Beverly Hills Cop II 4K UHD Screenshots (Patreon)

Video

Tony Scott's touches show up throughout Beverly Hills Cop II. Intense oranges reflect the California sun. Most scenes favor this color filter, warming the visual palette. This isn't modern digital grading, but classic style. That leaves primaries enough room to shine, including natural flesh tones. Coastal exteriors show off greens, and luxury cars sport all manner of paint. It's fantastic.

Intensified by Dolby Vision, highlights blossom. While at times a dustier-style cinematography, this doesn't dim the end results. Exterior light pours in through windows, keeping contrast high, even clipping, although that was Scott's style. A solid foundation of black levels complete the depth.

While failing at times, Paramount's encode generally keeps up. The first issue comes early as Murphy enters a smokey bar. Chroma noise swarms the screen, more so than film grain. Thankfully, that's brief and uncommon. Mostly, Beverly Hills Cop II is free to present gains in resolution over the Blu-ray. Superb texture and sharpness display true 4K material, and while the source holds things back from being a reference effort, this is still stellar. Facial definition appears in close and medium shots. Exteriors all excel.

Audio

No update here. Paramount copies the Blu-ray's DTS-HD 5.1 track. Generally a stereo mix, a few surround moments factor into this track. An occasional bullet will move from the fronts, the score widely separates, and an active strip club employs heavy ambiance. However, the stereo split is audibly more aggressive, adding to the chaos as Rosewood drives the cement truck. Smashing metal pans across the speakers with no opportunity missed.

It’s also a well managed, pristine mix. Fidelity gives dialog pleasing crispness. Even stock gunshots lack a muffled trait common to ‘80s action. This is helped with unexpectedly tight LFE activity. Both the music and shootouts push the sub, ensuring constant weight. Club music drops a few deepened jolts worthy of notice.