Westworld Season Two: The Door 4K/Blu Ray Review (Warner Bros)

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the 4K / Blu Ray I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.

Westworld is a Science Fiction Western hybrid television series created by Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises, Person of Interest, Memento, & The Prestige) & Lisa Joy (Burn Notice & Pushing Daisies). It’s produced by J.J. Abrams (Lost, Star Wars franchise, Mission Impossible franchise, Star Trek franchise, & Castle Rock) & Jerry Weintraub (The Oceans Trilogy, The Karate Kid franchise, The Specialist, Vegas Vacation, & Soldier). It’s based off the 1973 film from Michael Crichton (E.R., Jurassic Park/World franchise, Twister, Congo, & Rising Sun). That film also spawned a sequel Futureworld & an earlier television series Beyond Westworld. Warner Bros has been trying to remake & reboot the series since the early 90s, finally found the right material in 2016. It’s been nominated & won several Primetime Emmy Awards. The ratings are extremely high for the show, one of the most popular from HBO after averaging 12 million viewers & it’s already been renewed for a third season!!!!

After tragedy strikes, Bernard Lowe (played by: Jeffrey Wright from Angels in America, Shaft, Boardwalk Empire, & Quantum of Solace) & Charlotte Hale (played by: Tessa Thompson from Creed 1 / 2, Thor: Ragnarok, Annihilation, & Sorry to Bother You) work together in locating the decommissioned Peter Abernathy (played by: Louis Herthum from The Possession of Hannah Grace, The Last Exorcism Part II, True Blood, & Longmire). Dolores Abernathy (played by: Evan Rachel Wood from The Wrestler, True Blood, Thirteen, & The Missing) with the help of Teddy Flood (played by: James Marsden from the X-Men franchise, Anchorman 2, Disturbing Behavior, & Superman Returns) wants to hunt down the rest of the survivors. Maeve Millay (played by: Thandie Newton from Mission: Impossible II, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Crash, & Gridlock’d) is on a mission to find her daughter. She gets the assistance of Hector Escaton (played by: Rodrigo Santoro from 300 1/2, The 33, Che, & Lost) & forces Lee Sizemore (played by: Simon Quarterman from The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior & The Devil Inside) to take her to the direct location. The Man in Black (played by: Ed Harris from Just Cause, Creepshow, The Rock, Glengarry Glen Ross, & State of Grace) barely made it out alive from the massacre is fighting for his survival. James Delos (played by: Peter Mullan from Ozark, Hostiles, Children of Men, & Quarry) & Logan (played by: Ben Barnes from The Punisher, The Chronicles of Narnia franchise, Seventh Son, & Dorian Gray) fight over the park. Akecheta (played by: Zahn McClarnon from Fargo, The Son, Longmire, & Into the West) is looking for redemption after losing everything. Clementine Pennyfeather (played by: Angela Sarafyan from American Horror Story, The Immigrant, & Repo Chick) gets re-coded & becomes more dangerous than ever. Is Dr. Robert Ford (played by: Anthony Hopkins from the Hannibal franchise, Magic, Thor franchise, Dracula,& The Elephant Man) still controlling everything? All these characters interact with each other in this unique universe where nothing is what it seems. No one can be trusted & everyone is trying to survive this disaster before it becomes worse!!!!

It’s a rare thing when a television adaption is better than the actual original film, this show achieves that goal. Westworld is truly unique & it’s something you haven’t seen on TV before. It’s a great blend of western & science fiction into one. It’s well written & each episode draws you in more. It’s definitely one that you need to pay attention to it or you will end up lost & confused because it’s all over the place with so many different characters. Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Thandie Newton, Evan Rachel Wood, & James Marsden give powerhouse performances here & it’s some of their best work in their entire careers. The supporting cast is top notch & it’s some of the best acting I’ve ever seen on a television show. The main theme is one of my favorite opening scores ever & the music selection for the season is perfect especially all the cool piano renditions that they had in this. Westworld gets really dark & it doesn’t hold back, I love that about this production. The visual & special effects are on another level, this universe looks like something that you have never seen before on anything. I am looking forward to part three after this entertaining experience, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

Let’s talk about the high definition presentation from Warner Bros! This 2160p (1:78:1) transfer looks stunning in 4K! Hands down, one of the best looking shows on television right now. The visuals are on a whole another level with this unique world, it’s reference quality when it comes to TV shows. The cinematography captures something that you haven’t really seen before when it comes to sets & locations featured on Westworld. The English: Dolby Atmos track sounds amazing here! The dialogue is very clean & it enhances all the action/suspense here. The true highlight on the track for the entire season is the music. It’s amazing & you can’t stop thinking about it. It stays with you for awhile after playing & gets inside your head. One of the highest quality picture & sound combinations that I’ve reviewed all year. It also has English SDH, French, & Spanish subtitles.

Let’s discuss the special features from Warner Bros! “The Truth Behind Delos” is almost 13 minutes. It has interviews with creators/producers/directors Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, actors  Jeffrey Wright, Evan Rachel Wood, Angela Sarafyan, Shannon Woodward, Rodrigo Santoro, Katja Herbers, & Gustaf Skarsgård. They talk about the character & his relationships on the show. They chat about what he goes through & changes during the season. They bring up their experience on the show. “These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends” is a little over 11 minutes. It has interviews with creators/producers/directors Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, actors Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, & James Marsden. They chat about all the violent moments in the show. They go into detail about some of the biggest battles during the season. They talk about the differences in the segments. “Bring Yourself Back Online: Reflections of Season 2” is almost 15 minutes. It’s a discussion between actors  Jeffrey Wright, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Ptolemy Slocum, & Leonardo Nam. They bring up their favorite spoilers & surprises from the season. They talk about their favorite moments from the show. They tell stories about the production. “Bring Yourself Back Online: Of Love and Shogun” is a little over 15 minutes. It’s a discussion between actors Rodrigo Santoro, Thandie Newton,  Simon Quarterman, Ptolemy Slocum, & Leonardo Nam. They talk about their experience on the show. They bring up some of their favorite moments. They chat about their character development & changes. They discuss the Shogun segments & atmosphere. “Bring Yourself Back Online: Journeys and Technology” is a little over 15 minutes. It’s a discussion between actors Angela Sarafyan, Ben Barnes, Luke Hemsworth, Ptolemy Slocum, & Leonardo Nam. They talk about the stories being relevant to the current world & news. They chat about their character changes from season 1 to 2. They share some of their moments from the show. “Creating Westworld’s Reality: The Drone Hosts” is a little over 3 minutes. It has various interviews with cast & crew. It’s a quick behind the scenes look at the drones from Westworld. “Creating Westworld’s Reality: Fort Forlorn Hope” is a little over 5 minutes. It has various interviews with cast & crew. It focuses on the location & changes from the park to reality. It talks a little about the Dolores character. They talk about the stunts & action scenes for the show. “Creating Westworld’s Reality: The Delos Experiment” is almost 6 minutes. It has various interviews with cast & crew. It focuses on a certain episode. It talks about technology. It goes over the set. They chat about the struggles of the James Delos character. They mention the special effects. “Creating Westworld’s Reality: Shogun World” is almost 13 minutes. It has various interviews with cast & crew. They talk about this different world & culture featured on this season. They chat about their experiences on the set from this production. It focuses ib tackling a completely different genre for this. “Creating Westworld’s Reality: Inside the Cradle” is almost 5 minutes. It has various interviews with cast & crew. It focuses on The Cradle & it goes over technology. “Creating Westworld’s Reality: Chaos in the Mesa” is a little over 5 minutes. It has various interviews with cast & crew. They talk about their characters & situations they get into. They chat about all the stunts, fights, & action for it. “Creating Westworld’s Reality: Ghost Nation” is a little over 3 minutes. It has various interviews with cast & crew. It focuses on this different world in Westworld & it’s characters. It talks about the motivation for the roles. “Creating Westworld’s Reality: Deconstructing Maeve” is a little over 3 minutes. It has various interviews with cast & crew. It talks about the character & her journey for the season. “Creating Westworld’s Reality: The Valley Beyond” is almost 12 minutes. It has various interviews with cast & crew.  It goes over the locations & the results from it. As you can see this release has a nice variety of extras on it. It also comes with 3 Blu Rays & a Digital Code. It was released in several different editions including this limited edition, standard 4K, Blu Ray, & DVD. It’s available right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!