The Great Gatsby 4K (2013) Ultra HD 2160p REMUX

An adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's highly acclamed novel set during the Roaring Twenties in 1922. Midwesterner Nick Carraway is lured into the lavish world of his millionaire neighbor, Jay Gatsby, on Long Island. Soon enough, however, Carraway will see through the cracks of Gatsby's nouveau riche existence, where obsession, madness, and tragedy await.

The Great Gatsby 4K (2013) Ultra HD 2160p REMUX Review
For its UHD release of The Great Gatsby, Warner Brothers presents the film with an upscaled 4K transfer, presumably based on a 2.5K digital intermediate (that sourced from a 5K native resolution shoot), and standard HDR-10 color enhancement. The results are, generally, spellbinding, as lavish as both Gatsby's world and Luhrmann's production design. The transfer approaches best-case scenario for an upscaled image, certainly aided by the high-yield native photography and precise attention to detail in the film's core technical construct. Core textural complexities are generally off-the-charts wonderful, boasting insanely complex skin textures, period clothing, and location extravagance with eye-popping intensity and inherent intricacy, all besting the 1080p Blu-ray, sometimes significantly. That said, the movie's production and construction yields a fairly artificial, flat, and smooth appearance. Through all of the textural wonders, there's an unmistakable gloss and sheen to the movie, offset by occasionally more gritty scenes, a handful of vintage shots, and several others made to appear somewhere between grainy vintage and contemporary clear. Gatsby stands as one of the most hyper and heavily stylized films to appear on the UHD format thus far. Even within the same shot one will encounter a flat artificiality blended with appreciable image complexity, say two deeply dimensional and detailed characters against a terribly smooth, phony looking background. Generally speaking, however, the picture's inherent textural qualities are only accentuated here, and the result is some of the most enjoyably intimate and razor sharp material yet to make its way onto UHD. But the trade-off is a more pronounced reveal of many of the film's smoother, phonier elements.

The film's HDR-enhanced color palette adds an appreciable zest and brilliance to colors. It's perhaps not the most immediately striking boost to color the format has seen, but the added depth and punch are much appreciated and only serve to add sometimes significant spectacle and color separation. Often the finest moments take place when a single color stands out against otherwise similarly colored, and usually darker and more drab, backgrounds. Teal attire against a largely red room. Gatsby's yellow car cruising through the streets. Green grasses bountifully exploding off the screen. Storefronts and neon signs deliver rich, deep colors of impressive nuanced diversity and stability. Black levels are scrumptiously deep and and accurate, perfectly absorbing and complimentary. Flesh tones often capture a fairly warm, occasionally borderline hot, appearance, through to be sure there are plenty of more neutral and creamy complexities on display as well. Artifacts are few; a hint of shimmering can be seen on the would-be three-dimensional graphics that open the film, but such is the extreme exception to the rule. The Great Gatsby is a formidable UHD, besting an already top-flight Blu-ray with sometimes significantly improved sharpness and detail revelation and firmer, punchier color. The movie's structure and extreme stylization make it perhaps not a definitive reference disc if one is wanting a more streamlined visual experience, but it's an experience to be sure and a must-see for any UHD-capable movie fan.