All-Star Superman - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

All-Star Superman

Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
This is one of those weird moments where I had to look at my collection and say “oops”. While I’m a big DCAU fan, I sort of missed a couple of the initial entries into the world back in the 2008-2012 era, but I found out that I HAD purchased All-Star Superman back in the day. I just embarrassingly still had the cellophane wrapper on the disc when I looked this week, meaning I had never watched it. Well, better late than never, and I relish looking back at highly recommended animated films and seeing them for the first time on a virgin run.

Reinvention is quite literally the life’s blood of the comic book world. Runs go for as long as they can before new (and sometimes old) animators decide to reboot the character, put him in a different arc, and in some instances even kill the character off and just start from scratch with a new origin and a new take completely. Such was the case with Superman as Frank Quitely and Grant Morrisson’s 12 issue graphic novels of the same name did with Superman. From 2005 to 2008 the duo quietly, simply, and indelibly changed 80 years of Superman lore (and not just a stupid one, like the 1997 change to make him from the Man of Steel into The Man of Energy) for the better. To date there hasn’t been a Superman graphic novel run that has been so impactful and powerful, so color me rather eager to check out the disc after ignoring this adaptation in the DCAU for so long.

The film takes on the Death of Superman a different way, with Lex Luthor luring Superman (James Denton) into saving a group of astronauts at the sun and inadvertently giving him a super dose of yellow sun radiation. We all know that Superman derives his power from the yellow sun’s radiation, but he gets what would be considered “terminal cancer” from having an OVERDOSE of the same radiation that sustains him all these years. As such, he’s a dead man walking and wants to make amends for some regrets, as well as hopefully leave a legacy behind. Coming out to Lois Lane (Christina Hendricks) about his identity, Supes and Lois go on a 24 hour date where he gives her a serum to make her like him for a day. Along the way the man of steel finds out that Lex isn’t done. Lex has been stealthily planning this revenge for years, and not only does he want Superman dead, he wants Superman to know that it was HIM who did it. Thus the maniacal genius teams up with another powerful being to eliminate the advantage, inadvertently causing a chain reaction that will destroy the earth completely if Clark/Superman doesn’t do something.

The story is a fairly episodic one, showcasing Superman going through a final life “crisis” if you will, dealing with Lois Lane, some interpersonal stuff between him and a pair of Kryptonians who show up (one of whom is voiced by Arnold Vosloo of The Mummy fame), and this is where the story gets both good and bad. On one hand it captures the whimsical and softer side with these episodes, allowing for the viewer to ride along for Superman’s greatest feats, but also it seems a TAD truncated too. I mean, it’s always hard for a 12 publication long graphic novel series to get crammed into a 77 minute film, but the episodic nature of the narrative makes it feel over stuffed and too much getting crammed into too little. I know the movie got a great rating back in the day when it first debuted in 2011, but coming from a long line of Superhero graphic novel to film adaptations, this one just doesn’t work in this short of a time. It really would have been epic at around 3 hours in length vs. the 77 minutes that we did get, despite Sam Liu really trying his best. It’s good, and I don’t want to denigrate the enjoyment of the film, but I can definitely see where some added runtime could have helped.




Rating:

Rated PG by the MPAA




4K Video: Video:

Similar to Batman: Year One, All-Star Superman utilizes an upscaled 4K image struck from the 2K source and given a few “tweaks”. Fundamentally there’s not a massive amount of detail to be grained from the hand drawn animation and 2K source, but the Blu-ray was always a sour looking disc with dulled colors and nasty artifacting, so this new 4K disc is surprisingly better than expected. Extra details may not be present, but the colors are light years better than the 1080p disc (which is included in this set, and hasn’t been upgraded either). Yellows and blues really pop off the screen, and the overall contrast and color saturation levels are just off the chart better. There’s still some softness to behold, with jaggies on the line drawn animation coming up, but I don’t see any of the horrible banding and compression artifacts that the 2011 Blu-ray was infamous for on the disc. The HDR application really makes the primary colors that much richer and more vibrant, to the point where comparing the Blu-ray to the 4K UHD makes you feel like you’re watching a whole other film. Again, this isn’t THE BEST looking 4K UHD DCAU film to date, but the rather moderate improvements makes it almost jaw dropping when you A/B the two discs. Hands down the best looking the film has looked ever.








Audio:

The disc appears to be using the exact same 5.1 DTS-HD MA track as found on the 12 year old Blu-ray, and while good, still is just a “decent” track. Surrounds get a goodly amount of workout with the active battles between Superman and his various enemies throughout the film, as well as a moderate bass response as well with characters slamming through walls and blasting each other with eye lasers. Dialog is strong and locked up front, but overall the track doesn’t have a whopping dynamic range. It’s fairly constrained at times, and the bass (while nice) isn’t super rough and ready to rock either.







Extras:

• NEW The Art of the All-star Adaptation – Go behind the scenes and inside the process of screenwriting, character designing and scoring the animated adaptation of the quintessential Superman comic series, All-Star Superman. This fascinating featurette includes insight from executive producer Bruce Timm, director Sam Liu, character designer Dusty Abell and composer Christopher Drake.
• NEW An All-Star Salute to the Silver Age Superman – Explore DC's historical inspirations in Grant Morrison's love letter to the wildly fantastic Silver Age of Superman in comics.
• Superman Now – In a moment of inspiration, Grant Morrison was provided an opportunity to revamp the Man of Steel into something modern, something more relevant for today's audience. This is the story of All-Star Superman – where it all started, and what it came to be.
• The Creative Flow: Incubating the Idea with Grant Morrison – A detailed look at Grant Morrison's original sketches and ideas.
• Audio Commentary – Featuring the thoughts of Bruce Timm and Grant Morrison.
• Digital Comic Book – All-Star Superman

Final Score: ​

As I said above, I have never seen All-Star Superman before. I still find it amusing that I’ve had the Blu-ray sealed on my shelf for the better part of 12 years, but for some stupid reason have never gotten around to opening it. Looking back I may not love the film as much as other fans, but it’s still an enjoyable light hearted jaunt with a more “Truth, Justice and the American Way” type of Superman than what we’ve got with the modern DCAU. The 4K UHD disc is a great upgrade, with strong video and brand new extras to entice fans too. For fans of the movie, I wouldn’t hesitate. That 4K transfer will make you want to throw your old 2011 Blu-ray in the trash. Recommended.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: James Denton, Christina Hendricks, Anthony LaPaglia, Steve Blum, Arnold Vosloo
Directed by: Sam Liu
Written by: Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Grant Morrison
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French DD 5.1, Spanish DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: PG
Runtime: 77 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: April 18th, 2023

Recommendation: Reccomended

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I haen't seen all of the DC animated films so will have to check them out..