Test Disc: Wonder Woman 4K Blu-ray

DC’S attempts at emulating Marvel’s MCU weren’t great, but Wonder Woman plotted a road to surer ground, carving an identity for the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and recapturing the essence of what made its characters so popular in the first place.

As a film, it takes a number of cues (consciously or otherwise) from past superhero films. You could call it Superman:

The First Avenger, with a bit of Thor thrown in, but it holds together. The World War I setting lends the film a bit of freshness and the fact that the central character of a superhero film is female is a rarity in itself. Gal Gadot makes for a surprisingly good Diana Prince/wonder Woman, ably assisted by a cast that includes Chris Pine, Robin Wright and Connie Nielsen, all of whom put in satisfying performances.

The villains are less assured, with both Danny Huston’s Ludendorff and Elena Anaya’s Dr Poison a little too cartoonish in their depiction. Apart from a final act that’s drenched in CG effects, this is a fine film and the benchmark by which to assess future films in the DC Extended Universe.

A primary-coloured superhero

Wonder Woman received a 2K Digital Intermediate, despite being shot on 35mm film (with some shots in 6K), making this a 4K upscale. Despite that, it’s a fine-looking film with bright, bold and punchy colours, the HDR10 encode granting this presentation more subtlety and intensity over the Blu-ray. You could question whether it’s too saturated, but it’s a pleasing enough image and with more shades of colour and scenes that are notably better defined. There’s a clear upgrade in detail and black levels are impressive throughout, with night scenes standing out more than on the Blu-ray, though we feel some detail is obscured.

Skin tones and complexions have much more of a presence, contributing to a more expressive and improved presentation over its Blu-ray counterpart.

An engrossing sound

The Dolby Atmos track focuses on filling the room rather than putting too much of an onus on the height channels.

LFE effects are delivered with heft, the track featuring a number of big bangs which come across as crystal clear and loud. It integrates the front and back speakers to good effect with robust positioning and placement of effects and that roomfilling effect comes to the fore with composer Rupert Gregsonwilliams’ score that’s particularly effective during the film’s