RED 4K (2010) Ultra HD 2160p REMUX

Frank, Joe, Marvin, and Victoria used to be the CIA's top agents - but the secrets they know just made them the Agency's top targets. Now framed for assassination, they must use all of their collective cunning, experience and teamwork to stay one step ahead of their pursuers and stay alive. The team embarks on an impossible, cross-country mission to break into the top-secret CIA headquarters, where they will uncover one of the biggest conspiracies and cover-ups in government history. Old? My a!

RED 4K (2010) Ultra HD 2160p REMUX Review
Red is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of Lionsgate Films with a 2160p transfer in 2.40:1. As I mentioned in the introductory paragraph above, all three of the September 5 4K UHD releases coming from Lionsgate were shot on film, and with the additional fact that all three were finished at 2K DIs, one might reasonably expect at least similar looking transfers, at least within the context of whatever visuals each individual film provides. One of the most interesting things for me watching 4K UHD discs, though, has been grain resolution. Grain just generally looks different to me in 4K, and I can't say I'm always convinced by how organic it looks. There's a lot to like about this 4K UHD upgrade of Red (some of which I'll detail in a moment), but from virtually the first moment of this new version, there are unignorable swarms of pretty noisy looking grain, especially in brighter lighting conditions and when there are lighter backgrounds. The first shot of Bruce Willis rising from his bed is an early example, with an almost insect like assortment of black spots climbing up the wall behind him. This same sort of thing can be seen later in the sequence in the shopping mall (notably another quite brightly lit scene that features a lot of white or lighter colored walls in the background). Other moments have a much more organic looking grainfield, perhaps ironically often in scenes that aren't quite as brightly lit. It's this inconsistency that has led me to downgrade my 4K video score a bit from the two other releases Lionsgate is offering on September 5.

In terms of detail levels and palette reproduction, things are a good deal more consistent and appealing. There's a noticeable uptick in fine detail levels especially, with elements like the fur collar Mary Louise Parker wears in a late sequence looking much more palpable than on the 1080p Blu- ray version. Expected elements like facial pores or (sorry, with this cast) wrinkles are also much better defined, but even textures on things like brick walls are more precise looking in this version. The palette is kind of unusual looking at times in this 4K UHD version, with a slightly desaturated ambience some of the time that preserves individual pops of color within a generally tamped down frame. Things look just slightly cooler to my eyes a lot of the time, with things like the blue walls of Willis' home taking on more of a grayish appearance. Some especially vivid hues, like the gorgeous blue topcoat Morgan Freeman wears in one sequence, really have noticeably richer saturation in the 4K UHD version.