Quiet Place II, A 4K Ultra HD

In "A Quiet Place II," following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family (Blunt, Simmonds, Jupe) must now face the terrors of the outside world as they continue their fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they quickly realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path. (Gary Reber)

Special features include five featurettes: "Director's Diary: Filming With John Krasinski," "Pullling Back The Curtain,""Regan's Journey," "Surviving The Marina," and 'Detectable Disturbance: Visual Effects And Sound Design" and a Movies Anywhere digital code.

The 2.39:1 2160p HEVC/H.265 Ultra HD Dolby Vision/HDR10 picture, reviewed on a Sony Bravia Z9D 4K Ultra HD HDR display, was photographed digitally in anamorphic Panavisioon® and Super 35 using the Arri Alexa Mini and the Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2 camera systems and sourced from a 4K master Digital Intermediate format. Picture quality is excellent with wonderful color fidelity that exhibits nuanced rich and warm hue shadings. Fleshtones are natural throughout. HDR contrast is well balanced with decent blacks, revealing shadow delineation, and bright but natural highlights. Resolution is superb with fine detail exhibited in closeups, especially revealing of facial features, skin pores, hair, and beards. The picture has a filmic, hauntingly beautiful character and exhibits a colorfully warm palette. (Gary Reber)

The Dolby Atmos/Dolby TrueHD 7.1-channel soundtrack's sound design is similar to the original, as the sound or lack of must convey silence, which carries through to most of the natural world. Atmospherics play a predominant role in creating realism—this is also true for Foley sound effects. To fully appreciate the nuanced subtleties in these two sound elements requires a home theatre capable of very low-level reproduction. The orchestral music element is strong and exciting and occupies a wide and deep soundstage that seems to move and extend aggressively to the four surrounds. The music provides the intense terror with bolts of energy and quite dynamic orchestrations. Deep bass also is conveyed by the music and is fortified with .1 LFE energy. Dialogue sound nicely spatially integrated. Sound effects really define the sound of the creatures and other eerie sounds with aggressive surround directionality.

The Immersive Sound element is comprised of the limited music score and atmospherics and sound effects, such as a thunderous invasion from the sky, a windshield shattering, creature yells, wind and dripping water. This is a generally quiet height layer other than what was identified. There are wide gaps where there is no height channel enhancement, whether the music score or sound effects. More could have been achieved to enhance spatial dimensionality of the soundscape.

Overall, this is an effective soundtrack that works on many levels. (Gary Reber)