The Quick and the Dead: 30th Anniversary - 4K UHD SteelBook

Sam Raimi certainly had an interesting career. While a number of folks will more likely remember his time in the Evil Dead cabin or swinging through New York with Spider-Man, the Michigan native had a few genre breaks through his career for thrillers, sports dramas, and one stylish western. Like my colleagues, Mr. Duarate and Mr. Taylor, I don’t really think of The Quick and the Dead as a misunderstood gem or some kind of genre-defining Western. Instead, I think of it as Sam Raimi’s version of a Louis L’Amour pulp novel. It’s populated with colorful stock characters staged around a thin plot for revenge, and for its runtime, it’s pretty damned entertaining.

As I find myself splitting the difference between Mr. Taylor and Mr. Duarte, I’ll leave the links to their reviews below:

Mr. Taylor’s The Quick and the Dead Blu-ray Review

Mr. Duarate’s The Quick and the Dead 4K UHD Review

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
Celebrating its 30th Anniversary, The Quick and the Dead takes its second shot at 4K UHD now as a two-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray + Digital SteelBook release from Sony. The 4K is pressed on a BD100 disc, with a BD50 serving up the 1080p. The SteelBook is appropriately rustic and weathered like an old west handbill. The included Blu-ray disc is still the same disc from 2009 and has not been updated.

As has been the case with a number of these Sony reissues as 4K SteelBooks, we’re getting largely the same transfer as before, with some Dolby Vision polish and a slightly different encoding. I didn’t buy the previous disc; it was one of the few 4K discs my local library had to offer, and that was enough for me. I’ve never loved this movie enough to own it outright. But armed with my library card, I was able to look these two releases over, and they’re very similar. Credit where it’s due, I have to tip my nonexistent cowboy hat to this new Dolby Vision grade. Where it counts most is for the darker locations. The scene where everyone is signing up for the contest looks to enjoy much more stable and balanced blacks and shadows while letting that golden-orange hue continue to permeate the screen. Colors as a whole look healthier than before (not that they were bad by any stretch). I felt like the golden hues gave reds and blues a bit more presence. Details are spot on between the two. It looked good before; it looks a bit better now. Maybe not enough for everyone to go out and buy this again, but if you’re a first-time buyer on 4K, this is the better transfer.

The same impressively active and engaging Dolby Atmos audio mix returns alongside the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. Both are solid, but that Atmos is a great bit of fun for this dusty western. Here’s what Duarte had to say: 

Dangerous gunslingers take to the street and demonstrate their aural skills with a magnificently spectacular Dolby Atmos soundtrack that'll leave the house ringing from the all the gunfire.

The engineers at Sony did a fantastic job carefully selecting specific noises into the ceiling speakers that also matched the on-screen visuals, such as the echo of drunk, rowdy bar patrons or someone walking on the second floor. Occasionally, other effects, like a stray bullet or debris from explosions, discretely travel overhead and land in other areas of the room, but for a majority of the runtime, the space above is mostly quiet with the sporadic atmospheric sound for maintaining a generally amusing hemispheric environment. The sides and rears are employed more often, and understandably so, given the genre. Aside from the action sequences bombarding the listener boisterous applause and cheers or the thundering ringing from gunshots, various ambient effects provide a terrifically satisfying 360° soundfield.

A great deal of the attention, however, is focused across the fronts, layered with plenty of background activity that often travels into the top heights to generate an engagingly broad soundstage. Alan Silvestri's score also bleeds into the sides and overheads without seeming forced or strained while also revealing excellent fidelity and warmth. With the added breathing room, the design enjoys better clarity and detailing in the dynamic range, maintaining strong distinction and separation during the loudest segments. Vocals are precise and well-prioritized at all times, allowing for every silly line to be enjoyed. Low bass is responsive and surprisingly imposing in some spots, providing gunshots with a hearty punch while explosions in the climactic fight shock with a wall-rattling presence. (Audio Rating: 88/100)

For a 30th Anniversary event release, we get a little more ammo for the bonus features package. The Reckoning: Writing The Quick and the Dead is a nice new segment with Simon Moore. It’s mostly voice-over with clips of the film as he details why he chose to create a Western and details the casting of upcoming stars. But that’s the closest we get to anything meaty for this film. It’s nice to see something new, but some cast involvement would have been slick considering certain names associated with this film who have gone on to win an Oscar and have impressive careers.  

• The Reckoning: Writing The Quick and the Dead (HD 19:22)
• Deleted Scenes (SD 5:15 Total)
• Trailer

The Quick and the Dead is a fun movie. I don’t really have anything against it. It’s among those films in Sam Raimi’s catalog that’s a good time, doesn’t do any harm, but isn’t exactly a career high point either. It’s a suitable gender-bender entry in the typically male-dominated Western landscape, and Stone carries the film nicely with Gene Hackman delivering another slick villainous role. The Quick and the Dead reloads for its second run on 4K UHD, this time with a suitable Dolby Vision HDR grade and a new, stylish SteelBook package. If you already picked up the previous edition and are happy, there’s not a whole lot here worth the price of a double-dip. However, if you’re a first-time purchaser, this set offers a slightly better transfer, excellent audio, and 20 additional minutes of extra features. To that end, I’ll call it a square Recommended