True Lies (1994) Disney 4K UHD Review | The TRUTH About This Very Controversial RELEASE! 

I just want Strange Days on 4k. Worst case scenario is Jimbo "DNR" Cameron gets his claws on that one, too. Even though it's Kathryn Bigelow's film there's no reasoning with that man's cosmic ego. "I wrote, produced and co-edited" will be his excuse. God forbid.

The disc is all over the place... some looks great, some looks waxy and some looks like upscaled DVD.

Dude Bill Paxton is amazing in this movie! He’s “naval lint”!

Bill Paxton's characters probably one of my favorites in the entire movie lol

This is why I’ve been following you for years because your reviews are always honest and spot on

Does the imperfections outweigh my enjoyment of the film... No, but I do think physical media content creators should point out the flaws that we see from our viewing. Hell, that's why people come to watch these reviews, I know I do and that's part of the reason why I started my channel is to engage with the physical media community. For the most part, people have been respectful on my comment section, and as long as we can have civil conversations about controversial topics like these releases, the better we are as a physical media community, because we're able to express our thoughts without name calling or being ridiculed. Just my two cents. Great review Ken!

The transfer is fine. I see the problem but it’s great to just have finally on 4k. It’s the best it’s ever look. We should be happy we got it.

The original camera negative was in such terrible condition that it is incredible that they were even able to save the film. Blame the studio for not protecting its assets, not Jim.

Stumbled across this review and I'm glad I did. I agree with you 100% Ken! The movies are not as bad as everyone is claiming that they look. I think you're right, I think Cameron wants these movies to look like they were filmed yesterday, and I'll tell you right now if you like the way this one looks I'm more than sure you're going to like the way The Abyss and Aliens look. I can confirm that they both look pretty damn good, and nowhere near as bad as everyone's claiming. Great review Ken!

I have mixed feelings about the transfer but it’s not terrible by any means. I think overall it’s very good. I’ve seen worse. It’s a better alternative to the old non-anamorphic DVD or laserdisc. I wish JC left the film grain in but it is what it is. I also LOVE Eraser, hoping for a 4K. True Lies is my favorite between the 2 by a hair. Tom Arnold has some of the funniest moments in the movie. A good honest look at this release!

How dare you disrespect the great Bill Paxton? Hi is an amazing part of this move!!! Now I have to unsubscribe and subscribe again only so that I can angrily unsubscribe again!!

Is this a great transfer? No, there's a lot of over smothing that's inconsistent, but it's a thousand times better than the non anamorphic dvd that was available.

I have the DVD, Blu-ray and the new 4K and I can definitely see the waxy look of the 4K but it's definitely the best version in my opinion. If you get the Blu-ray it's good. The DVD is definitely rough. Im not getting rid of any of them that's for sure. P.s. Bill Paxton steals every scene his in.

My thoughts are that True Lies is _not_ one of the best action movies of all time, but it _is_ one of the most fun action movies of all time. I 1000% think it's a better movie than Eraser. I saw that in theaters when it came out, and later on DVD, and I'm not a fan of that movie.

The only Schwarzenegger movies I need in 4K are finally a proper T2 and End of Days as my blu ray is not playing anymore for some reason on none of my 5 players.

The Spanish Blu-ray which is legal in Spain and professionally manufactured looks to be likely a HD scan of the 2k master Spain was likely provided on a hard drive by fox studio all those years ago. The bluray is likely a true 1080p downscale retaining the 24hz inherent on this hard drive. I noticed some splotches during the red vet drive sequence and there is heavy grain which is typical of many early dvd releases. This version looks like what many early blurays also looked like, basically full HD downscales of their dvd's 2k scan. I would much prefer this version of the bluray with somewhat drab colour and average contrast which retains all the grain and even some splotches than a dnred and AI filtered digital video treatment of the film. Watching this bootleg was very nostalgic the colour timing and overall look i remembered whilst being pleasantly surprised by the increase in definition. If you are a film purist you must get the Spanish Bluray release and if you cannot adjust to the sporadic softness of the image, you can always turn the sharpness up a little however I recommend watching this with no tweaks warts and all and enjoy the cinematic rendering that it is.

Like you said, Cameron hates grain, which is the fabric of film and contains a lot of detail. As he put it through the Peter Jackson facility, are we surprised it looks a bit LOTR. If Dog Soldier's can look fantastic off of 16mm, perhaps he should give the elements to Second Sight and see what they can do. He is all for pushing forward with technology advancements and wants all his films to look like Avatar 😢. AI is no replacement for a real person with the skill and patience to correctly get the best out of the source material. The Terminator hopefully will look more like The Abyss than T2. Apparently, he will correct T2 as they used the 3D version for 4k. So expect less Wax, and it will be scrubbed to within an inch of its life of grain. Hopefully, in spite they will release his favourite film Piranha 2 on 4k 😂.

In the absence of having an HD version in recent years, I obtained that web copy that was going around in 1080p that was quite acceptable in quality. Compared to that copy, does this 4k improve in quality or is it worse?

I’m surprised that you enjoy the transfer for this movie on 4K Kenny and I haven’t seen it on 4k yet but definitely this week I make sure I watch it on 4K for sure 👍🏻 bro 😎

Speed got a much better 4K transfer than this film, and they were the same year and it just looks more striking than TL, it's a disappointment.

great review, Ken. I watched this movie last night. there were some scenes that could have been better, but I must say overall, I enjoyed it. it could have better, but it's better than anything that is available. keep up the good work

Wanting an upgraded disc goes back to the dvd days and wanting a SE anamorphic dvd and then 9/11 happened.

Give us all the truth not no lies ken

And we are off!!😂

I like my black heads on my nose smoothed out. - Arnold 🙂

I think it looks awesome. Definitely an improvement over the digital copy from last year. The format has been sold to people as super-sharp and super-clear, the same as blu-ray was promoted back in the day...so I understand why people want the movies on the format looking that way. Myself included. What we get are many older films with a great deal of soft and blurry -looking scenes that were shot out of focus or otherwise look bad for whatever reason, which I find very frustrating. But these same critics never have anything bad to say about that , indeed they'll say it looks great. The grain worshippers will even say films with super heavy and excessive grain look great, when the grain levels are so bad it's distracting and annoying, and in my opinion, totally ruin the viewing experience. Yet they claim the film *needs* to look that way, because supposedly the director wanted it to look that way. I'm sure the director never wanted it to look THAT grainy, but whatever... I have many movies with light to moderate levels of grain which also look sharp and clear so that's fine. They still look much better than the blu-rays and I'm happy with them. At the end of the day everyone is entitled to their opinion, on what is an extremely subjective medium, but I don't get the absolute hate and vitriol these 3 movies have attracted, people attacking others, some RU-vidrs even receiving death threats ffs...it's madness

A tiny part of my collector's heart just died, when I saw the big stack of Second Sight releases just sitting on the floor behind you :D

Everything you said after “not wanting to ruffle feathers” is pretty accurate tbh i dont think most ppl would disagree. Its one of the 90s best but not the best… BUT Bill Paxton is absolutely hilarious in this film

Thanks for another honest perspective my brother! I agree with every assessment. Couldn’t have said it in better…👍🏼

Great video, but I strongly disagree that “most people buying it want it to look clean and like it was shot yesterday”. For general audiences, maybe, but 4K Blu Ray is almost purely for enthusiasts. People who don’t care about AI or DNR aren’t buying Blu Rays. The 4K format shouldn’t have any of these issues, they’re premium products. If they kept this AI version of True Lies strictly on streaming I don’t think anyone would care.

I'm going to get the 4k, I have the dvd but when I watch it on my 4k tv I have to stretch the picture to be able to watch the movie, back when the dvd came out they were still deciding what Resolution for the movies

Those criticizing it heavily are overthinking it. It looks and sounds great. Excellent sound treatment and channel separation.

Eraser better?? 😮 that’s an opinion lol

Yea wheres Eraser on 4K?

First awesome shirt! Good review and cool video Ken!👉🙂👈

I saw True Lies in the theater in 1994 and really liked it. It’s not my favorite from that era, but it’s a fun action movie. I’m going to hold any criticism until I see it on my own screen, but I am happy that it’s finally available in high definition.

Good review Ken! Haven't watched mine yet. I have only watched The Abyss so far. Hopefully get to the other two next week. My issue with all 3 are the coverart. So mainstream Disney! Then the BDs got the cool artwork on discs and the 4Ks look generic.

Yeah, I more or less agree with your opinion on this remaster. It's nice to hear a more balanced review vs. the more hyperbolic reactions to this release. I actually like the Aliens remaster quite a bit and I'm curious to hear your reaction to it.

It doesn't have to be perfect. Just having an anamorphic version is enough for this and The Abyss is enough for now.

What is the TV model you have?

Honestly, your discussion about filmmakers allowing Arnold to be funny and unlocking him as an actor moving forward is similar to what I think about the evolution of Chris Hemsworth. He's always been a good actor but I think Thor: Ragnarok really allowed him to strut his stuff and it's opened up some more roles for him (his role in Furiosa comes to mind).

I never watched this film, so I can't speak about it. But people say there was no previous blu ray release, right? So, any 4k transfer is great enough!

For collector and tech buffs, these will be polarizing for sure. For people who still purchase 4Ks but don't wanna get into the tech stuff, just having the movie available is enough. I am disappointed in how it actually looks as a collector and tech buff but as a representation of what James Cameron wanted, it's a great transfer by Disney. Take that for what you will.

Hell I'm just happy true lies is on bluray

The thing is - this is James Cameron - I would have expected his releases to be top notch, on par with the best releases ever. It's disappointing as he's made some of the best movies of all time. I've only watched Aliens and True Lies so far, not The Abyss. I thought Aliens wasn't bad but the "wax figure" effect from the DNR AI or whatever they're using was very heavy-handed in True Lies.

I've never seen True Lies, in fact only seen maybe two Arnold movies in my life (55 yo), but the wife wanted it, so I ordered it with the Aybss. The Aybss was done well, although the Lindsey looked a bit dead BEFORE she died. What blows my mind, is that Kenny doesn't have a decent home theater setup considering what his channel covers. Granted, he's a collector more than a cinephile, personally I throw away all packaging the day I get my hands on a new disc, but you would think he'd have a modest system given the relatively low cost of entry. Heck, my wife & I sold our 1950 sq. ft. home in '22 and moved into a 240 sq ft tiny home, but I still have a decent system.

I don't believe that a huge studio film from 1994 has a damaged negative and if it did there are 100's of films that have damage to the OCN and none look as bad as True Lies does.

The Abyss looks very good. Aliens is ok. True Lies is very bad. Looks better if turn off HDR for me

Looking forward to getting my copy in a couple of months.

One of the best action films of the 90s is Air Force One. The hijacking scene alone is textbook perfect! Plus, that Jerry Goldsmith score is gold.

Here’s the problem with the bickering, people don’t seem to remember how bad the DVD was and it had that weird pan and scan aka soap effect that was more noticeable the bigger the screen you had. Why do you think it took 25 years for another version of True Lies? Cameron is a perfectionist and this version is the best by a mile. Is there noticeable DNR or waxy look, well yes especially on Ton Arnold and Tia Carerre. There is grain actually especially during the long bridge sequence. I don’t ever refer to so & so movies as the greatest cuz that’s just silly. I call it one of my favorite action comedies because it balances both so well. Nice review Ken and glad it wasn’t so negative, these “experts” don’t research, they just complain for clicks and attention.

I like the way he says lies varsity blue style 😂

You should change the name of your channel to "Down-To-Earth Level" because too many other channels are stuck on specs and perfection. Most people don't have the setup that these snob critics have. We just want a good enough picture & sound to enjoy the movie in the best format available.

Here we gooooooooooo!!!🎉

Good review Kenny, I agree Eraser is an under the radar movie of his.

This movie is still going to look better than we have ever seen on any home media. I just hate that these movie studios still use DNR even though they know people hate that. They are not listening to us about that. Leave the grain in place, leave it be the way it is. Removing detail is not good.

I’m still wondering 🤔 how would it turned out if Sony did the 4K restoration for True Lies, Aliens and Abyss without James Cameron..

i agree with you 90 percent of people will just enjoy having it on 4K the other 10 are the ones that are going to after every little technical aspect of the film

I love this film. It is so much fun. Yes fun. It is entertainment after all. Great to have it in 4K. Looks good on my 83” Sony OLED. Too polished? Sure but not as bad as the ultra critical folks say. The Atmos track is very good.

I loved the 4k but most of all I was blown away of how good the movie is my new favorite and the price is great most 4ks are $29.99

SMOOTH, you can see Correct. GRIANY, you can't see that clearly correct... With the older movies getting a 4k upgrade!!! Or a hit & a miss... Deal with it...

I watch true lies on 4k yesterday. And I thought true lies on 4k look and sound good. And I have no problem with this release at all. And all the people that are complaining about true lies on 4k just need to stop bitching about this. And be happy that we finally got true lies on 4k & bluray. Bc true lies has been talked about coming out since 2014.

Everybody is a critic. The FB groups are filled with them and I ignore their whiney posts.

I also wish they would have digital Arnold’s face on the stunt double.

Dude aint no fucking way Speed is better than True Lies😂😂😂

Waiting on my 2nd copy to arrive. Got a refund on the first one, my 4k disc had freezing and dialogue errors about 30 minutes in.

I don't see anyone talking about this I would like to know is the blu ray of this just as bad or does it look any different. Edit: Thank you for addressing the blu ray I didn't really see anyone talking about it. That's a bummer then well at least most people are saying it still better than watching the old DVD.

Totally agree with you that True Lies is overrated. After the perfect streak of Predator, Total Recall and Terminator 2, this was a real letdown. I don't think I've ever watched the whole way through.

How do you know that other guys are bickering about 4k format and not talking about the actual movie in their reviews when you didn't watch any :P

Kenny what soundbar do you have anyway?

I loved True Lies growing up as a 90s kid. Awesome movie and Cameron flick. BUT, you nailed it man, Eraser was SO underrated and hands down the best Arnold flick of the 90s. And how about James Caan nailing that villain role!

Not perfect, but the best we have. Last time I seen this was on VHS! I'm very happy with it.

The possible reason some shots looked like cgi is because you probably have a load of image enhancements enabled on your tv. Switch em all off mate especially the trumotion.

Mine is supposed to finally show up tomorrow. I'm sure it has to look better than my 30 year old non-anamorphic dvd, even though I wish Cameron would stop tinkering with his films. At least we didn't end up with another American Graffiti. I know there are some who say we shouldn't buy this release and support this AI stuff, but unfortunately I don't think that's the message the studios would get. They wouldn't think, oh, people hate AI assisted transfers. They'd think, oh, people must not want this title and there's no market for physical media after all. Studio execs don't hang out online on physical media sites to know why people are upset. They just look at sales numbers. Neither does Cameron, nor would he probably care if he did.

Stickers are fine , it'd be nice not to put it over titles or the pictures on Slipcover

I enjoyed the movie on 4k. Could it have been better, sure. At least it wasn't like some of the crappy release disney has done like pirates of the caribbean

Love your review, but the bluray forum mob is already looking for their torches and pitchforks in the comments 😂

I`ve had a bluray import for years, it`s a spain import and essentially a bootleg, but quality is great on it and loaded with extras so I held off on this 4k, but will def be getting it. I am not into all the technical mumbo jumbo either, and I think some people are just way to picky to the point where they desperately try to find things wrong with it. There are complaints about the The Abyss visually, I thought it looked fantastic

To me I enjoyed the 4k transfer but my issue is seeing the stuntman's face all the time on the action scenes but other than that I still prefer this 4k transfer and the Dolby Atmos sound is lossless audio on my floor speakers 🔊

It does make me wonder how this looks compared to the Spanish gray market Blu-ray?

i was hoping to get a presentation like the fugitive it released the year before true lies and the 4k looks terrific one of my favorites from last year but im not that angry about it still enjoyed it it could have been better though

The flaws on the 4K disc are NOT on the 70mm blow-up and that's how we know what is wrong here.

I got it bluray I wanted I didn't see no problem with it plus I play on a PS3

It's a damned if you do damned if you don't for me. On the one hand this might be the final physical release we ever get of this film, so why not buy it? But on the other hand purchasing this slop signals to the studios that they can be lazy and complacent and release subpar products. I'm personally going to wait for a sale and get it for no more than $10, I can wait.

I enjoyed my watch. I thought it looked good for the most part. There's one main drawback as far as how clear it is. The stunt double is EXTREMELY apparent because of it. Also a minor drawback, the water surface in the beginning action scene looked fake. Also seemed like the audio may be a little off in the Harrier jet scene when he rescues his daughter.

I thought it was a great 4K, a few scenes I could tell the AI and abit of smoothing but I whipped the older release on after and the uhd blows it out of the water. The only annoying thing is how many times I saw the stunt double especially on the horse lol. Altogether it’s a major upgrade imo

Worst of all is they had a 1080 mater they used in dtheater that could have been on bluray for years

Has Cameron addressed the criticism?

Word is they never went back to the negative for this release and instead used a garbage master from like a decade ago!

i thought the ai was extremely noticeable with this. and that is coming from someone who usually struggles with noticing things like that. it definitely felt uncanny at times. im glad it released but i understand why people feel the way they do

Like if we live in a world where we can get a proper 4k UHD Blu-ray release and transfer for Cannibal Holocaust then there really is NO excuse for these 4k AI Abominations 🤷🏻‍♂️ Like it is sheer laziness or hubris. Either way it is stupid. Don't support AI releases folks. There is NO way that we want AI Upscales as the future instead of proper re-scans and restorations. They only get away with this because of the inherent popularity of the films and lack of previous releases, if Arrow or Shout or Second Sight tried this then that release would be laughed off of the planet, and if they moved to using AI on all their releases and stopped doing scans and restorations like these releases and they kept doing them, then they would go outta business as the collectors that get boutique stuff dont stand for this kinda trash being done.

So, I was trying to figure out how to pronounce Cinématographe. I have figured it out. It is pronounced: Cine - mat - o - graph.

Watch the yt vid on the effects and how they achieved them for this movie. It's awesome and just for that, true lies is goated. It definitely is one of the best. Maybe because I love the whole espionage theme. Speeds my close second. You can have it at 1.

I think all of these movies were done like a couple years ago and they are just releasing them now. TL is the main one i been waiting for. And it's a shame i'm so disappointed in the PQ & AQ.. They look more like wax figures in son shots and clay in others. And the AQ sound was like almost 10dbs lower then i would hav expected. I wanted to be Blown away like the version on my Laserdisc THX. This Atmos on All 3 of these movies are missing some bass. It jus doesn't hit as hard like the LD or even the DVD with DTS. But i guess its better then nothing. All these years we waited for these movies and such a Huge letdown... Oh, well, Next - lol...

Totally disagree with your Bill Paxton thoughts

great movie but sad its not perfect in 4h uhd but still best version we got imo

What I say is it’s a good transfer but not reference quality. And it’s the way JC wanted it. I respect that. $25 price point to me is right on with this. $15 is a deal. Anything over $25 I would say no to.

Speed is a very good movie, but it's very one note. Which is a big reason why True Lies is better. True Lies has great action and great comedy. A fun variety of characters. Which you don't really get with Speed. Hopper is a fun over the top baddie, but Reeves and Bullock do nothing that exceeds what viewers typically expected of them.

Yeah I’ve seen all the reviews. There’s only one way to watch True Lies at home LD, DTS

Just got this in U.K. and watching now - doesn’t look as bad as people have been saying - as with the abyss I wish we had this in open matte as I hate movies with black bars at the top and bottom and I know it’s super 35 so you are missing picture at top and bottom - a lot of it does look upscaled but there is detail and I have seen some very little grain