AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR (4K UHD Blu-ray + Blu-ray + Digital)
Release Date: August 14, 2018
Studio: Marvel Studios Home Entertainment
Video: 2.39:1 2160p Widescreen
Audio: English Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1 Core), French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, Japanese Dolby Digital Plus 7.1, English DVS 2.0
THE RATINGS
The Movie Itself - ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
Video Quality - ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
4K Quality - ★ ★ ★ ★ ✰
4K Quality - ★ ★ ★ ★ ✰
Audio Quality - ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
Special Features - ★ ★ ½ ✰ ✰
Overall - ★ ★ ★ ★ ✰
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THE FILM ITSELF Our Reviewer's Take
The epic crossover, now with sharper details and HDR coloring.
The epic crossover, now with sharper details and HDR coloring.
Reviewed by Gavin King
Note: This review contains spoilers, some major and some minor. Those who have yet to see the film and/or would wish to avoid spoiler territory should immediately scroll to the "Video Quality" section below. You have been warned.
A Marvel film is just about always an event, and Avengers: Infinity War is just that with a bolded exclamation point and months among months of unflappable anticipation. Sure the die-hard fanatics have standalone tentpoles to grow excited over like Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor, but it really shouldn't come as much of a shocker that the fans' real reward comes into play in the form of Earth's mightiest heroes banding together to put an end to the villainy that plagues the planet. It's why 2012's The Avengers did so well - critically and financially - as well as its follow-up in 2015, Age of Ultron, which may have not soared as high as its predecessor but still left enough of an impact to satisfy audiences all across the globe. Now comes the culmination of all of this mayhem with Infinity War, and to say that it's all about to go down would be an understatement. Emotions will be swirling, strengths will be tested, and the fate of the universe is guaranteed to be at stake.
From the opening moments of Infinity War it's already abundantly clear that Thanos (Josh Brolin) means business. He demands the Tesseract, beats down a bulky Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and chokes Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to his death. I mean, have you ever seen such a demanding villain? Sure, our heroes have dealt with foes of cynical motivations, but Thanos... don't you dare get on his bad side. You run up and attempt to throw him a punch, he'll turn you into slop. It's stuff like this that makes him, arguably, the absolute best villain in the MCU, and one of the best onscreen villains, period. Rarely has the silver screen been pulsated with a foe that makes viewers' blood boil so furiously, and that all adds so much to the pleasurable viewing experience.
The sense of consequence, too, is elevated outlandishly. It's most prominently seen beforehand with a battered and weakened Bruce Banner floating from space to Earth. He warns our heroes, "He's coming... Thanos is coming." Darn right. No more games, no more teasing. This is the real deal. This is the moment where everyone's gotta give it all they've got, sacrifice everything in their disposals, and above all band together in ways inconceivable in previous one-on-ones. A fair bit of good humor is thrown in to not make the entire watch string vibes of a Zack Snyder fest (hint-hint Batman vs. Superman), and that's certainly a good thing. There's no doubt that this the moment where all superhero - and super-villain, for that matter - hell is going to break entirely loose, but kudos to lovable characters like Spider-Man (the absolutely wonderful Tom Holland) and of course the cockeyed Guardians of the Galaxy for making the entire tussle a palatable, yet no less armrest-grasping, ride.
As the film progresses toward its second act, it's more or less a reunion of familiar faces, but this isn't simply fanservice. Everyone gets their place in the spotlight (excluding a small few such as Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye, in which some humorous fanatics believe he was too busy playing a game of tag with his pals - stay tuned for a Blu-ray review of that film soon), more than enough of a reason why audiences should be cheering along, rooting for all of their favorite heroes as their screen time is introduced. But this isn't just a hodgepodge of throwing fans' favorite MCU characters together and letting them go to battle. Each character means something to the plot. Even more so, it takes an army to defeat the monstrous hunk that is the mighty Thanos. We've loved these heroes for so long in their standalone features - Black Panther, Captain America, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, you name it - and now it's time for them to, as I keep reiterating, give their all. It's not only hugely entertaining in its buildup but packs a surprisingly emotional punch as things come to a culmination.
The film's shocking ending is nothing short of an on-point cliffhanger to part two in 2019, which I personally am very highly anticipating. Most viewers like me are probably still in a state of anxiety as to what in the world happened to characters like Strange, Spider-Man, and so on... it's certainly debatable, but this viewer has a large doubt that any of them truly bit the dust (...I'm so sorry.) It definitely has to mean something. Guess we're gonna have to wait it out until May 2019 to figure it all out. In the meantime, what we have is an excellent setup. As far as the technical hullabaloo goes, there's not a single digital stone unturned. Effects look great and Thanos looks particularly impressive, mostly thanks to the spot-on motion-capture work perfected by the great Josh Brolin.
A Marvel film is just about always an event, and Avengers: Infinity War is just that with a bolded exclamation point and months among months of unflappable anticipation. Sure the die-hard fanatics have standalone tentpoles to grow excited over like Guardians of the Galaxy and Thor, but it really shouldn't come as much of a shocker that the fans' real reward comes into play in the form of Earth's mightiest heroes banding together to put an end to the villainy that plagues the planet. It's why 2012's The Avengers did so well - critically and financially - as well as its follow-up in 2015, Age of Ultron, which may have not soared as high as its predecessor but still left enough of an impact to satisfy audiences all across the globe. Now comes the culmination of all of this mayhem with Infinity War, and to say that it's all about to go down would be an understatement. Emotions will be swirling, strengths will be tested, and the fate of the universe is guaranteed to be at stake.
Guarding the galaxy.
From the opening moments of Infinity War it's already abundantly clear that Thanos (Josh Brolin) means business. He demands the Tesseract, beats down a bulky Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and chokes Loki (Tom Hiddleston) to his death. I mean, have you ever seen such a demanding villain? Sure, our heroes have dealt with foes of cynical motivations, but Thanos... don't you dare get on his bad side. You run up and attempt to throw him a punch, he'll turn you into slop. It's stuff like this that makes him, arguably, the absolute best villain in the MCU, and one of the best onscreen villains, period. Rarely has the silver screen been pulsated with a foe that makes viewers' blood boil so furiously, and that all adds so much to the pleasurable viewing experience.
The sense of consequence, too, is elevated outlandishly. It's most prominently seen beforehand with a battered and weakened Bruce Banner floating from space to Earth. He warns our heroes, "He's coming... Thanos is coming." Darn right. No more games, no more teasing. This is the real deal. This is the moment where everyone's gotta give it all they've got, sacrifice everything in their disposals, and above all band together in ways inconceivable in previous one-on-ones. A fair bit of good humor is thrown in to not make the entire watch string vibes of a Zack Snyder fest (hint-hint Batman vs. Superman), and that's certainly a good thing. There's no doubt that this the moment where all superhero - and super-villain, for that matter - hell is going to break entirely loose, but kudos to lovable characters like Spider-Man (the absolutely wonderful Tom Holland) and of course the cockeyed Guardians of the Galaxy for making the entire tussle a palatable, yet no less armrest-grasping, ride.
Wakanda Forever!
As the film progresses toward its second act, it's more or less a reunion of familiar faces, but this isn't simply fanservice. Everyone gets their place in the spotlight (excluding a small few such as Jeremy Renner's Hawkeye, in which some humorous fanatics believe he was too busy playing a game of tag with his pals - stay tuned for a Blu-ray review of that film soon), more than enough of a reason why audiences should be cheering along, rooting for all of their favorite heroes as their screen time is introduced. But this isn't just a hodgepodge of throwing fans' favorite MCU characters together and letting them go to battle. Each character means something to the plot. Even more so, it takes an army to defeat the monstrous hunk that is the mighty Thanos. We've loved these heroes for so long in their standalone features - Black Panther, Captain America, Iron Man, Doctor Strange, you name it - and now it's time for them to, as I keep reiterating, give their all. It's not only hugely entertaining in its buildup but packs a surprisingly emotional punch as things come to a culmination.
The film's shocking ending is nothing short of an on-point cliffhanger to part two in 2019, which I personally am very highly anticipating. Most viewers like me are probably still in a state of anxiety as to what in the world happened to characters like Strange, Spider-Man, and so on... it's certainly debatable, but this viewer has a large doubt that any of them truly bit the dust (...I'm so sorry.) It definitely has to mean something. Guess we're gonna have to wait it out until May 2019 to figure it all out. In the meantime, what we have is an excellent setup. As far as the technical hullabaloo goes, there's not a single digital stone unturned. Effects look great and Thanos looks particularly impressive, mostly thanks to the spot-on motion-capture work perfected by the great Josh Brolin.
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR 4K Blu-ray - Video Quality
As I mentioned in the 1080p Blu-ray review, Infinity War is not the most punchy or vibrant looking film out there, often shadowed in dark settings and bleak, almost gray splashes. The 4K UHD presentation, which was supposedly finished on a digital intermediate of 2K (as is the Marvel norm), doesn't drastically change the intended look of the feature but does serve up enough of a satisfying uptick from its 1080p companion to make both fanatics and videophiles happy. So let's talk about that color palette. Is it punchier with the UHD's benefits? As a whole, mostly yes. Some scenes are brighter than others to be sure, but the good news is that the UHD's more alive color scheme makes its down-rezzed competition look a tad dull by comparison. Things like the circular flash of light that surrounds Doctor Strange's portal and bombastic explosions spurt an appreciably more vigorous orange to boot, and much of the same can be said with those green grasses in Wakanda. Detail upgrades are not overwhelming. They're subtle, not obvious, although keen viewers should be able to make out finer complexity on faces, costumes, capes, rubble, debris, and so on. Black levels do prove healthily deep, even more so than the Blu-ray, which is most certainly a good thing though by no means should diminish on the Blu-ray's competence in delivering a solid enough image as it is. Is this UHD's peak? No. Does it pull through a perfectly solid and ofttimes impressive small uptick? Absolutely.
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR 4K Blu-ray - Audio Quality
As is the Disney way, Infinity War arrives on UHD with an upgraded Dolby Atmos track, which adds overhead and height channels to the standard Blu-ray DTS 7.1 track. Much like its aforementioned companion, the Atmos track is largely enjoyable. It's very much similar to the 7.1 track - you gotta turn it up a bit to make it sound as it should, and bass doesn't really reach the pinnacle of potent - but none of that is to the track's detriment. As it is, it's a blast, continuously immersing devoted listeners into the film's varied sequences, whether they be on New York city streets or smack-dab into the high-stakes chaos of the battle that takes place in Wakanda. One of the benefits that come with the Atmos configuration is the improved sense of spatial positioning, and Infinity War is no exception, creating a more alive sensation that was only plain-as-day in the Blu-ray's 7.1 positioning. Don't expect absolute overhead engagement, but do expect fuller, richer immersion, which this one fully delivers in. All other elements - music, dialogue, balance - offer no reason for alarm.
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR 4K Blu-ray - Special Features
Please note that all listed special features below are only available on the included 1080p Blu-ray disc.
- Featurettes includes the following:
Strange Alchemy (1080p, 5:08) Looks at combining each of the characters of the MCU in this film and how the filmmakers made the crossover as seamless and entertaining as possible.
The Mad Titan (1080p, 6:34) A closer look into the titular villain Thanos, his motivations, Josh Brolin's performance, and more.
Beyond the Battle: Titan (1080p, 9:36) This piece offers insight into the hugely climactic battle on Thanos. It talks on filming locations, visual effects, performances, etc.
Beyond the Battle: Wakanda (1080p, 10:55) A behind-the-scenes look at Wakanda's battle sequence, which covers much of the same topics settled in Titan.
- Deleted Scenes (1080p, 10:13 total) include the following: Happy Knows Best, Hunt for the Mind Stone, The Guardians Get Their Groove Back, and A Father's Choice.
- Gag Reel (1080p, 2:05) Because a Marvel Blu-ray without a gag reel just isn't a Marvel Blu-ray!
- Audio Commentary Directors Anthony and Joe Russo and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely narrate this excellent commentary track. It's an exceptionally well-spoken key into the secrets of the film, its characters, and more.
Please note that all listed special features below are only available on the included 1080p Blu-ray disc.
- Featurettes includes the following:
Strange Alchemy (1080p, 5:08) Looks at combining each of the characters of the MCU in this film and how the filmmakers made the crossover as seamless and entertaining as possible.
The Mad Titan (1080p, 6:34) A closer look into the titular villain Thanos, his motivations, Josh Brolin's performance, and more.
Beyond the Battle: Titan (1080p, 9:36) This piece offers insight into the hugely climactic battle on Thanos. It talks on filming locations, visual effects, performances, etc.
Beyond the Battle: Wakanda (1080p, 10:55) A behind-the-scenes look at Wakanda's battle sequence, which covers much of the same topics settled in Titan.
- Deleted Scenes (1080p, 10:13 total) include the following: Happy Knows Best, Hunt for the Mind Stone, The Guardians Get Their Groove Back, and A Father's Choice.
- Gag Reel (1080p, 2:05) Because a Marvel Blu-ray without a gag reel just isn't a Marvel Blu-ray!
- Audio Commentary Directors Anthony and Joe Russo and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely narrate this excellent commentary track. It's an exceptionally well-spoken key into the secrets of the film, its characters, and more.
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR 4K Blu-ray - Overall Recommendation
Infinity War isn't just a groundbreaking spectacle movie. It's an emotionally resonant experience that makes its viewers feel all sorts of emotions, whether they be in the form of excitement, anxiety, distrust, anger, and so on. It's one thing to rejoice in seeing all of our favorite characters up on the big screen together once again, but it's another - and even more rewarding sort of thing - when the stakes feel higher, and the audience in turn can feel that too. Mark my words when I say that this is going to be a film that goes down in history for not simply its record-breaking box office numbers and such but also for its impact that so few superhero movies can pull of (think Logan) all while remaining hugely entertaining. The UHD Blu-ray is well put-together, too, as the audio and video prove solid (though not overwhelming) upgrades, although I personally would have preferred a little more supplemental material. Nevertheless, I highly recommend this UHD Blu-ray.
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