Todd Philips’ JOKER was the talk of the town in 2019. When I first saw it, it gave me pause and made me feel sick to my stomach. There are important elements of mental health the movie gets wrong but after repeat viewings, I came around for Joaquin Phoenix’s staggeringly good Golden Globe-winning performance. There’s also no denying the set design and score by Hildur Guðnadóttir (who won her first Golden Globe for this score last night) is nothing short of exceptional, too. It’s just the story and directing that has flaws that can be ignored by watching Phoenix, who vanishes in his role as Arthur Fleck.

The 4K UHD Blu-ray releases on Tuesday, January 7th and fans of the movie will be pleased. With an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 — a ratio I wish everyone film in — everything fills the screen and makes for a better watch. The exceptional transfer is a marvel to look at considering the movie is made to look like it was shot in the 70s (and does achieve this goal). Warner Bros. did an excellent job with sound, too. Using Dolby TrueHD 7.1, there are a lot of sounds I heard that I missed the first few times I saw it and consider these subtle noises important to the story — Athur’’s impact when hits the ground after the white goons beat him on the bus, and how hard he’s hit with the sign at the beginning of the movie. Noises like this carry heavyweight.

I have a lot more to say about JOKER and am writing an editorial on it, but I’ll save it for another time. Get your 4K when it releases on Tuesday, January 7, 2020.

Video

Codec: HEVC / H.265
Resolution: Native 4K (2160p)
HDR: Dolby Vision + HDR10
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Audio
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
Subtitles
English SDH, French, Spanish
Discs
4K Ultra HD
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD-66, 1 BD-50)

Digital
Movies Anywhere

Packaging
Slipcover in original pressing

Playback
4K Blu-ray: Region free
2K Blu-ray: Region A