The Man From U.N.C.L.E. 4K Ultra HD

Set against the backdrop of the early 1960s, at the height of the Cold War, "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." centers on CIA Agent Solo and KGB Agent Kuryakin. Forced to put aside longstanding hostilities, the two team up on a joint mission to stop a mysterious international criminal organization, which is bent on destabilizing the fragile balance of power through the proliferation of nuclear weapons and technology. The duo's only lead is the daughter of a vanished German scientist, who is the key to infiltrating the criminal organization, and they must race against time to find him and prevent a worldwide catastrophe. Based on the 1960’s television series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (Gary Reber)

Special features include commentary by critics Bryan Reesman and Max Evry eight featurettes: "Legacy Of U.N.C.L." (HD 28:38), "Cockneys And Roberts" (HD 25:13), "Spy Vision: Re-creating '60s Cool" (HD 08:34), "A Higher Class Of Hero" (HD 07:13), "Metisse Motorcycles: Proper—And Very British" (HD 04:49), "The Guys From U.N.C.L.E." (HD 04:57), "A Man Of Extraordinary Talent" (HD 03:16), and "U.N.C.L.E.: On-Set Spy" (HD 05:16); "A Lineage Of Bad Guys" interview with Actor Luca Calvani (HD 15:26); "The Hollywood Way" interview with Co-Writer/Producer Lionel Wigram (HD 16:14); image gallery; theatrical trailer; reversible sleeve with artwork by Dare Creative; double-sided fold-out poster and illustrated collector's booklet.

The 2.40:1 2160p HEVC/H.265 4K Ultra HD HDR10 picture, reviewed on a VIZIO Quantum X P85QX-JI UHD/HDR display, was photographed digitally in anamorphic Panavision® using the Arri Alexa XT Plus camera system and sourced from a 4K Digital Intermediate. The picture exhibits a gorgeous luster throughout. Photographed by veteran British cinematographer John Mathieson using primarily the Arri Alexa Plus camera, the imagery exhibits a wonderful color palette. Colors often pop in intense saturation. The imagery exhibits visual extremes from dark to bright. HDR contrast is well balanced with deep blacks and revealing shadow delineation during night scenes. During such dark scenes, the color palette exhibits patches of bright accents, and bright scenes are impressively colorful. Flesh tones remain consistently natural and healthy throughout, regardless of the scene-to-scene extremes. Resolution is excellent, with fine detail exhibited in textures of architecture and objects, facial features, hair, and clothing, which is vividly pronounced. This is a wonderfully stylized and campy visual experience that varies in dynamic contrast and engages the viewer with eye candy excitement. (Gary Reber)

The Dolby Atmos/Dolby TrueHD 7.1-channel soundtrack is nicely dynamic sounding. The music under the opening credits is wonderful and sets the excellent standard for high fidelity throughout the soundtrack. As the action unfolds between Solo and Kuryakin, the sonics are quite holosonic®, with an aggressive surround presence in the four surround channels that complement the main frontal channels. During the action sequences there are effectively directionalized atmospherics and sound effects, such as gunfire, collisions, chases, and Foley sound effects, which enhance the excitement. In one scene, no sound is heard but for an Italian ballad, first heard on a radio but expanded to the entire soundfield. This technique is also used in other scenes quite effectively. Almost always the 7.1 channels are active with atmospherics, sound effects, and music. Deep bass in the .1 LFE channel is heightened during the action scenes and especially during the naval approach. Even this is intensified by the percussion-dominated music. This is a thoroughly engaging scene that is effectively enveloping. Directionality of sound effects is superb, such as gunfire. The highlight is definitely the dynamic and forward-sounding jazz-tinged music, with songs by artists Roberta Flack, Nina Simone, and Louis Prima. Dialogue throughout is intelligible but wanting in spatial integration with ADR often forward sounding.

The Immersive Sound element is comprised of intermittent music consisting of percussion, such as a left back drum sound switching to many in all four sectors and alternating, and acoustic guitar and loud signing segments, as well as a few sound effects such as a helicopter and thunder and an brief rain, a rocket and explosion, and Soviet soldiers marching sounds. There are large periods of silence and far more could have been achieved for more impactful height layer spatial dimensionality.

This is an exciting and engaging ear-level sonic adventure with superb fidelity and dynamics. (Gary Reber)