The Fifth Element 4K UHD (1997) (20th Anniversary Edition)

[EbonDragon]

Originally Posted by HuggyBear73

Just read the review here and there was that word again....marginal. I hope 4K UHD crash and burns.

Why are you here? >_>

[henry00x]

Originally Posted by EbonDragon

Why are you here? >_>

The guy is a troll, the word marginal is not even used in the review.

[GasmaskAvenger]

Originally Posted by HuggyBear73

Just read the review here and there was that word again....marginal. I hope 4K UHD crash and burns.

Stop hating on 4K. Its DVD that needs to die, for good riddance.

[Cook]

Originally Posted by HuggyBear73

Just read the review here and there was that word again....marginal. I hope 4K UHD crash and burns.

Aside from the fact that the review says the opposite, I have to ask...did a 4K disc run over your elderly grandmother? Youre extrememly bitter about 4K.

[ryanmcv]

Why is this release so hard to find? All of my local Best Buy stores are sold out (both the standard and steelbook releases). My local Fry's is sold out. BestBuy.com is backordered until next month. Amazon is sold out.

Finally broke down and purchased this on eBay.

[Herry Dunston]

If only Sony would do the luxury in providing the Besson interview on the regular blu-ray as well. I don't have the equipment to use a 4K disc.

[Sky_Captain]

Originally Posted by HuggyBear73

Just read the review here and there was that word again....marginal. I hope 4K UHD crash and burns.

He's just a poor boy from a poor family,
Spare him his life from this monstrosity.

[Cook]

Originally Posted by ryanmcv

Why is this release so hard to find? All of my local Best Buy stores are sold out (both the standard and steelbook releases). My local Fry's is sold out. BestBuy.com is backordered until next month. Amazon is sold out.

Finally broke down and purchased this on eBay.

Sony may have underwstimated demand. Or they didnt want to make a bunch and have them sit in a factory unsold if demand was low. So they made a smaller first wave to see how it sold.

[TheWildWhelk]

Thinking of ordering this from Amazon.ca, and i can't think of a single reason why this release wouldn't be region-free, can anyone confirm if it's region-locked or open? Thank you!

[Doctorossi]

Originally Posted by TheWildWhelk

Thinking of ordering this from Amazon.ca, and i can't think of a single reason why this release wouldn't be region-free, can anyone confirm if it's region-locked or open? Thank you!

I don't know about the included Blu-ray, but the UHD, like all UHDs, is region-free.

[dunnbluray]

I watched this the other night. The amount of detail in this release is substantial. The opening scene where it starts in the desert has quite the uptick. Bruce Willis' orange shirt and Milla's red hair are popping off the screen on this. This is the best looking film shot release on 4K I have seen. I had hesitations after seeing Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Goodfellas. This movie really holds up well. The CGI looked great. It's sad to see CGI in 1997 looking better than movies coming out now. An example would be the movie Life. This is one of the best looking transfers out on 4K. If you are a fan of this movie and I can't see why you wouldn't be, this is well worth the upgrade.

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

From American Cinematographer:


5293 = 200T stock

5248 = 100T

Many movies in the last few decades were shot on a mix of 250D for daylight exteriors and 500T for interiors & night work, so using 200T as your main taking stock will indeed result in finer grain than perhaps we're used to. Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't expect this to look as grainy as Ghostbusters (old-school 5294 400T, anamorphic) or Crouching Tiger (mostly 5277 320T with the t-grain EXR 5245 50D for very bright exteriors like the desert scenes and some lower light shots on 250D 5246, Super 35).

Thanks, Geoff. I always learn cool stuff from you.

So I take it the higher the number, the more recent the film stock and most likely the finer grain it is? I suppose going from 200T to 320T for CTHD explains the heavier grain, even if the stock is newer due to the age of the film. On that note it would be interesting to try some 200D slide film and see how that compares to 100D 35mm Velvia. I've shot 400 speed Kodak Portra but that was medium format so it's not exactly an accurate means of comparison for grain size when my film's almost 3x the size over my slower 35mm stuff.

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by dunnbluray

I watched this the other night. The amount of detail in this release is substantial. The opening scene where it starts in the desert has quite the uptick. Bruce Willis' orange shirt and Milo's red hair are popping off the screen on this. This is the best looking film shot release on 4K I have scene. I had hesitations after seeing Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Goodfellas. This movie really holds up well. The CGI looked great. It's sad to see CGI in 1997 looking better than movies coming out now. An example would be the movie Life. This is one of the best looking transfers out on 4K. If you are a fan of this movie and I can't see why you wouldn't be, this is well worth the upgrade.

Awesome!

[Cook]

Agreed about the detail. Its staggering to say the least. In terms of what UHD can be and can offer this is a top tier reference disc and a gorgeous release.

[bbwiscfan]

Again, I'm going based on only seeing the remastered 2007 disc. When they say "its like viewing the film for the first time" I think this absolutely applies to watching the Fifth Element in 4K. This has been given a facelift, and it shows from the opening scene. The detail is so precise its everywhere. In the distance as well as close up. I saw engravings inside the temple at the beginning that I didn't even knew existed. The very hairs on the top of the old man's head, each individual one rendered perfectly, it was just truly insane to watch. My eyes were scanning everywhere and it was truly a delight. Another scene was when the Diva is performing, you can see how her blue skin actually sparkles, something I NEVER could see before.

The colors, wow. The power of HDR strikes again. Skin tones are accurate to my eyes and richer. Everything for color seems more precise, bolder and far more vivid, the HDR application does wonders to this presentation. The deep blacks, particularly the shots in space as well as the rest of the film in general are rich and deep and beautiful. The contrast was outstanding too. Aside from an occasional scene where I noticed some minor noise, this video is outstanding. This film is 20 years old folks, and I just don't see how this movie can look any better than it looks in UHD.

The atmos. Powerful, thunderous and in your face. I had such a great time with this track. Surrounds are used to great effect and the overheads are also employed to create a fuller, richer sense of immersion. Eric Serra's musical score, one of my favorites, fills the room with great effect. The final act, with the explosion of the ship and the final moment, its all on another level with Atmos. Simply put, this is the best I've heard this film sound.

In short, I can recommend this highly to anyone looking to snag it as I'm very satisfied with this release. My only nitpick is I wish Sony picked a better cover for the steel book I got because they were out of the regular but such is life.

Bravo Sony, Bravo.

[StingingVelvet]

The remaster itself was great, yes. The UHD is great too. Other than the mild sharpening it is absolutely gorgeous, and I recommend a purchase to anyone without a massive sharpening pet peeve.

[Vangeli]

Originally Posted by StingingVelvet

The remaster itself was great, yes. The UHD is great too. Other than the mild sharpening it is absolutely gorgeous, and I recommend a purchase to anyone without a massive sharpening pet peeve.

If it's from the 90's and has digital effects good chance there's sharpening halos, so whatever bring it on.

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by singhcr

Thanks, Geoff. I always learn cool stuff from you.

So I take it the higher the number, the more recent the film stock and most likely the finer grain it is? I suppose going from 200T to 320T for CTHD explains the heavier grain, even if the stock is newer due to the age of the film. On that note it would be interesting to try some 200D slide film and see how that compares to 100D 35mm Velvia. I've shot 400 speed Kodak Portra but that was medium format so it's not exactly an accurate means of comparison for grain size when my film's almost 3x the size over my slower 35mm stuff.

Higher the number the faster it is, as I'm quite sure you know, and that means mores grains no matter what era it comes from. If anything the kinds of slow-as-molasses 25T and 50D motion picture stocks of yore meant far less grain, not more, as they had to be showered in light (even more so for the three-strip features) which produced that rich, saturated, glossy look of Hollywood's golden age.

While the advent of tabular grain in the very late '80s certainly improved the inherent graininess of the fastest stocks it never made it go away. Just look at something like Batman v Superman for an example of the latest 500T 35mm shot in a very unfettered way with not a lot of diffusion or subsequent reduction in the DI: the UHD is as grainy as balls. (People always say Snyder "adds" grain, and while he may have done so for the vast CG vistas of 300 I've never heard of it being done since. He just loves his grain and isn't afraid to show it off.)

[tyrok]

Originally Posted by grodd

Thanks Nice improvement! A little upset my steelbook order is in Limbo from best Buy.

My steelbook that I ordered Sunday morning after they added the $5 promo was backordered until the end of the month but shipped today.

[bobbylee]

My steelbook just shipped out from best buy today. Guess I'm lucky,this seems a really difficult to find disc at the moment.