Get Out (Our Very First DVD/ Blu-ray/ UHD Comparison)

Boy, it must look like I'm pretty late to the game reviewing Get Out in summer '18, right?  And hey, one thing I'm trying to do here is cover worthwhile releases from anytime, just so long as it's still compelling now.  If a DVD release from 2002 is still the best release a film's gotten, it's going up on display.  But there's a reason we're looking at Get Out today.  If you'll notice, I'm not just  putting up the DVD and the Blu-ray for comparison (although yes, they're on hand, too); we've got the 4K Ultra HD disc.  I've been tinkering and experimenting, trying to find a tenable workflow for capturing UHD screenshots in full resolution and the complete HDR color palette to make sure they represent exactly how the actual discs are displaying.  Let me tell ya, they sure don't make it easy!  You'll notice a lot of sites are stuck just including publicity stills or 1080p screenshots in their UHD reviews.  But I think we're finally there, and now 4k blus are officially on the table at DVDExotica.

Get out of there, Darius!

So what's this movie Get Out about, anyway?  It's about 3840 pixels wide in beautiful UHD, baby!  Sorry, sorry.  I'll contain myself.  Get Out is a very clever update of/ twist on The Stepford Wives, doing for racism what they did for sexism.  Or, strictly speaking, it's closer to Revenge Of the Stepford Wives or The Stepford Husbands, since those dealt with mind control and the original people still being "in there" as opposed to everyone being replaced by robots, like The Stepford Wives/ The Stepford Children.  But, don't let me saying that imply one invalidates the other.  That would be like saying why make Star Wars when we already had Hidden Fortress?  I think an argument could be made that younger audiences were perhaps a little overly impressed with Get Out's originality in particular, given that most of them were unfamiliar with those films that had tread this ground before.  But Jordan Peele's film maintains a very unique writer's voice which turns out to be one of its strongest selling points.  Plus, there's a key distinction in the antagonists' motivations, which I won't detail since I've already danced pretty close to spoilers already; but anybody reading this who's seen both films is probably already screaming it in their head.

Like a lot of great art, Get Out can be a little too complex to succinctly nail down by genre.  There was a bit of a controversy when the Golden Globes nominated it as a comedy, though with Lil Rel doing his schtick throughout the film, it's hard to deny the comedic elements are solidly in the mix.  And horror fans get touchy when you try to classify it as a thriller like its director prefers.  But it's all just meaningless semantics of classification in the face of a well-rounded work like this one.  It's got a killer cast, including Daniel Kaluuya, who's come a long way since Johnny English 2, and one of my favorites, Catherine Keener.  And it's got consistently beautiful cinematography, especially when viewed in HDR... Okay, okay!  There's no point in keeping up this pretense any longer, I need to get to the discs.

2017 US Universal DVD top; 2017 US Universal blu-ray mid;
2017 US Universal UHD bottom.

l to r: DVD, BD, UHD.

Framed at a full 'scope ratio of 2.39:1, there's a real distinction in clarity between the DVD and the blu.  Flicking between the two, the SD looks downright out of focus.  But in terms of the giant "4X SHARPER THAN HD" claim on the back of these 4k covers?  Well, yeah, the UHD's not just a much larger file, the increased detail is definitely there.  I'd say it's a wider leap from the DVD to the blu than the blu to the UHD, in terms of increased photo realism, but you can definitely see it coming even further to life in the UHD.  Of course the DVD is a mess, but look at the edges of the ketchup bottle, for instance, and see how much more blockily pixelated even the BD is compared to the smooth UHD.  But the conventional wisdom, and what I'd certainly agree with here, is that the bigger advantage to 4k Ultra HD discs is the HDR rather than the actual 4k resolution.  And yeah, you can really see how much bolder the colors are on the UHD.  Now, you might ask, couldn't you just boost the saturation on the blu's colors and have it look similar, and to some degree you could, but it definitely wouldn't be the same (I've actually played around with that haha).  The broader range of color, which you need a 4k screen to even fully see, is more vibrant and distinct.

The audio is a robust 5.1 mix, in DTS-HD on the blu and DTS:X on the UHD.  Each version also includes an English descriptive track for the visually impaired (a narrator describes all the action on-screen), and optional English, French and Spanish subtitles.  The UHD also includes French, Portuguese and Spanish dubs, and although the case doesn't list it, the blu-ray also has the French dub.

The extras package is pretty strong here, too.  Jordan Peele gives a smart and engaging audio commentary, and also provides optional commentary on about a half hour's worth of deleted scenes, including a very different alternate ending (they were probably right to end it the way they did, but I'm glad we got to see this version, too).  There are some scenes very much worth checking out, as well as some runs of alternate takes that tend to go on and start to feel excessive.  You'll probably wind up skipping around rather than playing them all through.  There's a standard promo featurette with some soundbites and B-roll footage, and a brief, five minute Q&A session filmed before a screening.  There are a handful of bonus trailers that play at start-up, but not one for Get Out itself.  All versions feature all the extras except, as the UHD and blu-ray are sold together as a combo-pack, most of the extras are only on the blu and not the actual UHD disc.  Oh, and all versions also come in a slip cover.

Get Out's a great film.  It's easily the best thing Blumhouse has ever done (sorry, Incarnate), and despite being a film that very much had a distinct moment for itself, one that I'm sure will stand the test of time quite nicely.  It's an easy must-have.  And hey, now the gates are open for 4K Ultra HD discs on the site - woohoo!  But look for plenty more old DVDs, MIAs, imports and anything else that's still worth keeping in mind, too.  I've got a real long list of stuff I plan to cover, and I'm adding to it all the time...