clarity of the superior format.
This remaster reminds me of when I'm cooking.
I just can't leave well enough alone.
A sprinkling of more salt here, a tad more pepper there. Ooh what's this exotic spice I've found in the back of the cupboard?
Let's stick that in too!
Before you know it I've ruined a perfectly good Shepherd's pie.
That's what the 4K remaster of this film is.
Too many chefs have meddled and spoiled the broth.
Film 10/10. Remaster 6.5/10