Back to the Future Part III (1990) 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: 615 nits.
Hello again. If you all were still awake after reading my UHD reviews for BTTF
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...5#post18208145 and BTTF Part II
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...6#post18214816 (you must have
the stamina of a horse and
the patience of a saint) then much of that applies here: shot 1.85 spherical once more by Zemeckis and Cundey, again probably on 5295 so it's naturally got finer grain than on BTTF with its grungier stock. BUT this time around (third time lucky and all that)
the 4K transfer is easily
the most consistent out of all three movies - and consistent in a good way!
Edit 23/11/23. Oooh, this is interesting. Even though there's no major coverage about how Cundey shot BTTF pt III in
the likes of American Cinematographer, they did a piece on Jurassic Park
https://theasc.com/articles/jurassic...the-box-office and in it they let slip that he shot
the daylight exteriors of Pt III on 50 ASA stock (most likely 5245) for "
the richest possible imagery, with deeply saturated colors devoid of
the slightest hint of grain" and that's pretty much exactly what this UHD looks like in
the daylight scenes, as I said at
the time. [/edit]
It's got more VFX than
the first film but nowhere near as much as Part II so
the biggest chunk of
the film is cherry camera negative, and it shows. It also helps that much of it takes place in
the bright open space of 'Hill Valley 1885' so
the images are
clean and crisp with minimal grain, not that it's devoid of
the stuff but there's just
the finest scattering of it in
the bright daylight exteriors and you still get that crucial texture of film. Maybe they've rolled some grain off, maybe they haven't, maybe it's just that
the HDR isn't set
to Light Cannon™ mode so it doesn't set it off as much? Dunno. What I do know is that this is easily one of
the more impressive catalogue transfers I've yet seen on 4K UHD, and I don't say that lightly. It wrecks
the old Blu-ray as badly as
the train hammering
the DeLorean into a million pieces at
the end of
the film.
Even
the VFX is treated with a lighter touch than
the previous two BTTFs on UHD though, Part II especially hit
the opticals hard with "grain management" (or maybe it just stood out more than on BTTF simply because there were so many more VFX shots) but here
the various 'VistaGlide' composites have been left alone and feature a visible dab of grain, intercutting nicely with camera original. Grain does of coursh also become thicker in
the night scenes and interiors in general because that's just what happens, even when using
the same stock as
the exteriors, for in
the darker shots only
the larger and more light-sensitive crystals lurking in
the emulsion will be exposed. Not that
the darker scenes suffer from a snowstorm of grain in Part III, god no, but they're definitely livelier than
the daylight shots and top marks
to Universal for not scrubbing it away
to level out
the interiors and exteriors. As with
the other two UHDs there's a slight amount of sharpening as some hotly contrasting edges show some verr thin halos, but it's nothing that distracts.
There are maybe one or two shots that look a little too smooth, like Doc and Marty talking
to the train driver about how fast it could go and
the following shot of them looking at
the route map for
the train, but
the only thing in
the entire presentation that looks outwardly fudged is when Marty wakes up Jennifer at
the end. They've smudged her face again as per BTTF Part II and I'm at a loss
to rationalise it any more, apart from Elisabeth Shue having some incriminating photos of Bob Gale perhaps? Oh, and don't be fooled by that big close-up of Marty during
the showdown with Mad Dog Tannen, if it looks soft it's because it IS soft,
the depth of field is incredibly shallow and
the focus pulling is off by a few inches i.e. his ear's in perfect focus which is why his face is not! No DNR there.
The HDR is sensational, opening up
the highlights in all
the usual places and not doing anything different
to the other two UHDs per se but, again, all those bright open spaces and beautiful scenery just intrinsically lend themselves
to a zestier look and even Zemeckis' artistically inert penchant for shooting low and wide (see
the Part II review) can't fail
to score here, drawing out detail as far as
the eye can see rather than hitting
the walls of
the Universal backlot - and
the HDR allows us
to see more of it than ever. It's not just
the usual eye candy scenery stuff that impresses either, there's a shot of Doc when he first meets Clara ("what a beautiful name") where he's backlit with
the sun behind him and
the way it glints off of his silvery hair, looking bright but retaining so much range, was so stunning it actually brought a lump
to my throat. And I'm not exaggerating, there are glimpses of such gorgeousity on this transfer that they provoke a visceral response.
Colour is also sumptuous. That warmer feel seen on
the other two UHDs is played up even more here but it's not some bleh "yellow" tint, instead it's this gorgeous golden look that gives you deeply burnished skin tones and hot, dusty landscapes but which still allows for subtlety and depth, it never becomes some flat one-note application of colour and it's such a perfick fit for this movie, it's just...oh, I'm running out of superlatives here. Black levels are crazy deep, deep
to the point of simply obliterating shadow detail like when they're in
the mine finding
the DeLorean in 1955, and when Marty wakes up in
the dark on
the McFly farm it looks like he's wearing a black helmet because there's no trace of shadow information on his hair at all. There's a hint of rust-coloured posterisation in
the transitions
to black, typical of black crush, but here's
the thing:
the old Blu-ray is similarly crushy, if anything it's slightly worse off for shadow detail so this is clearly how Cundey wants it. And it could be worse...
Compression is top notch, rounding off a triumvirate of UHD100 platters and not faltering when
the grainier scenes kick in, and there were no Dobly anomalies like on
the Part III trailer at
the end of Part II. No other playback issues like stuttering or freezing whatsoever on this or
the other two UHDs on a Panasonic UB820. And I just wanna say how much I like Part III, it's a much sweeter film than
the dark cynicism of Part II and
the switcheroo of making Doc
the love-sick dreamer was inspired. Love
the music too, Alan Silvestri smashed it for all three films but
the Western setting gives it a very different flavour. And
the finale with
the train is so good, it's
the kind of practical action set-piece that died out a long time ago.
I'm gonna talk a bit more about
the newly remastered 1080p BD now, so y'all can skip on ahead
to the photos if you like, though several of them concern what I'm gonna say here. Basically, it's a bit shit. Not that we wouldn't be grateful if this was
the only upgrade we were given as it still looks more filmic than
the old BD (which wouldn't be difficult, heh) but take those comments I made about
the other two remastered BDs looking 'harder' than
the UHD and times them by 10 for Part III's new BD. It looks like it was graded by Mr Magoo and is
the literal embodiment of
the crappy 'set and forget' SDR conversions that are being done by
the studios when preparing new SDR versions of films remastered in HDR.
Right from
the opening BTTF logo
the new BD looks harsh with a bright yellow tinge rather than
the warmer red
to orange transition seen on both
the old BD and
the UHD, debate may rage about which is correct but I know which one is uglier, that's for damned sure. Into
the movie proper and
the black levels lose even more shadow detail than
the other editions, like when Doc confesses
to Clara that he's a time traveller. Her dark hair is almost featureless on
the old BD and UHD, true, but there's still
some information there, whereas on
the new BD it's just a blank expanse of dark sitting atop her head. Colour carries on that lack of nuance, looking more yellowy than even
the old BD, and while
the dynamic range is better in some shots vs
the old BD (though still falling well behind
the UHD) in some shots
the old BD actually has way MORE dynamic range than
the new BD, it's ridiculous how blown out some of this stuff is.
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.
These are
the logos I was talking about, new BD is bright ****ing yellow while
the other two are more orangey. Old BD looks okay but I'm sure about that lavender tinge
to the outlines. (Logo is smaller on
the new transfer than on
the old one.) These are zoom-ins on
the TV so excuse
the visible pixels.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
2020 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Quick example
to show how
the green of
the old transfer is gone.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Snapped this one of
the DeLorean going
back to 1955,
the old BD is horrible for range,
the new BD brings a lot
back but
the UHD is defter all-round, look how much detail they packed into those lighting effects
back in
the day!
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
2020 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Marty arriving in Hill Valley 1885, UHD has this lovely warm look while
the other two are more yellowy. I dig
the detail on
the hat (Seamus would be proud
) on
the UHD,
the old BD smooshes it away. New BD brings some detail
back but not as much as
the UHD, and it still doesn't look as dynamic as
the UHD. Not exact frames, doesn't matter.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
2020 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Love this shot of
the train driver,
the background is stunning...but look at how
the old BD almost matches
the UHD for range while
the new BD is blown out
to buggery! UHD still wins though, there's less clipping on
the brightest spots in
the clouds. BTW
the old BD and UHD aren't that dark in
the shadows, that's just
the exposure.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
2020 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
Tannen about
to do some killing before breakfast. Again, decent amount of range on
the old BD while
the new one is pale AF in
the background. UHD gives you that warmer look.
2010 BD
[Show spoiler]
2020 BD
[Show spoiler]
UHD
[Show spoiler]
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