Back to the Future Part II (1989) 4K Dolby Vision review, UK UHD
disc. HDR metadata: DCI-P3 colour primaries. Mastering display levels: 4000/0.005 max/min nits. Maximum Content Light Level: 1000 nits. Maximum Frame Average Light Level: 606 nits.
After starting my BTTF UHD review
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...5#post18208145 with what was basically a disclaimer telling people that it just wasn't gonna be a "pretty" movie and they should check their expectations accordingly, BTTF Part II comes along and pretty much blows that notion out of
the water. Not that it doesn't still apply
to the first film because it does, but
the sequels are bigger, bolder and more expansive and with that comes more VFX, more technical polish and a greater canvas
to work with. I dare say that DP Dean Cundey wouldn't disagree with my previous assessment of Zemeckis' "workmanlike" approach
to visuals, in
the American Cinematographer piece on Part II he noted that his director prefers low angles and wide lenses which need
to be lit in quite a broad way and sometimes make it "hard
to be 'painterly' with
the light". But as Part II would be visiting several distinct periods -
future 2015, alt-1985, 1955 again - then they could explore different looks. They stuck with
the regulation 1.85 spherical framing as per
the first film and if I had
to guess (as
the AC article doesn't mention
the stocks used) I'd say it was all shot on 5295, this was
the late '80s successor
to the extremely grainy 5294 and featured T-grain in
the blue layer, this greatly reduced
the size of
the grain but still kept it nice and speedy. (You can see
the same kind of difference re: grain between
the first two Ghostbusters films, first one was 5294 and
the second was 5295.)
The movie starts with
the do-over of
the final scene of BTTF, reshot with Elisabeth Shue as Jennifer after Claudia Wells had
to step
back from acting, and admittedly it won't knock your socks off as
the intent was
to replicate what was shot before. But there's grain and there's detail,
the grain looking a touch 'managed' as Marty and Jen approach each other (so not that different
to the version of
the scene on
the BTTF UHD then, lol) and once
the titles are over and we get
to Hill Valley 2015 then bang, in comes sharp detail and some lovely fine grain as Marty and Doc talk in
the alleyway. When Marty walks out into Hill Valley 2015 disguised as Marty Jr then it gets all soft again because so much of that is VFX for
the flying cars,
the holographic shark etc and those shots have been de-noised extensively, perhaps even more harshly than on
the previous transfer because they soften tiny details that are clearly visible
on that old transfer. But they now have better range and colour than
the old one so it's a trade-off, and it's worth mentioning that not all VFX shots seem
to suffer like this, some are still soft but have a respectable layer of grain and some look so good that they might as well be camera original,
the bit when old Biff talks
to his younger 1955 self in
the garage looks AMAZING with sharp detail and fine grain. It's also worth noting that
the rig removal for
the 'flying' participants in
the hoverboard chase is literally seamless, it was done well on
the old BD
to be fair but it looks even better now as those shots are so fresh and detailed. And that's just
the practical shots, as
the optical comps like
the hoverboards being thrown
to the ground by Biff's gang have been revamped as well, not digitally augmented as such but just tidied up
to remove matte lines and compositing errors, you'll see what I mean in
the photo section.
But away from all
the VFX and those multi-layered motion control shots
the underlying transfer is very, very good. As I said, you get a taste when Marty and Doc first touch down in Hill Valley 2015 and when it quietens
back down after
the action you get that terrific grain and sharper detail - more so than on
the first film - in abundance. Maybe still not some people's ideas of "reference quality" but eh, this is a 30 year old film so it's not going
to look like someone just went out with an 8K RED and shot it yesterday - though there are definitely a few shots that are up there with
the best I've seen on 4K HDR, there's so much clarity and refinement
to them.
The close-up of Marty seeing his father's grave in 1985A is stunning, beautifully lit and so detailed, and
the exterior of Biff's house when old Biff drives into
the garage in 1955 looks sooooo good.
The grain is just fantastic, fine but lively and looking more organic than it does on much of BTTF's UHD. It's finer than on BTTF but that's not due
to "grain managed" ****ery, it's literally a different film stock. And if folks still aren't convinced then compare most of
the UHD's non-VFX scenes
to the old BD, it's so video-y and noisy and overly sharp and blown out
to fudge in
the highlights on
the old
disc. Christ it's putrid.
Yes, I said "most" scenes as we can't always escape
the DNR demons on non-VFX shots, this is Universal after all. But, as with
the softer 'dream like' notion that may have been
the reasoning behind DNR'ing Marty's arrival into Hill Valley 1955 in BTTF, I see a similar pattern in Part II as
the most blatant DNR occurs when young Jennifer is taken
back to her 'home' by
the cops. Some of that stuff is incredibly smudgy on
the UHD and not just for
the subsequent VFX shots of
the three McFlys all played by Michael J. Fox, as
the first shot of Jennifer being led into
the living room ("lights on?") has been softened
to hell and
back.
The old
disc is substantially more detailed in that shot and several that follow, so I genuinely think they've tried
to play up
the disorientation of
the character by smudging it like this. Again, probably giving someone too much credit but when
the rest of
the movie looks as finely filmic as it does then there's got
to be some sort of reason for this.
The only other non-VFX shot that gets close
to this level of fudgery is when Marty goes into
the nostalgia store
to buy
the Sports Almanac, his face and that of
the salesperson are fudged over for some weird reason while
the scene around them looks pin-sharp, this being
the shot with
the infamous speaker grille that some turnip tried
to argue was fake detail or some such shit when caps of
the streaming versions first popped up. Nah bruv, that's real detail. And thankfully there's no mastering cock-up like
the entire reel with dodgy chroma in BTTF's UHD, though they've traded it in for a Dolby Vision encoding error in one shot instead, I'll cover that at
the end.
The HDR basically has
the same brief as
the first film, expanding
the highlights almost exponentially compared
to the burnt-out ridiculousness of
the previous transfer. Skies that were just torched expanses of white now have colour and shading, light sources are no longer set
to nuke 'em levels and exterior street views from interiors have loads more depth. It's such a well-rounded usage of HDR with a good solid APL again so it doesn't look dimmer than
the extant SDR version (not unless you've got SDR on Torch Mode, though that wouldn't surprise me with some people), it just looks so natural
the way it so effortlessly expands
the imagery without calling undue attention
to itself. And
the VFX show some excellent levels of range as well, headlights and things on
the flying cars have visibly more information than
the old transfer and even
the animated lightning bolts look aces, much more realistic here whereas they were a bit funky on
the HDR grade of BTTF. (That said, I got a look at a laserdisc rip of BTTF and
to my surprise
the VFX lightning looks more like it does on
the UHD than on
the silly old 2010 Blu-ray, I'll add some photos
to my BTTF UHD review when I get a chance.) As with BTTF,
the newly remastered 1080p Blu-ray of Part II shows lots more range than
the old Blu so some of
the major differences are down
to 'old transfer is old' more than HDR alone but even so:
the UHD is still resolving more in
the highlights with better colour saturation and volume than
the new Blu-ray, which again has a 'harder' look in
the brighter scenes and feels flat and dull next
to the UHD.
Colour also follows much
the same pattern as with BTTF,
the greeny bias of
the old transfer is replaced by a warmer but vastly more natural look
to primaries and skin tones. Cundey once again intended for
the 1955-revisited stuff
to skew warmer so as
to match
the original, and he opted for a similar tone for
the future sequences too so that it wouldn't seem too 'out there'
to audiences.
The 1985A stuff went for a much darker look, literally, shrouding Hill Valley in darkness
to make it more ominous, more foreboding, and so it'd make
the neon-lit gaudiness of Biff's Pleasure Palace stand out so much more than if
the scene were set in daylight.
The interiors also carried on with this theme with similarly tacky sets,
the "Las Vegas" vibe as Cundey called it, and all that gold and maroon looks excellent on
the UHD, again freed up by
the lack of that green tint. Cundey likes
to mix light sources
to provide some contrast (not so much on/off contrast but between different hues of colour) and that really comes through on
the shots of Marty at
the cemetary as mentioned up there ^ somewhere, they go with a conventional 'blue' night look but have
the refinery blazing away in
the background which justifies them throwing a warmer tone on one side of his face while
the other is hit by
the bluer 'night' light. Gorgeous. Black levels also do
the same things as BTTF's UHD does, looking much less crushed than before and uncovering lots more shadow detail whilst still looking deep and dense when needed.
The new BD tries its best
to keep up but yet again has this kind of duller bronzed look
to the colour that sucks
the life out of it when combined with that 'harder' looking light. Better than
the old BD at any rate, but
the new BD still falls some way short of
the UHD.
Compression-wise it's another virtually transparent encoding, another UHD100 having been employed here
to house
the movie, FEL Dolby Vision layer and
the existing extras, so that sweet sweet grain never succumbs
to overt blocking or that nasty chroma noise. Ah yes,
the Dolby. Remember that bit in
the UHD of JAWS where you get some ghosting on-screen for a split second as
the helicopter flies over
the beach? Same thing happens during BTTF Part II's Dolby Vision output though NOT in
the main body of
the film (though I could swear some of
the background details are visible through Marty's face for a split-second after he pushes Griff in
the cafe), it happens on
the trailer for Part III in
the shot where Doc swings his rifle into action,
the barrel of
the gun visibly 'ghosts' as he swings it around. It's not subtle and this artefact is categorically not there on
the HDR10 layer, here are some photos:
Dobly
[Show spoiler]
HDR10
[Show spoiler]
As for
the movie, it's fun but I can't shake
the feeling that it's more of a technical exercise, not just for all
the ground-breaking VFX but
the story too. They talk in
the extras for
the first film about how they didn't want it
to be about technology, that there's very little technobabble because
the time travel *itself* is just a means
to have some cool shit happen, like dropping an '80s kid into
the '50s, and
the tech isn't
the main focus of
the story (see also:
The Terminator) but they pretty much invert that with Part II. So much of it focuses on who time traveled
to where and throws so many alternate scenarios at us that it loses sight of
the human core of
the story, each segment even feels like a third act on its own which makes it such a fragmented experience. There's Doc and Marty trying
to stop Marty Jr from ruining his life, there's Doc and Marty triumphing over alt-Biff, then there's Doc and Marty trying
to beat young Biff without altering what they've already done. When
the highlight of a sequel is when it literally restages
the climax of
the first one it feels like it can't stand on its own, it's cute AF on
the surface but is emotionally hollow underneath and it just serves
to remind me how much I love
the first film.
THESE IMAGES ARE NOT INTENDED TO CONVEY THE ENTIRETY OF EITHER SDR OR HDR WITH 100% ACCURACY BUT ONLY SPECIFIC ASPECTS. THEY CAN ALSO BE MUCH DARKER THAN THE CONTENT ACTUALLY APPEARS OWING TO THE EXPOSURE NECESSARY TO CAPTURE THE DYNAMIC RANGE.
Marty with Holo-JAWS. UHD is palpably softer (look at
the objects in
the sky) but still doesn't look as raggedy as
the old BD, and look at
the JAWS holo: notice anything about
the flecks of 'holo-noise' between
the two versions? Hint: wayward dirt removal strikes again on
the old transfer.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Wide shot of Hill Valley 2015. I really like
the colour (less green) and range on
the UHD (look at
the white car) but look at
the sky, those little pylons for
the skyway are almost entirely smooshed away on
the UHD.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Marty in
the Cafe 80s, "all I want is a Pepsi!". UHD just looks nicerer, it loses that weirdly out of focus look that
the old transfer has.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Marty squaring up
to Griff,
the background is rendered with more clarity on UHD and again it just loses that video-like look in general, it's more naturally filmic
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Gonna show a sequence of frames from
the hoverboard bit I mentioned that'd been cleaned up. First one, mightn't seem like too much difference, though you can see
the background bleeding through
the heel of
the boot and on
the board, under
the toe of
the boot. UHD colour also looks far better without that shitty green tint.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Next one, now things are hotting up.
The thick black matte lines around
the boot are gone and
the bottom of
the hoverboard has been cleaned up quite a bit, again a sliver of transparency around
the heel has been filled in.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Third one, holy shit.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Fourth one, nothing more need be said.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
"Batter up!" It's not some amazing difference but
the sky isn't a nuked white, nor is
the specular on Griff's shiny helmet. Better colour again.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Jennifer being escorted home. No,
the caps have not been mixed up. UHD is soft as balls.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Trump, er, I mean alt-Biff in
the hot tub. Again
the old BD looks like it's out of focus in comparison, so much more texture on
the new one.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
The DeLorean when they knock out alt-Biff on
the roof,
the old BD totally nukes
the headlights,
the new BD brings it
back a ways and
the UHD smacks
the shit out of both of them. This is zoomed in a lot, hence
the visible pixels.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
2020 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Lorraine running from Biff after she gets her dress from
the shop. Old BD looks green, new BD has that 'pale' look I keep talking about where it seems
to lose midrange detail, UHD has more contrast and keeps everything in a nice balance. Speculars look great too, like
the sun reflecting off of Lorraine's dress box.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
2020 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
I don't often like
to take photos just
to show resolution because
the noise reduction of
the camera can play silly buggers, but I just had
to get this.
The UHD murderises
the old BD, look at
the tiles on
the roof!
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
This is
to show it's not all bad with
the VFX, this shot of
the paper changing looks wonderful with all that lovey fine grain on
the UHD while
the old BD is as
clean as
the proverbial whistle and lacks so much texture. (Ignore
the slightly off-kilter text in
the BD shot, this one was a bastard
to get a photo of and
the multi-HDR exposure is smearing
the lettering)
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Last one, I couldn't get a lightning shot like on
the BTTF UHD review because
the background is so dark it knackers
the exposure, but here's one of it striking
the DeLorean just before it disappears. Old BD is of course totally nuked, new BD brings
back a load of range but
the UHD properly energises it, you get
the brightness and range at
the same time rather than having
to sacrifice one for
the other.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
2020 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
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