Your best in-home cinematic experience movie

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Grabbing this today

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Compared to the dated Blu-ray, Blade Runner's UHD presentation can't help but look better, but it's more than better—it's astonishing. The improvements begin with the opening logos, where the pixelated tree representing the Ladd Company unfurls across and down the screen without a hint of the flicker and aliasing that have been there on every prior version, including the 2007 Final Cut Blu-ray. The opening aerial views of 2019 Los Angeles have always been impressive, but prepare to gasp when the Tyrell Building comes into view, with each window, level and outcropping now sharply and crisply resolved. (The Blu-ray is blurry by comparison.) Throughout the film, the UHD's resolution reveals so much detail in the remarkable model work that it almost breaks the illusion of scale. If the cityscape were any clearer, you'd see that it was made of miniatures.

The combination of 4K resolution and HDR encoding highlights numerous fine details that have been there all along but now command new attention. I never before focused on the crisply stenciled "Tyrell Corp." on the chairs in which Leon and Holden sit during their fateful encounter, but now that logo is sharply visible. The textured vertical striping on the bow tie worn by Dr. Tyrell during his meeting with Deckard rises out of the frame, adding yet one more item to the genius tycoon's list of sartorial eccentricities. The individual strands on Rachel's oversized fur coats stand out vividly, making both the coats and their wearer seem even more out of place. (Who wears huge fur coats when it's always raining?) Individual stars in the sky above Batty as he descends from his meeting with Tyrell blaze more brightly, and more of them are visible. In the scene where J.F. Sebastian sits at his dining room table surrounded by his family of genetically engineered toys, more of Sebastian's odd creations can be seen clearly, even those at the edges of the frame, expanding the group of onlookers who will watch helplessly as Pris and Batty enter and Sebastian begins to grasp his dangerous predicament.

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Almost as impressive as the visual upgrade is the newly remixed Dolby Atmos soundtrack. I didn't think it was possible to improve on the effective 5.1 mix supplied on the 2007 Blu-ray in Dolby TrueHD, but the sound engineers have achieved new levels of intensity and immersion. The opening drumbeats of Vangelis' electronic score are thunderous and deep while remaining tightly focused. The score and sound effects have been blended and intertwined more closely than ever to create a uniquely eerie audio landscape. Background dialogue like the loudspeaker voice at the Tyrell Corporation (during Leon's interview) and the announcements from the ever-present dirigible advertising life in the off-world colonies are more distinct, while retaining their appropriate place in the background. Continuous rainfall fills the room during outdoor scenes such as Deckard's introduction, while individual effects like the flashing neon dragon's tongue at the noodle stand remain clearly localized, as does the dialogue. The hubbub of large crowd scenes like those at Taffey Lewis' club or the busy streets where Deckard pursues Zhora is both expanded and refined, so that you have the sense of being surrounded by a sea of individual voices rather than a generalized murmur. The sounds of the Bradbury Building (pigeons flapping their wings, elevators rising and descending, water streaming) are intensified and precisely placed.

One could continue noting examples for pages, but the point is that the Final Cut's UHD doesn't just feature a superior picture; it also offers a quantum leap in audio quality, drawing the viewer further into Rick Deckard's darkly mysterious world and making Blade Runner live and breathe even more vibrantly on the screen. For those with the equipment to decode it, the Atmos track alone would justify an upgrade

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