Tenet 4K review

Dec 11, 2020- Permalink

Christopher Nolan once again explores the concept of time in the thriller Tenet, which stars John David Washington, Kenneth Branagh, Elizabeth Debicki, and Robert Pattinson. It’s now arrived on 4K for your physical media collection. I had a chance to preview it, and though Warner Brothers provided me with a review copy, the opinions below are my own.

The native 4K 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded HDR10 video presentation has a mix of 1.78:1 and 2.20:1 aspect ratios. Simply put, Tenet looks great. There’s a ton of detail in the visuals, encompassing all aspects of facial features, textiles, and environments. The colour palette is bold and stylized, while the black levels are deep and maintain detail in even the darkest scenes. If you want to show off your new 4K TV, then Tenet is one of the discs you’d put in your player.

What can your ears expect? Though there isn’t an Atmos track, Tenet comes with an English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack, as well as English Descriptive Audio, French (Canadian), German, Spanish (Castilian and Latin American), and Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English SDH, French, German SDH, Spanish (Castilian and Latin American), and Portuguese. To answer those who wonder why there isn’t an Atmos track, well, Nolan is a very particular director and since not all cinemas on the planet are capable of handling the technology, he doesn’t want the home version to be better than the theatrical release. He’s also not a fan of ADR so dialogue can sometimes be incomprehensible. This was an issue with those who saw Tenet in theatres, but the mix here tends to prioritize the dialogue in the mix a bit better. Your surround speakers will immerse you in the story and action does pan well throughout the soundscape. LFE elements will give your subwoofer quite a bit to do.

The Tenet 4K comes with a Blu-ray copy, a digital code, and an additional Blu-ray for the bonus features. There are over 76 minutes of featurettes exploring everything from casting and production design to cinematography, with many in the cast and crew taking part. There’s also a selection of trailers.

Not everyone is a fan of Christopher Nolan’s style, but if you are, or if you’re a collector who wants to grab an excellent 4K presentation, you’ll want to add the Tenet 4K to your home entertainment library.