Mad Max: Fury Road appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. One of the very first 4K releases to hit the market, Fury Road often looked great but it also suffered from the format’s infancy.
In particular, the use of HDR seemed over the top and an occasional distraction when it came to colors. Granted, Fury Road always sought extremes, so perhaps I shouldn’t complain.
However, the hues came across as too dominant at times, and they made some aspects of the image look odd. For instance, flames appeared strangely fake, with an impression they’d been lifted from a 1990s videogame.
As noted in the body of the review, Fury Road went with an orange and teal palette, one that leaned more toward orange given the environments. These elements often looked good, but they felt overcranked, even for a crazed production like this.
Sharpness came across with some of the same kind of “overdone” impression. Much of the movie brought appealing delineation, with only a handful of soft shots.
However, I got the impression some artificial sharpening occurred during the movie’s upconversion journey. Light edge haloes cropped up at times, and the movie occasionally seemed a little too sharp.
No issues with shimmering occurred, and outside of those awkward flame shots, jagged edges remained absent. Source flaws failed to become an issue.
Blacks seemed dark and deep, but low-light shots came across as slightly murky, another minor victim of overdone HDR. Although many aspects of Fury Road looked great, too many issues cropped up for me to view this as anything more than a “B” presentation.
On the other hand, I felt consistently pleased with the excellent Dolby Atmos soundtrack of Fury Road. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, it was a good one.
The soundfield presented an active and lively piece that constantly engaged the various speakers. The film showed distinctive imagery throughout the movie that placed different auditory elements accurately within the spectrum and meshed them together nicely.
Music provided strong stereo imaging, and effects popped up from the appropriate locations. Quieter scenes – which didn’t pop up often - displayed positive ambience, while the many action set pieces involved engrossing and vibrant imaging. With nearly non-stop movement and mayhem, this became one of the more active soundfields I’ve heard in a while.
Audio quality also seemed positive. Speech consistently appeared natural and crisp, and I noticed no issues related to edginess or intelligibility. Music sounded bright and dynamic as the disc neatly replicated the score.
Effects packed a nice wallop when necessary, as these elements seemed clean and distinct at all times. Bass response came across as deep and tight, and the low-end added a good layer of depth and oomph to the package. This was a soundtrack to challenge your subwoofer, as it really administered a heavy punch. I thought this was a consistently impressive soundtrack.
How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Both sported the same Atmos audio.
As for visuals, I would opt for the Blu-ray due to the overuse of HDR here and the apparent added sharpening. While the Blu-ray lacked the 4K’s highs, it also came without the 4K’s negatives. That made it a more consistent viewing experience.
Note that a 3D Blu-ray version of Fury Road also exists in the marketplace. For those who boast both 4K and 3D capabilities, which become the winner?
Easy answer: the 3D edition. Its visuals looked a smidgen weaker than the Blu-ray’s, but they didn’t suffer more than a little degradation, and the immersiveness of the 3D material compensated. If I actually wanted to watch Fury Road again, I’d go 3D.
Oh, and just to further muddy the waters, Warner also produced a ”Black & Chrome” edition of Fury Road. This offered a black and white version of the film that simply stripped away the color.
George Miller didn’t shoot Fury Road with an eye for black and white, so “B&C” really came across as nothing more than a color film stripped of those elements. It didn’t work for me and felt like a gimmick more than a logical artistic choice.
No extras appear on the 4K disc, but we get materials on the included Blu-ray copy, and most of the set’s extras come from its six featurettes. We find “Maximum Fury: Filming Fury Road” (28:38), “Mad Max: Fury on Four Wheels” (22:37), “The Road Warriors: Max and Furiosa” (11:18), “The Tools of the Wasteland” (14:26), “The Five Wives: So Shiny, So Chrome” (11:11) and “Fury Road: Crash and Smash” (4:02).
Across these, we hear from writer/producer/director George Miller, production designer Colin Gibson, principal vehicle designer/storyboard artist Peter Pound, producer Doug Mitchell, executive producer Iain Smith, co-special effects supervisors Dan Oliver and Andy Williams, stunt coordinator Keir Beck, 2nd unit director/supervising stunt coordinator Guy Norris, visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson, technical continuity Georgina Selby, fight coordinator Richard Norton, principal War Rig driver Lee Adamson, principal storyboard artist Mark Sexton, salvage artist Matt Boug, property master Andrew Orlando, costume designer Jenny Beaven, key armourer Lance Peters, and actors Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, Nicholas Hoult, Josh Helman, Angus Sampson, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Nathan Jones, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Abbey Lee, Zoe Kravitz, Riley Keough, Courtney Eaton, and iOta.
The programs cover the movie’s development and the use of storyboards, locations and shooting in the desert, vehicles, stunts and action, various effects, cast and performances, story/characters, production design, costumes and props.
“Crash and Smash” includes no interviews, but it shows various forms of raw footage to accentuate the movie’s active use of practical material.
Taken together, the featurettes offer a pretty good picture of the production. Given the format, they don’t gel into a particularly coherent overall view, but they tell us plenty about the shoot. Expect to learn a fair amount about Fury Road here.
Three deleted scenes fill a total of three minutes, 21 seconds. We find “I Am a Milker” (0:32), “Turn Every Grain of Sand!” (1:49) and “Let’s Do It” (0:59).
“Milker” shows a woman desperate to enter Joe’s inner circle, while “Sand” extends the launch of the hunt for Furiosa. Finally, “Do It” gives us a short intro to the movie’s climactic journey. None of these seem especially memorable, though “Milker” at least depicts the desperation of the downtrodden.
Apparently many viewers find Mad Max: Fury Road to offer a thrilling, dynamic action experience. I do not. I think it comes with occasional excitement but it suffers from such thin story/characters that it never digs beneath the surface.
The 4K UHD delivers excellent audio as well as some informative bonus materials, but visuals seem inconsistent and overcranked. The movie would benefit from a new 4K presentation, as this one shows its age.
Note that the 4K UHD release of Fury Road can be purchased on its own or as part of a four-movie “Mad Max Anthology”. Along with Fury Road, it includes Mad Max, The Road Warrior and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
The version of Fury Road that appears as part of the “Anthology” lacks the Blu-ray. This means it brings none of the solo release’s bonus materials.
To rate this film visit the prior review of MAD MAX: FURY ROAD
