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The Film

[Rating:4/5]

Everest was previously reviewed here by our very own Tim Baros.

Video Quality

2D HD: [Rating:5/5]

3D Effect: [Rating:3.5/5]

Everest was shot in HD on Arri Alexa XT Plus and Red Epic Dragon cameras and the 3D version is a conversion. The Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D come in AVC 1080p and MVC 3D 1080p encodements respectively. The 3D conversion is, honestly, one of the better 3D conversions I have seen, but I can’t help but wonder how much more awesome this might have looked had a native 3D production been employed. I think of how beautiful and natural the recent Wolf Totem 3D release looked, and that film has only a relatively subtle, yet natural use of 3D. This film cries out for something a bit more aggressive given the towering mountainscapes and the storms. There is only one scene I can think of where some pop-out really stood out, and it was a wide shot of the top of Everest showing the clouds moving across the mountain. Still, the 3D and 2D imagery here look breathtaking and this will be a reference release full of vivid colors, excellent contrast, particularly in the 2D version, and crisp detail.

Audio Quality

[Rating:5/5]

The audio track is a Dolby Atmos track, which played back for me on Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (I’m just on the verge of taking the plunge into a new Atmos-enabled system now that DTS:X is now finally arriving as well). The 7.1 track is no slouch, with thunderous, well, thunder moving through the room, solid foley effects panned around through the surround channels and excellent balance. The deep low end and abundance of sound effects do not drown out the clean and full dialogue at all.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:3/5]

There’s a disappointing lack of really strong extras here, making the package feel a little weak overall. Most of the on-disc video extras are of the typical, brief, EPK-style featurettes that are not required viewing. An audio commentary from the director is also included and this yields the best information.

• DVD
• Digital HD UltraViolete & iTunes Digital HD Digital Copy
• Feature Commentary with Director Baltasar Kormákur
• Race to the Summit: The Making of Everest (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 2D; 00:10:59)
• Learning to Climb (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:04:42)
• A Mountain of Work (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:05:13)
• Aspiring to Authenticity: The Real Story (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:06:47)

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:4/5]

As a home theater disc, Everest delivers the goods on sites and sounds, whether you like your content in 2D or 3D.