Ultra HD Blu-ray

Despite its relatively small (pun intended) scale versus most Marvel films, the original Ant-Man was a real charmer. A cute distraction from all the big, galaxy-threatening stuff.

Impressively Marvel has managed to retain the original's charm for the sequel, while simultaneously opening up its scope by a) introducing Evangeline Lilly's butt-kicking Wasp and b) cementing the characters firmly into the wider Marvel universe. There's even a half-decent plot among all the gags and imaginative visual effects.

One or two action scenes feel a touch laboured, and trimming 10 minutes would have been a good idea. Overall, though, this is another hugely slick and enjoyable entry in the Marvel canon.

Picture: The film looks lovely on 4K Blu-ray, too. Despite only receiving a 2K Digital Intermediate, for instance, it looks ultra-clean and clearly more crisp and detailed than the HD Blu-ray.

Adding to its slick look is excellent use of High Dynamic Range and wide colour. The light range is beautifully enhanced compared to the SDR Blu-ray, delivering bold light peaks with lab monitors, and sunlight reflecting off the superhero suits. There are also subtle enhancements in dark areas, bringing out more shadow detail.

Colours clearly have more volume than the SDR HD Blu-ray picture – especially during the sequences in the Quantum Realm. Again, though, this colour expansion has been handled sensitively enough to ensure no tone looks unnatural or out of place.

It's a shame Disney has seemingly abandoned Dolby Vision, but it's hard to feel too upset about only getting HDR10 when the picture looks this good.
Picture rating: 4.5/5

Audio: The 4K platter's Atmos mix suggests that Disney is getting over its past audio problems. Here you get the sort of deep bass effects that just aren't present on weirdly compressed Disney tracks like that for Thor: Ragnarok. Bass also has more layering. It subtly reinforces impact sounds rather than only working your subwoofer for really potent LFE moments.

Dialogue is well rounded and clean, but not excessively forward. Treble effects soar – check out the ants communicating while they're building the Quantum Gate – without rolling off into the thin harshness heard on Disney's worst, seemingly dynamic range-limited sonic efforts.

Yet more consistent use could have been made of the surround and height channels. These seem to fall into near silence on occasion, only sparking into life for the score and the aggressively full-range, all-channel Quantum Realm scenes.
Audio rating: 4.5/5

Extras: Bonuses are solid, but nothing more. There's a quick-fire commentary by director Peyton Reid, four fairly unremarkable Making of… featurettes, a puny little gag reel, a series of outtakes, and a couple of deleted scenes.
Extras rating: 2.5/5

We say: A fine transfer of a fun superhero film. Disney's 4K platters are at last starting to do justice to its Marvel-ous movies.

Ant-Man and the Wasp, Walt Disney, Ultra HD Blu-ray & All-region BD, £30
HCC VERDICT: 4/5