Alright, enough with this “guess the movie” nonsense. It’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The 2018 dino smash hit may not be a great film, but I can honestly say I’ve never seen a better advert for 4K Blu-rays… well, maybe apart from Blade Runner 2049.
If I was reviewing Fallen Kingdom for Tom’s Guide — not that we actually do movie reviews ‘round these parts — I’d probably give it 3.5/5. Of course, Jurassic Park is my favorite movie of all time, so I’m always going to be a little more forgiving when evaluating its sequels. Anyway, it’s a perfectly decent blockbuster with some fun set pieces and a final act that intriguingly tries to turn a Jurassic entry into a horror film for the first time.
For the purposes of this piece, though, Fallen Kingdom could be worse than Sharknado 5: Global Swarming (yes, that’s an actual movie) and I’d still sing its praises. Why? Because it’s genuinely the best-looking movie I’ve ever seen on a 4K Blu-ray disc.
I’m the sort of dinosaur (see what I did there?), who continues to buy physical media"
By this point, you can clearly tell that I’m the sort of dinosaur (see what I did there?), who continues to buy physical media in an era where the quality of streaming has never been better. I own an Apple TV 4K (2022) and the best Netflix movies and the best Disney Plus shows look sensational on my LG G3 OLED. Then again, pretty much everything looks sensational on the G3.
This next paragraph might come across as a little contradictory, seeing as I’m about to heap so much praise on its sequel’s 4K Blu-ray, but I actually prefer the 4K version of Jurassic World I bought for my Apple TV than its 4K Blu-ray. The disc version of what’s inarguably the best Jurassic sequel is blighted with a lot of film grain, making the picture look somewhat noisy. The digital version on the other hand, produces a far cleaner image, which just goes to show how far the quality of streaming in terms of picture quality has come.
Dino-phwoar
But let’s get back to Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. While its predecessor can look quite grainy at times, the transfer in its sequel is absolutely immaculate. There’s nary a sign of film grain, and on my LG G3, it looks absolutely pristine.
On that note, it’s a great movie to put the best OLED TVs through their paces. Fallen Kingdom actually has my favorite opening out of any Jurassic movie, and this near pitch black setup involving a seriously ticked off T-rex really lets you revel in the infinite black levels only OLED can provide.
There are other moments that look incredible, too. The scene where Claire and Franklin juuuuust about avoid becoming lunch for a Baryonyx looks phenomenal on an OLED TV. The contrast of the dark underground facility being briefly illuminated by luminous pools of lava is legit eyeball-arousing stuff if you’re as big of a TV nerd as I am.
Yet it’s in the daytime scenes on Isla Nublar that the movie truly shines. Primarily shot on Honolulu’s Kualoa Ranch in Hawaii — a place I was lucky enough to visit on one of the best vacations of my life — Fallen Kingdom looks amazing in the light.
The scene where the Brachiosaurus slowly stomps through the streets of the now heavily decayed Jurassic World theme park looks incredible, and is one of the finest pieces of CG I can ever remember being put to film. Again, there’s not a hint of film grain, so you can make out every leathery line on the aging dino’s skin with ease.
Ironically, I don’t actually buy 4K Blu-rays all that often. My general rule of thumb is I’ll buy the disc of a movie only if I absolutely love it — although I’ll clearly make an exception for any Jurassic Park sequel. Currently, I’m scratching my head trying to think of the last 4K Blu-ray I actually bought.
I’m one of these idiots who always upgrades to the latest format. I currently own Jurassic Park on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray"
I’ve also had some not so great experiences with the format. I’m one of these idiots who always upgrades to the latest format. That means I currently own Jurassic Park on VHS, DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray. The thing is, with certain films, it can actually be quite hard to tell the difference between the 1080p version and the 4K one.
The best example I can think of this is with Chris Nolan’s astounding Dark Knight trilogy. I own these movies on both Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray, and outside of the scenes that were filmed for IMAX, I genuinely struggle to tell the difference between them. I literally played both versions of The Dark Knight at the same time on two different OLED TVs one day — yes, I really am that much of an AV dork — and the 4K version basically looked identical to the regular Blu-ray.
If nothing else, this is absolutely the only time I’ll ever write an article where I say more nice things about Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom than I do The Dark Knight.
If you want to give your eyes a real treat, though, and you own an OLED TV and a half decent 4K Blu-ray player (I actually use my PS5 as my player), Fallen Kingdom is an exceptionally good looking movie.
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