Avengers: Infinity War 4K Blu-ray Review
By Chris Heinonen on
Audio Quality
Video Quality
Overall
Avengers: Infinity War Summary
In “Avengers: Infinity War,” members from every MCU franchise must sacrifice like never before in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe. The film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk, Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America, Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow, Don Cheadle as Colonel James Rhodes/War Machine, Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man, Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa/Black Panther, Zoe Saldana as Gamora, Karen Gillan as Nebula, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Paul Bettany as Vision, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Idris Elba as Heimdall, Danai Gurira as Okoye, Peter Dinklage as Eitri, Benedict Wong as Wong, Pom Klementieff as Mantis, Dave Bautista as Drax, featuring Vin Diesel as Groot, Bradley Cooper as Rocket, with Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, with Benicio Del Toro as The Collector, with Josh Brolin as Thanos, and Chris Pratt as Peter Quill/Star-Lord.
Avengers: Infinity War Movie Review
Since this has been out for a while and was massively popular, spoilers ahead, so be aware. Avengers: Infinity War is a marvelous continuation to the story, and much better than the prior Age of Ultron installment. While it might be nearly impossible to keep up with everything that has happened in the universe with so many films, they manage to have everyone make an appearance here. Even Red Skull shows up again after not being seen for almost a decade.
What pulls the movie together is Thanos. Thanos is a wonderful foil because he has a desire and goal that, while very harmful, is something that he thinks will make the universe better for everyone in the end. The path to hell might be paved with good intentions, but it also makes it easier to identify with Thanos instead of him just being a big, dumb evil guy that you can’t relate to at all. He’s seen his world be destroyed and he doesn’t want that to happen to other worlds as well.
The film has a good mix of humor and seriousness, and while long it moves right along. Since we already know another film is coming, and after the ending of this there was no other choice, and it has a lot to live up to with this.
Avengers: Infinity War Technical Review
Infinity War was shot on Arri and Panavision cameras in a mix of aspect ratios but for the home release, it only uses the 2.39:1 aspect ratio, even for 1.90:1 IMAX sequences. It also uses a 2K digital intermediate which isn’t surprising since over 90% of the shots have some sort of digital manipulation done on them and that’s hard to do in 4K. There also isn’t a Dolby Vision layer, and the peak nits on the disc are capped at 1000. All those issues aside, the disc looks just fantastic. Shadow details, like the opening scene with Thor and Thanos, are fantastic while HDR highlights are used extensively. Despite only having a 2K DI the image is crisp and detailed, and issues with artifacting or aliasing were absent to my eye. The image here is fantastic.
The biggest question with Infinity War is how the Atmos soundtrack will hold up. Disney has been putting out soundtracks with serious dynamic compression recently, where something like a car crash in Black Panther has almost no impact. Infinity War has no issues here, with there being plenty of bass but that bass also has a much larger dynamic range as it should. I turned the volume up for Infinity War, but not nearly as much as I had to for Black Panther or Thor: Ragnarok; otherwise, the action scenes would have been too loud. The Atmos channels could have been used more I felt, but overall the soundtrack is a welcome relief.
Editors Update: There seems to be a lot of debate about the audio quality so another one of our writers, Stephen Hornbrook, also picked up Infinity War and has these comments on the audio:
“Infinity War continues this trend, but is slightly improved. There is still a lack of impact especially when it comes to the low-frequency effects. Infinity War will not push your sub to its limits and that is such a waste. There many scenes that could have benefited from a more detailed and active sub mix. The same goes for use of Atmos as most of the soundtrack is based in the front 3 channels.”
The audio score has been revised to be a hybrid of our two reviews. We both agree on the overall high-quality of the image.
Avengers: Infinity War Special Features
- Strange Alchemy (5:08)– Share the thrill of characters from across the MCU meeting for the first time—and discover why some were teamed up together.
- The Mad Titan (6:34) – Explore the MCU’s biggest, baddest villain, his trail of influence through the stories, and the existential threat he represents.
- Beyond the Battle: Titan (9:36) – Dive into the climactic struggle on Thanos’ ruined world, including the epic stunts and VFX, to uncover the source of its power.
- Beyond the Battle: Wakanda (10:58) – Go behind the scenes to find out how the filmmakers pulled off the most massive and challenging battle Marvel had ever attempted.
- Deleted and Extended Scenes (10:07)
- Happy Knows Best (1:23) – Tony and Pepper spar over the details of their upcoming wedding—until a hassled Happy Hogan pulls up with an urgent request.
- Hunt for the Mind Stone (1:24) – On a darkened street, Wanda Maximoff and the wounded Vision attempt to hide from Thanos’ brutal allies.
- The Guardians Get Their Groove Back (3:20) – As Peter Quill and Drax quarrel over their failed mission to Knowhere, Mantis interrupts with news.
- A Father’s Choice (4:00) – Thanos confronts Gamora with a vision from her past—and with lying to him about the Soul Stone.
- Gag Reel (2:05)– Watch your favorite Super Heroes make super gaffes in this lighthearted collection of on-set antics.
- Audio Commentary (approx. 149 min.) by Anthony and Joe Russo, Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely.
Avengers: Infinity War Review System
Sony A1E OLED, Sony UBP-X800 UltraHD Blu-ray Player, Oppo UDP-203 UltraHD Blu-ray Player, KEF Ci5160RL-THX Fronts, Ci3160RL-THX Center, 2x Ci200RR-THX Surrounds, 4x CI200RR-THX Atmos Speakers, Anthem MRX 1120 Receiver, SVS SB-4000 Subwoofer.
Pros
Fantastic film, HDR10 image, and Atmos soundtrack live up to their end and make for a better experience than I had at the movie theater.
Cons
No Dolby Vision layer or IMAX aspect ratio for action scenes, weak use of Atmos, soundtrack can be more dynamic.
Summary
Avengers: Infinity War on 4K Blu-ray is a fantastic release that makes up for the disc quality of some other recent Disney titles.
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