The Untouchables 35th Annivesary Edition - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Untouchables 35th Anniversary Edition



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



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Movie
Straight outta the 80s, and back into our lives springs one of the more iconic gangster movies of that era. No, it wasn’t The Godfather, nor was it Dick Tracy. This time we get a nice 4K UHD upgrade to one of the most fun balls of cheese of my childhood. Based off of the true story of Elliott Ness and his team of “untouchables”, we get a glimpse into the life of Elliott Ness as he hunts down the infamous Al Capone. The Blu-ray was one of THE first Blu-rays to ever hit the market, and was also kind of mediocre. Good video, but weak audio plagued the disc, and Paramount pretty much refused to remaster the disc for 15 years. Every release of the film was simply the old 2007 disc in new packaging, and like many Paramount catalog titles, left viewers wondering if we would ever get a remastered disc. Well, that time has finally come, and those of us who have waited are vindicated, as Paramount Pictures releases a newly mastered 4K UHD disc that not only gives us a spectacular transfer, but a newly minted Atmos mix as well. Not to mention the choice of a regular Amaray case, or a steelbook edition (that is for once not exclusive to Best Buy).

Mission Impossible director is no stranger to action thrillers, having cut his teeth on making B movie thrillers like Fury, Dressed to Kill, and the infamous Carrie. But now he was taking on a new aspect of the thriller genre. A tense gangster movie retelling the infamous tale of how Elliott Ness was able to nab Al Capone, America’s most famous gangster. The story hearkens back to the 1930s, where prohibition is still in effect, and the police KNOW that Al Capone is pretty much the main source of Canadian whiskey making its way into the United States. However, they can’t seem to catch him at anything. Every time they raid a warehouse, it turns up empty. Idealistic young Elliott Ness (Kevin Costner) of the Treasury Department is trying to make sure that Capone is put away for good, but ends up just as frustrated as his superiors.

Deciding to change tactics when he meets veteran cop Jim Malone, Ness and Malone create a small group of cops to do what the regular law enforcement can’t do. Make the raids that need to be made, and hunt down Capone no matter what. While everyone is intent on making Capone pay for robbery, extortion and murder, nothing ever seems to stick. Something which accountant Oscar Wallace (Charles Martin Smith) figures could work to their advantage. Capone is just too well protected by those in power to go down for the big stuff, but he’s left himself a weakness in the form of his business dealings. A weakness that means that they could put him away for years for tax evasion. Now all they have to do is dig up enough evidence to prove that Capone was squirreling away illegal profits from his ventures that don’t seem to pay him, and the most infamous American gangster can go away for good.

The Untouchables hasn’t aged as well as other movies of the late 80s, but it is still a fantastic action movie. It has Brian DePalma’s finger prints all over it. First person motion shots, tense scenes of slow motion followed by vicious violence, and a couple of action set pieces that are pure DePalma joy. The death of Jim Malone is straight out of DePalam’s old horror set pieces, and the train station gunfight is just bliss. Brutal action mixed with tons of over the top blood (for the time) and slow motion battles that don’t feel cheesy or out of place. It’s a scene that I can watch over and over again with a huge smile over my face, as it is one of cinematic history’s best action scenes.

Now, there are plenty of liberties taken with the original Elliott Ness story. Yes Ness and his men were called the Untouchables. Yes they took down Al Capone. But while those are true this is a heavily stylized action flick that really shouldn’t be taken with that much seriousness. It’s filled with one liners and snappy Sean Connery dialog that pretty much is nowhere to be found in the original autobiography of Ness. That being said, it’s hollywood cheese at it’s 1980s finest.

Sean Connery is in top form as the tough as nails cop Malone, and Robert DeNiro was the highlight of the film. I do love Kevin Costner in just about anything he does, but he really just plays Kevin Costner once again, and gets outshone by his partners. The one person that I was really disappointed in getting the shaft was Andy Garcia. He’s incredible in his short screen time, but he’s really a “background main character” and doesn’t get the screen time he really deserved. All in all, it’s a great gangster movie with a great cast that did gangbusters back in the 80s. It has aged a little bit today, but still is a barrel of fun.




Rating:

Rated R by the MPAA




4K Video: Video:

The new 4K UHD transfer is not perfect, but it’s still a sight better than the old Blu-ray encode. DePalma’s use of gauzy shots and strange slow motion effects introduces some softness hear and there, but the gritty 35mm film is reproduced beautifully in 2160p. It’s a period film to the core, using sepia tones and gray ashy textures to replicate the 1930s, and colors tend to be very warm and burnished. The blinding white of Billy Drago’s suit pops off the screen, while the deep cherry red fake blood is so obvious that you can literally taste the corn syrup. There is a distinct uptick in sharpness and detail levels that were not present on the slightly DNR’d Blu-ray. Fine details are generally really good, but as I said, there’s some innate softness to the image that I’ve seen in just about every rendition of the film available. Some of the close ups were a bit soft too, but many of the far away shots are incredibly textured and detailed. HDR is good, but never really is in the forefront of the image. Instead if lightly beefs up shadow details, modifies some of the brighter colors, and generally gives it a slightly less red tinge. It’s a great transfer, but not a wildly showy one.



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Audio:

While the video was generally very solid for a mid 2007 release Blu-ray, the audio was a bit cramped due to Paramount using only 640kbps Dolby Digital, and a DTS-ES lossy audio mix. IT was stifled, cramped on the low end, and generally not THAT great of a mix. Well, we not only get a great 4K UHD image, but a remixed audio track to Dolby Atmos. While the film is never going to be a Transformers level Atmos mix, it does make good use of the overheads and added surround presence. Ennio Morricone’s score floats above and around, and we get some cool echo effects in the back surrounds and overhead when Al Capone is giving his round table speech. Bass is punchy when gunfire happens, but fairly subdued the rest of the time, and the heaviest surround moments tend to be in the courthouse as well as during the infamous gun battles. Very good mix, slightly hampered by the audio style of the original mix, but a HUGE upgrade over the old Blu-ray for sure.











Extras:

• NEW 4K RESTORATION OF THE FILM
• DOLBY VISION/HDR PRESENTATION OF THE FILM
• NEW DOLBY ATMOS AUDIO TRACK
• The Script, The Cast
• Production Stories
• Re-Inventing the Genre
• The Classic
• Original Featurette: "The Men"
• Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

The Untouchables is pure 80s cheesy fun, but one of the better done films of the 80s simply due to Brian DePalma’s distinctive touches. The film has languished in “early adopter Blu-ray hell” for the better part of 15 years, but we FINALLY get a nice newly mastered 4K UHD film. My only complaint is that the Blu-ray didn’t get a remaster as well for those without 4K, as Paramount stuck to habit of not including a Blu-ray in the release as combo pack, nor even released a newly minted Blu-ray disc at all. Still a fun watch after all these years, and we even get a choice of 4K UHD Steelbook, or the regular release for those who don’t want the steelbook. Fun Watch


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Robert De Niro, Andy Garcia, Richard Bradford
Directed by: Brian De Palma
Written by: David Mamet, Oscar Fraley, Eliot Ness (book
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Russian
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Cantonese, Czech, Danish, German, Spanish, Spanish (Latin America), French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Dutch, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese, Russian, Roman, Simplified Chinese, Slovakian, Finnish, Swedish, Thai
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: R
Runtime: 119 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: May 31st, 2022

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. This is a great movie that I can watch over and over.