Ultra HD Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Miloš Forman’s Amadeus is a cinematic masterpiece that transcends the boundaries of traditional biopics, a complex dive into the intersection of genius, envy, and human creativity. Winner of eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture (Saul Zaentz), Best Director (Miloš Forman), and Best Actor (F. Murray Abraham), the film weaves a brilliant story with superb performances and excellent visual artistry. Based on Peter Shaffer’s stage play of the same name, Amadeus reimagines the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart through the lens of his rival, Antonio Salieri, creating a narrative that is as much about the torment of mediocrity as it is about the brilliance of genius.

The film is framed as a confession by an aged Salieri (F. Murray Abraham), recounting to a priest his relationship with Mozart (Tom Hulce) from his perspective. Salieri is consumed by jealousy after he encounters the irreverent and vulgar Mozart. He cannot understand how God can choose to bestow such effortless genius on Mozart, in stark contrast to Salieri’s laborious efforts, leading the latter to question the fairness of God. This is the conflict that drives the narrative of the film, which explores themes of obsession, faith, and the emptiness of artistic recognition.

The film portrays Mozart as a boisterous, vulgar, and childlike figure often tipping over into camp, with his strange, unhinged laugh. Still, Hulce’s performance does capture the duality of Mozart’s character: the immature genius, shielded from the world, who escapes into his music. This depiction humanizes Mozart, making his eventual downfall even more poignant. Meanwhile, Abraham’s Salieri is a tour de force, embodying the tragic figure of a man whose reverence for art is overshadowed by his bitterness, self-loathing, and most of all, his hatred and envy for someone who displays a genius he knows he can never acquire.

Forman gives us visionary direction that seamlessly blends grandeur and intimacy, capturing an opulent 18th-century Vienna while homing in on the intimacy central to the story. The lavish production design and costumes allow the viewer to get lost in the era, while the use of Mozart’s music, courtesy of Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Mariner, gives the film an emotional weight when needed, and obviously, the authenticity of a Mozart biopic. Forman’s decision to shoot on location in Prague adds an authentic texture to the visuals, with the city’s Baroque architecture providing a stunning backdrop for the drama.

According to the press release, the restoration and mastering of the theatrical cut was completed by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences with the participation of Paul Zaentz, nephew of the late producer Saul Zaentz. On 4K Ultra HD, it is presented in a 2.39:1 HEVC 2160p HDR10 encodement, displaying HDR10 Metadata with a MaxLL of 690 nits and a MaxFALL of 74 nits. The HDR10 offers slightly enhanced highlights in sources such as candlelight and increased color vibrancy. Where we see the biggest upgrade on this 4K disc over the previously available and smooth-looking HD Blu-ray from Warner is in grain structure, here appearing crisp, natural and consistent throughout, showcasing the sets and costumes with palpable detail.

The soundtrack offers a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 from an original 5.0 audio mix, with various dubs supplied in lossy Dolby Digital. Although an Atmos remix would have been ideal, the 5.1 track is top-notch. It delivers the classical orchestral and opera music score with accurate room acoustics and microphone distance, along with clear dialogue and sound effects for scenes that are more front-focused.

In addition to the Movies Anywhere digital code, Warner includes one new featurette on the making of the film, “The Making of a Masterpiece” (HD, 23 Mins.) and one archival making-of featurette, “The Making of Amadeus” (HD, 60 Mins.). It would have been great to have kept the existing audio commentary or to have added something new, but Warner has kept this fairly sparse.