Ultra HD Blu-ray

This crime thriller hit cinemas earlier this year like a force of nature. Writer-director Edgar Wright's combination of ultra-slick action, rocking indie soundtrack, cult characters, music-based editing and memorable dialogue came out of nowhere to persuade us that, mercifully, there are still people in Hollywood willing to take a big-budget chance on a strong script and original idea. Kudos, too, to A-listers Jamie Foxx, Kevin Spacey and Jon Hamm for recognising this tale of a reluctant but talented getaway driver as worthy of their participation.

Picture: Baby Driver enjoys a good rather than great 4K transfer. Detailing typically only looks marginally higher than it does on the HD Blu-ray,  perhaps as a result of the 4K disc being essentially an upscale of an original 2K cinema master.

There is an enhanced sense of depth to the film's many street shots, but this seems more a function of the 4K version's high dynamic range and wider colour gamut than any really significant extra resolution. The 4K disc's HDR and WCG talents also make the film's daylight exteriors look more eye-catchingly bright and give much more vibrancy and gleaming metallic presence to the cars that play such a big role in the film.

Skin tones sometimes look forced, however, and some night-time scenes appear with elevated black levels and exaggerated noise, although this may just be HDR exposing Baby Driver's apparent use of an unusually wide range of cameras.
Picture rating: 4/5

Audio: Music is so intrinsically woven into Baby Driver's tone and editing that it's a relief to find the film benefitting from a sometimes stupendous Dolby Atmos soundtrack. All of the movie's many songs erupt around your speakers with power and dynamic impact, working your subwoofer into the ground and pumping aggressively into every Atmos channel.

Our only complaint would be that the mix can be a bit all or nothing, sounding as subdued and empty during the ‘talky bits' as it is gloriously full-bore during action sequences.
Audio rating: 4.5/5

Extras: Baby Driver's main features are two chat-tracks: one by Wright alone, and one by Wright with cinematographer Bill Pope. Wright is certainly charming, but tends to dwell too long on single trains of thought. His joint effort with Pope is better, as he has to rein himself in to accommodate the input of someone who he clearly has a lot of respect for.

On top of this there are also 11 worthwhile deleted and extended scenes; six behind-the-scenes featurettes covering everything from stunt driving training to the way that the use of music shaped the movie and how it was shot; animatics; rehearsal and audition footage; the complete storyboards for the entire film; music videos; and countless promo videos. Phew…
Extras rating: 4.5/5

We say: Not a demo-grade 4K HDR transfer, but it still justifies its extra cost over the Full HD Blu-ray.

Baby Driver, Sony Pictures, Ultra HD Blu-ray & All-region BD, £30
HCC VERDICT: 4.5/5