Kingsman: The Golden Circle 4K UltraHD

In "Kingsman: The Golden Circle," our heroes face a new challenge when their headquarters are destroyed and the world is held hostage. Their journey leads to the discovery of an allied spy organization in the U.S. called Statesman, and in a new adventure, these two elite, secret organizations band together to defeat a ruthless common enemy in order to save the world—something that's becoming a bit of a habit for Eggsy. Based on the Comic Book "The Secret Service" by Mark Miller and Dave Gibbons. (Gary Reber)

Special features include the featurettes "Kingsman: Inside The Golden Circle" (HD 57:13) and "Black Cab Chase: Anatomy Of A Killer Chase" (HD 12:49), Kingsman Archives, theatrical trailers, and a digital copy.

The 2.39:1 2160p HEVC/H.265 UltraHD HDR10 picture, reviewed on a Sony Bravia Z9D 4K Ultra HD HDR display, was photographed digitally using the Arri Alexa XT camera system at 2.8K and sourced from a 2K (not 4K) master Digital Intermediate format. As the 2K Digital Intermediate has been upconverted to 2160p, there is no real gain in native resolution. Picture quality is exquisite, with a gorgeously saturated color palette with a wide color spectrum in which fine shades of hues are well defined. Numerous colors really pop. Hues are warm and rich throughout with an exceptional range of tone. Fleshtones are perfectly natural with excellent hue definition. The production design and composition is impressively brightly lit with excellent, enhanced HDR contrast. Bright lights are often intense in illumination, which nicely contrast with the deep blacks exhibited. The opening scene with the black cab is mesmerizing. Shadow delineation also is superb with fine variations in darkness well defined. Resolution is excellent with fine detail revealed in facial features, skin pores, hair, beards, clothing and object texture, especially during close-ups. The imagery is certainly among the finest upconverted 4K presentation mastered from a 2K Digital Intermediate. Spatial dimensionality also is superb. WOW! segments start at the very beginning with the black cab chase from 0:01:15 to to 0:05:54, 01:32:02 to 01:33:37, 01:52:52 to 0:55:10, and 02:13:20 to 02:14:27. This is a spectacular visual experience that is reference quality throughout. (Gary Reber)

The Dolby Atmos/Dolby TrueHD 7.1-channel soundtrack is wonderful and terrifically engaging. The soundstage is sweeping, which extends to a full-on enveloping soundfield with aggressive directionalized surrounds engaged in all four channels. Atmospherics are realistic, and sound effects are often powerful with high-impact bass response, especially during intense action scenes powered by sub-25 Hz .1 LFE energy. Foley sound effects also are realistic-sounding, and there are numerous instances of nuanced sonics. The orchestral score is very dynamic and well recorded with effective clarity of instrumentation. The music extends wide and deep across the soundfield and extends aggressively to the surrounds and overhead. All throughout dialogue is intelligible with generally good spatial integration, though, there are plenty of instances of ADR in which seamless integration is wanting.

The Immersive Sound element is high energy, delivered by an effective extension of the orchestra, which is pervading throughout. Other object-based elements are extremely brief and far between. They consist of car scrapes, gunfire, turning grinder blades, an explosion at Kingsman's headquarters, a panned helicopter, crickets, underwater bubbling, an alarm sound, a turbulent Skyway tram falling, a cable snap, whisking down the snow slope, machine gun and Gatling gun fire, movement through jungle brush, an alarm buzz, whiz sounds, and panned back to front flying craft. Yet, much in the way of soundscape dimension has been ignored by the sound designers.

This is an impressively engaging holosonic® spherical surround soundtrack that is quite thrilling and an excellent showcase for home theatre enthusiasts. (Gary Reber)