The Wolf of Wall Street - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Wolf of Wall Street



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

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Movie
Martin Scorsese has had his ups and downs like most directors, but outside of crime dramas his successes weren’t AS massive. That is until 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street, chronicling the life and times of one Jordan Belfort, one of America’s biggest stock market scam artists. Most people remember that Belfort was the cell mate of Tommy Chong (who was set up by the DEA for selling bongs) and that Chong was the one to inspire the man to write his own memoir. Which, naturally, he did and became a world wide best seller. I’m not sure WHY Scorsese decided to make an insane ensemble flick about him, but either way, we have one of the best movies of 2013 as a result, and a movie that solidified Leonardo DiCaprio as the powerhouse that he is today.

The film utilizes a Blade Runner like narrative voice over from Leonardo himself to tell his own tale of rags to riches to criminal tale, and does so with a hefty Brooklyn accent. The Wolf of Wall Street tells the story of Jordan Belfort (Leo) as a 22 year old man coming to work for his riches on the stock markets of Wall Street, a nervous young buck that he is, but with dreams of something bigger and better. He effectively becomes a heavy hitter in the span of one year, making millions for his stock sales and then the 1987 stock market crash happens. He’s out of a job and out on the street, but Jordan isn’t exactly dissuaded from his dream. Instead of just going to work for someone again, Jordan decides to open up his own stock trading firm and uses it to push one scam after another down the American people’s throats using penny stocks, “pump and dump” deals and various other stock holding loopholes to make himself and his brokers INSANELY rich.

He dazzles his employees with insane drug and sex fueled parties in the boiler room (infamously spending 10s of thousands of dollars on drugs for a single party), and with the help of his buddy Donnie (Jonah Hill) becomes one of the richest men in America. However, everything that rises with that much inertia and force has to come down just as hard. The FBI is after him and they want him to go away for a GOOOOD long time, and Belfort’s love of hookers, every drug known to man, and criminal financial activity, it was only a matter of time before they got their way.
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The Wolf of Wall Street balances on a tight rope here. On one hand it’s a crazy rambunctious movie about a drug fueled Leonardo DiCaprio having a BALL as an out of control scam artist, and on the other it’s a stern warning of the nature of greed and human avarice. Watching his life spiral out of control and into the gutter, The Wolf of Wall Street manages to capture that sheer and utter depravity of those drunk on money and power in a way that we haven’t seen since Michael Douglas’s Wall Street.

Leo is absolutely firing on all cylinders the whole movie, running around like a stark raving lunatic, and making the audience love him and hate him at the same time. Margot Robbie is a close second behind him, but the real star of the show has to be Matthew McConaughey as Belfort’s first boss. That first 40 minutes with Matthew at the helm is utter magic, and pretty much is my favorite section of the film just for him alone.

The movie does suffer a bit near the end as everything is wrapped up, but The Wolf of Wall Street is a 3 hour movie that feels like it’s less than 2. You’re staring at the screen in utter captivation, wondering just what insanity is going to happen next, and Scorsese pulls you in deeper and deeper as the movie unfolds. Like all movies “based” on true life, there has been some obvious embellishment by Scorsese. Sure, Belfort did some legendary things, but the movie itself is part fantasy, having stretched and massaged certain details to help with the allegory of riches and those who seek them. It works well, but still, one might be cautioned from taking the movie as God’s honest truth when it comes to actual events that happened in the 80s and 90s.




Rated R for sequences of strong sexual content, graphic nudity, drug use and language throughout, and some violence.




4K Video: Video:

According to Paramount, The Wolf of Wall Street was recently remastered under the direction of Martin Scorsese himself and the this is what counts as the 4K master used for this disc. The original Blu-ray disc in 2013 was a stunner by my memory so I was curious what upgrades we’d get from a new master. Outside of color timing being tweaked a bit with HDR and the upgrades in visual clarity, I’m not sure whether the master itself is the benefit, or the 4K UHD upgrade is. Either way, the 4K UHD looks amazing in super high def. Colors are bright and warm, with as lightly sunny glow to the hold thing and a slightly soft gaze to the outer edge of the focus (you usually notice that when looking behind or around people who are in focus and RAZOR sharp). The added HDR color representation is incredible, with rich and deeply saturated colors, and I did notice that the 4K disc seems slightly less garish with the brightness. An all around great looking disc, though one MINOR thing sort of chaps my butt. And that stems from the fact that Paramount is not including the Blu-ray disc as a combo pack for many new releases and 4K UHD catalog titles. It’s not the end of the world as most of us have the Blu-ray anyways, but we’ve become so used to combo packs thanks to Blu-ray (that and the fact that many people have 2+ TVs in their house but maybe ONE 4K UHD player) that the added Blu-ray disc would have been a nice gesture.








Audio:

Once again Paramount opts to give us a 5.1 DTS-HD MA track instead of an Atmos upgrade, but luckily that 5.1 mix that we are used to from the Blu-ray is still a hum dinger of a mix. Loud, rambunctious, fully immersive, it’s a wonderfully exciting track that is blasting away most of the time. There are heavy sections of dialog and low background noise, but it’s never very long until Belfort is into another party, or crashing a helicopter into his mansion yard, or the shriek of a jumbo jet as he tries to hide his money in Switzerland. Vocals are clean and precise at all times, and bass kicks in quite a bit with some of the crazier club moments. A good solid track that holds up 8 years later.







Extras:

• The Wolf Pack - Featurette
• Running Wild - Featurette
• The Wolf of Wall Street Round Table - Fetaurette

Final Score:
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The Wolf of Wall Street rivals Cirque de Sol for being an incredible circus ride from beginning to end. Scorsese masterfully balances the craziness with actual narrative, and keeps the audience hooked like you wouldn’t believe. The story may not be 100% true, but it does delve quite deeply into the life one one of the world’s biggest scam artists, and the cynical reality that the rich do get to get away with a lot more than regular folks do. The film lives on balance and precision, blasting us with a massive ensemble cast that comes and goes throughout the movie, and never once feels over stuffed. The excesses are magical, the film intoxicating, and simply put, one of Scorsese’s best post 2010 films by a goodly margin. It’s a must see picture that looks and sounds absolutely FANTASTIC on 4K UHD, and is a must buy in my opinion.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey, Rob Reiner, Kyler Chandler, Margot Robbie, Jonah Hill
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Written by: Terence Winger, Jordan Belfort (Book)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French
Studio: Paramount
Rated: R
Runtime: 180 minutes
Blu-Ray Release December 14th, 2021

Recommendation: Must Buy

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I agree with you, This is a great movie to have..

 

[Todd Anderson]

This movie is INSANE!!! I have the Blu-ray version... might need to upgrade

 

[Michael Scott]

This movie is INSANE!!! I have the Blu-ray version... might need to upgrade

That's putting it mildly