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Ultra HD : Highly Recommended
Ranking:
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Release Date: December 21st, 2021 Movie Release Year: 2021

The Many Saints of Newark - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Overview -

The Many Saints of Newark is a great look at the rise of Tony Soprano that started when he was a little kid. It follows his uncle and parents whom he looked up to and how the family business became a part of who he became to be - the New Jersey mob boss. Warner Bros' 4K release looks excellent with its 2160p 4K transfer with HDR10 and the Dolby Atmos track is excellent. The few extras are all worth the time as well. HIGHLY Recommended!

 

Young Anthony Soprano (Michael Gandolfini) is growing up in one of the most tumultuous eras in Newark’s history, becoming a man just as rival gangsters begin to rise up and challenge the all-powerful DiMeo crime family’s hold over the increasingly race-torn city. Caught up in the changing times is the uncle he idolizes, Dickie Moltisanti (Alessandro Nivola), who struggles to manage both his professional and personal responsibilities—and whose influence over his nephew will help make the impressionable teenager into the all-powerful mob boss we’ll later come to know: Tony Soprano.

“The Many Saints of Newark” 4K UHD combo pack and Blu-ray contain the following special features: 

  • Making Of Newark
  • Sopranos Family Honor
  • Deleted Scenes

OVERALL:
Highly Recommended
Rating Breakdown
STORY
VIDEO
AUDIO
SPECIAL FEATURES
Tech Specs & Release Details
Technical Specs:
4K Ultra HD Blu-ray + Blu-ray + Digital
Video Resolution/Codec:
2160p HEVC/H.265
Length:
120
Audio Formats:
Dolby Atmos
Release Date:
December 21st, 2021

Storyline: Our Reviewer's Take

Ranking:

[Excerpt From Our Theatrical Review]

The big question is, will this be accessible and understandable for those who have not seen the original Sopranos series? The answer is, yes. This movie can stand alone and introduce characters to newcomers, although the fans who have seen the show multiple times will get more laughs and subtle inside jokes with character mannerisms and dialogue. Not only that, The Many Saints Of Newark feels like two excellent episodes of the HBO series, perfectly capturing the essence and flow of the original show, but in a more cinematic way with outstanding visuals.

The film does not follow a young Tony Soprano one-hundred percent of the time. In fact, this is Richard "Dickie" Moltisanti's (Chris Moltisanti's father) story. Set against the 1967 New Jersey riots, a young Anthony Soprano idolizes his fun uncle Dickie (Alessandro Nivola from The Art of Self Defense), always listening and laughing at what he says. Anthony's father Johnny Boy (Jon Bernthal) and his mother Liv (Vera Farmiga) show the early signs of not really being there for Tony or Janice in their early years. Meanwhile Dickie and Corrado Jr (Corey Stoll) are running the New Jersey family. Dickie has an employee named Harold (Leslie Odom Jr.) who does the family's nasty business. But when the police violently attack an African American man for nothing, the city starts to burn and Harold gets the idea to start an organized crime family of his own - igniting a war between the Italians and African Americans.

Read the full Theatrical Review HERE...

 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
The Many Saints of Newark gambles its way to 4K via Warner Bros. with a 4K+Blu-ray+Digital Combo pack. The discs are housed inside a hard, black plastic case that features the artwork of the main characters looking out a blood-soaked New Jersey City. There is an insert for a digital code for Movies Anywhere. 

Video Review

Ranking:

The Many Saints Of Newark comes with an excellent 2160p UHD 4k transfer with HDR10 and an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 that looks exceptional. This 4K presentation does an excellent job of capturing the time period of a young Soprano family in Newark, New Jersey, complete with the grit and grain that was made to look vintage in the picture.

The color palette has a rather neutral and soft touch with a ton of silvers, greens, grays, teals, and blues, which tends to be the color palette whenever anyone is in rainy New Jersey. Wardrobe and interior locations of houses and prisons have that infamous '70s tan and brown colors that contrast nicely with all of the cooler colors. There is some green in the trees and other primary shades of red, orange, and yellow that sneak out, but it's not often. The HDR enhances the more vintage-looking scenes with grain that are handled with care and ease, specifically the lower-lit ones. These darker sequences have amazing black levels that never bleed. The scene when the town is on fire from the riots looks gorgeous with the nighttime black levels looking great and the pops of orange and yellow in the fire. The HDR here allows for the colors to breathe easier, even if some of the low-lit scenes look darker than that of the 1080p version.

The detail is sharp and vivid, revealing some great practical makeup effects on the actor's faces, along with some gory wounds when someone gets whacked. Closeups reveal individual hairs on beards, stubble, toupees, beads of sweat and drops of blood, wrinkles, and makeup blemishes. The vintage clothing shows unique textures and threads that look amazing. The vehicles have a great shine and metal detail to them rather than a plastic look. Skin tones are rather natural if not a little cooler in a lot of scenes. There were no major issues with banding, aliasing, or video noise, even with all the gray skies overcast above.

 

Audio Review

Ranking:

This release comes with a great Dolby Atmos mix that is rather immersive in certain scenes. Sound effects, of vehicles running or people getting hit sound excellent and loud. There are usually a ton of people in any given room in this film so the surround speakers handle the numerous voices and the set design sounds nice with some great directionality. Gunshots ring out with a robust punch as well. Jail doors and clinks in the background of the prison also sound wonderful.

Height speakers and the bass come into play during the heavier action beats such as the riots and some of the chase sequences where all speakers are used perfectly. The score and song cues are bright and loud as well, which always adds Soprano's charm and fun to each scene. The dialogue is clean, clear, and easy to follow along, free of any audio problems.

Special Features

Ranking:

There are only 25 minutes worth of bonus material here, most of which are well worth the watch in interviews and discussions of the characters of past and present. There are no extras on the 4K Disc. All bonus features are situated on the Blu-ray Disc.

  • The Making Of Newark (HD, 13 Mins.) - A mix of new interviews with the filmmakers and actors talking about working on the film, the original series, and more. There are some fun clips from the original series as well that help out with who people are and some storylines.
  • Sopranos Family Honor (HD, 6 Mins.) - A few characters are looked at here and discussed on how they are related to the original series and in this film.
  • Deleted Scenes (HD, 6 Mins.) - A few deleted scenes, none of which are too important.

Final Thoughts

The Many Saints Of Newark is a phenomenal prequel story to the iconic Sopranos on HBO. The cast, performances, story all connected well, making it all a joy to watch, while alleviating some of those buggering questions everyone has had since the series ended all those years ago. The 4K presentation with HDR10 looks excellent and the Dolby Atmos track is wonderful and loud. The extras might not be a lot, but they're worth watching and hearing everyone talk about making the film. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!