Westworld Season Four: The Choice [4K Ultra HD]

Cast: Evan Rachel Wood, Jeffrey Wright, Aaron Paul

Release Date: November 29, 2022

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 8.5/10

 

Synopsis:

The fourth season picks up over seven years after the protracted war between A.I. hosts and sentient humans – humanity is finally free. Or so it seems. Maeve and Caleb soon begin to suspect that Hale and a host version of The Man in Black are seeding a conspiracy to regain control of the human race. Meanwhile, Bernard returns from The Sublime with a new power. And a young writer, by the name of Christina, begins to question the nature of her reality. Westworld continues to thrill as it deftly weaves together stories about the complicated relationship between man and machine.

Please Note: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

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Newcomers to ‘Westworld’ are strongly encouraged to consider starting at the beginning due to the show’s serialized nature and various continuing story elements within. You can find our reviews of the previous season Blu-ray releases below!

Westworld Season One: The Maze (Blu-ray Review)

Westworld Season Two: The Door (Blu-ray Review)

Westworld Season Three: The New World (Blu-ray Review)

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Season Four of ‘Westworld’ picks up nearly eight years after the conclusion of season three with the war for humanity long concluded and everyone seemingly safe for years now. But when Maeve finds a peaceful existence in the middle of nowhere interrupted after a brief lapse of judgement, she enlists Caleb who is now living happily with his new family but can’t resist assisting her after someone is sent to kill those he cares for. Believing Hale and the Man in Black to be back to their old tricks so to speak, the two head out on a dangerous mission to try and stop them once and for all. Elsewhere, Bernard finally awakes from his connection to The Sublime with a crucial new mission, while a young writer named Christina that looks identical to the lost Dolores begins to question her own reality when curious encounters and events start to torment her.

The fourth season of ‘Westworld’ delivers another thrilling, mind-warping and at times downright shocking collection of episodes that take the series in some exciting and often unexpected directions, all of which is only further complemented by the show’s impressive cast who is once again in top form. While building from the story aspects at the core of Season Three aside from a notable time jump of somewhere in the range of 7-8 years (at least initially) while also delivering repeated nods and throwbacks that connect to or at least reflect key moments in the show’s first season as the park is once again reintroduced within as a character in its own right and all of the chaos and unique scenery that tends to accompany it. A surprising number of fans seemed to be disappointed with Season Three and while I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was certainly a much different sort of season than the prior two and Season Four finds a perfect balance between all three that also clearly alludes to an endgame on the horizon.

But alas, just as an ending for the series was potentially in sight, HBO delivered the surprise news of the show’s cancellation, so whether we actually get to see the intended ending now is sadly anything but a certainty. Nonetheless, if you’re a fan of the series and have seen the previous three seasons but haven’t yet had the pleasure of this latest run, I would still urge you to make a point of checking it out. Even with the cancellation and a few minor cliffhangers and teases that it leaves us on, this season is still absolutely worth the watch and not to be missed.

Overall, ‘Westworld Season Four: The Choice’ unleashes another visually gorgeous, mind-blowing and thought provoking collection of episodes that are up there with the show’s finest and fans shouldn’t even consider skipping them, regardless of the unfortunate cancellation. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment’s 3-disc (or 6 if including the Blu-ray discs within) 4K Ultra HD release for ‘Westworld Season Four: The Choice’ brings home all eight episodes from the stunning fourth season featuring utterly gorgeous Ultra High Definition video presentations featuring Dolby Vision and HDR-10 that will have fans thrilled. Only further complemented by outstanding Dolby Atmos soundtracks and a nice helping of bonus material, anyone that’s a fan of the series and wants to complete their collection in 4K should not be the slightest bit disappointed with what this release has to offer. If you’re a fan that’s already contemplating a purchase then it’s definitely highly recommended.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Westworld Season Four: The Choice’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, with the show’s original 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio (once again with the exception of a few scenes throughout that are presented in Cinemascope) on all of the fourth season’s episodes. The video presentations look marvelous across the board and deliver clean and richly detailed presentations from start to finish on each episode. They capture the futuristic environments, characters and other aspects beautifully, with everything from facial details to clothing, backgrounds and the rest looking impeccably crisp and impressive throughout and absent of any unexpected issues or faults arising along the way. The Dolby Vision addition only improves upon everything and offers a sharp, vibrant collection of colors and beautifully deep blacks that never fail to dazzle. Overall, these are fantastic Ultra High Definition video presentations that should easily thrill the show’s fans.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack on all 8 Season Four episodes. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentations. These multichannel soundtracks are quite outstanding in their own right and provide clean, sharp and hard hitting audio presentations on every episode of the new season. They constantly take full advantage of all seven available channels in order to send bullets and other action effects, along with music, nature content, bits of dialogue and a great deal more consistently whipping throughout the various speakers at every fitting opportunity, while never allowing any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to become problematic or inaudible. Overall, these are magnificent Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtracks that more than deliver on every level and repeatedly contribute their share of additional fun and excitement to the viewing experience.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Westworld Season Four: The Choice’ includes some enjoyable extras in the way of Behind the Scenes Featurettes for each episode and the season overall that feature interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. They include ‘Creating Westworld’s Reality’ episodic Featurettes for all eight episodes of the season (running approximately 42 minutes in length altogether), along with ‘Westworld on the Road’ (running approximately 17 minutes), ‘Westworld: An Exploration of Humanity’ (approximately 15 minutes) and ‘Westworld’s Temperance: A Set Tour’ (approximately 5 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray disc included in the 4K UHD Combo Pack and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD disc itself and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on the 4K UHD & Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Disc Rating: 8.5/10

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‘Westworld Season Four: The Choice’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from HBO & Warner Bros Home Entertainment

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