Mad Max 2 - The Road Warrior 4K UHD Screenshots (Patreon)

Video

Dazzling, sensational work by Warner here. This unfiltered 4K master gives the best of this format in all ways, beginning with ridiculous sharpness. Desolate landscapes create mammoth definition, unobstructed by the encode that easily handles the minimal grain structure. Texture thrives, resolving high-frequency details in close, picking up not only facial definition, but the grains of sand covering the leather costumes. Other than source anomalies, it's perfect.

Beautiful contrast gives outdoor scenery grand intensity, sunlight full, rich, and bright. HDR's impact is immediate. Road Warrior looks vividly bold now, practically modern based on the enhanced dynamics alone. Black levels sustain their end equally well, developing shadows at premium depth down to pure black.

Although dominated by dirt, there's still spectacular color worth appreciating. Vividly blue skies clash flawlessly against the earth-tones. Primaries come in varying forms, always at the same intensity. The richness in brightly colored costume pieces makes each stand out even further against the bleak surroundings. Importantly, Road Warrior doesn't look unnaturally enhanced, just appropriately bolder.

Audio

A new Dolby Atmos mix causes a few misfires, all of them caused by fresh sound effects dropped into the track. They stick out during the action scenes, where car wrecks bring far more fidelity than the rest. Those metal clashes run overly crisp, and clearly do not belong. This is especially true against the dialog. It's overly worn and scratchy, at times nearly lost entirely by the distortion. Oddly, the score sounds perfect in comparison.

If there's a plus, the Atmos mix creates a capable, widely spaced, and dynamic soundstage, albeit with a habit of overwhelming sound effects via the score. The trade off comes from tight low-end pumping from car engines (also audibly "new"), precise imaging, and even overhead flourishes if vehicles flip past the camera, a boomerang whipping past, or the gyrocopter. Fun, if impure.