Born on the Fourth of July – 4K UHD Blu-ray Review
Commissions Earned
Film Title: Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Release Date: 2024
Rating: R
Runtime: 145 minutes
Region Coding: Region Free
Distributor: Shout Select (Shout! Studios)
Audio Formats: Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 & 2.0 Stereo
High Dynamic Range: HDR10, Dolby Vision
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Version Reviewed: 4K UHD Blu-ray
Release Date: 11/12/24
Director: Oliver Stone
Cast: Tom Cruise, Kyra Sedgwick, Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava, Frank Whaley, Stephen Baldwin, Willem Dafoe, Tom Sizemore
Jump to Sections:
Movie | Video | Audio | Bonus | Closing | Screenshots
Full 4K Tech Specs found at the bottom
click to view a 4K Screenshot
The Movie
“Born on the Fourth of July” was a 1989 film based on the book (of the same title) written by Ron Kovic. Kovic would go on to co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation with filmmaker Oliver Stone. The film was produced and directed by Oliver Stone, best known for also directing “Platoon” (1986), “Wall Street” (1987), “The Doors” (1991), “JFK” (1991), “Heaven & Earth” (1993), “Natural Born Killers” (1994), “Nixon” (1995), “Any Given Sunday” (1999), “W.” (2008), “Savages” (2012), and “Snowden” (2016).
The story is that of a man who ends up later as a paralyzed veteran from Vietnam named “Ron Kovic” (Tom Cruise), born on the fourth of July: the very same day as the American (U.S.) holiday known as Independence Day. But before he served his country in Vietnam, there’s a story to how Ron got there. This story starts when Ron is just a young child playing soldier with his friends, and it then progresses toward Ronny in his teenage years, when he starts to want to be a Marine (as he tells his parents). It’s only a matter of time after that, as an audience, we see him fighting in Vietnam.
Ron serves in the Marines and does his duty serving in Vietnam until he’s eventually severely injured and, as mentioned, ends up paralyzed from the waist down. Ron is sent to a military hospital and is in the process of healing and eventually starts rehabilitation. After he’d spent a considerable time in the hospital, he gets sent back home to live with his parents and siblings.
Things are difficult for Ron back from the war, trying to get used to being in a wheelchair and being looked at differently by some for being a Vietnam veteran. He eventually ends up frustrated with the living conditions at home and makes his way down to Mexico with some other veterans making their attempt at a good time. Ron decides to make it his duty to protest as a veteran against the war and will make appearances at two different political party conventions — one as a form of protest and the other as a guest.
Movie Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)
click to view a 4K Screenshot
Video Quality
“Born on the Fourth of July” on 4K UHD Blu-ray is presented in the 2.35:1 aspect ratio with Dolby Vision and HDR10 forms of high dynamic range. The movie was shot on a combination of 35mm film and Super 16 and spherical 16mm film using a variety of the Panavision Panaflex Gold II and Panavision Panaflex cameras. The movie has received a new 4K restoration from the original camera negative, supervised by the director Oliver Stone.
Next, let me get technical, for a bit, regarding the 4K UHD Blu-ray Disc itself here. This release uses a BD-100 (100 gigabytes) disc, 88.54 gigabytes total, and 87.7 gigabytes itself for the film. Now looking back on it, the original 2012 Blu-ray Disc release used a BD-50, 42.75 gigabytes total and 37.7 gigabytes itself for the film. In comparison to that original Blu-ray, this 4K release is now using roughly 2.3 times larger amount of disc space for the film itself.
Based on my observations via my 4K UHD Blu-ray player, this seems to run anywhere from peaks at around 128 Mbps, to roughly around 87.7 Mbps and 75.4 Mbps and then dips down as low as 67.2 Mbps. According to info on the PC side, this seems to have an overall video bitrate of 71.9 Mb/s average.
Next, I want to visually compare the original Blu-ray and the 4K UHD Blu-ray. I’ll be showing you the still screenshots for both the 2012 Blu-ray Disc and the new 2024 4K UHD Blu-ray releases. For those who want to see more Blu-ray VS. 4K screenshots, click the text below.
Blu-ray VS. 4K Screenshots Comparison:
SOURCES: 2012 Blu-ray (left), 2024 4K UHD Blu-ray (right)
As you will notice when comparing the original 2012 Blu-ray to the new 2024 4K UHD Blu-ray, there’s a slight change in the color timing and occasionally changes in framing. And things brighten up in a lot of shots that were dark before. The black level is solid here, especially now with the addition of the high dynamic range. The color palette is much more vibrant now, with flesh tones that appear more accurate and feel less warm, in a good way, with a more cooler tone.
This comes with a solid black level, especially thanks to the addition of high dynamic range which I sampled in Dolby Vision form. The color palette can be rather bright at times with a heavy emphasis always made on the American flag when in a scene. This can also feel somewhat vibrant at times and that’s a result of the time period outfits, some occasionally in bright red and green colors. As mentioned, flesh tones appear accurate here all throughout. There’s a satisfying amount of film grain still present here in every shot. Facial close-up shots can offer some really impressive amounts of detail.
This proves to be an impressive 4K presentation and certainly does the film justice. That said, “Born on the Fourth of July” on 4K UHD Blu-ray earns itself a respectable 4.5 rating for video quality. This release is a definite improvement over the previous Blu-ray release(s).
Video Quality Rating: 4.5 (out of 5)
click to view a 4K Screenshot
Audio Quality
“Born on the Fourth of July” arrives on 4K UHD Blu-ray with a new Dolby Atmos sound mix (with a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 surround core) along with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo lossless sound mixes. The DTS-HD Master Audio mixes contain a DTS core for those unable to decode the lossless sound format.
The opening theme on trumpet makes good use of the front left and right channel speakers, followed by the narration and dialogue making great use of the center channel speaker. Things start off a tad bit slow, but the childhood games soon turn into a Fourth of July parade celebration with fireworks going off in the background, making for some nice use of the rear channel speakers.
There’s not a huge amount of LFE at first, but that can change during some more intense scenes later on in the film. The first really good amount of bass you will feel will come around 28 minutes into the film when Ron is in Vietnam approaching a village. The sounds of gunfire here make great use of all the channels (speakers) here. The sounds of aircraft flying overhead and explosions nearby are pretty damn intense here at times in the Dolby Atmos mix. It’s nothing too over-the-top but it manages to certainly do the film justice.
I found the height channels getting used slightly for sound effects such as crowds applauding or fireworks exploding. The height channels certainly also get effectively used for some of the original musical score, composed by John Williams, which sounds excellent. The front and rear left and right channel speakers also get used nicely for Williams’ original score.
The Atmos sound mix really has its highlight moment around the 39-minute mark during a Vietnam shootout. The combination of the sounds of gunfire, the musical score, and the dialogue by Ron and his fellow soldiers comes together nicely right before one very crucial moment. The film from there on out does not really ever hit that level of intensity again, but it still manages to deliver an impressive audio presentation. That all being said, the Dolby Atmos mix proves to be impressive in ways and definately gets the job done with a great audio mix. Some purists out there might want to opt for the lossless (DTS-HD Master Audio) 5.1 surround mix that is included. This earns itself a rather impressive 4.25 rating for audio quality.
Audio Quality Rating: 4.25 (out of 5)
click to view a 4K Screenshot
Bonus Materials
Bonus materials included on the 4K UHD Blu-ray are listed below.
- Audio Commentary with Director Oliver Stone
- NEW Audio Commentary with Film Critic Matt Zoller Seitz
A Blu-ray Disc is included with the film in 1080p HD video, sourced from the new 4K restoration, and features Dolby Atmos, DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo lossless sound. The following bonus materials are included with this disc.
- Audio Commentary with Director Oliver Stone
- NEW Audio Commentary with Film Critic Matt Zoller Seitz
- NEW “The Battlefield at Home” – Interview with Director Oliver Stone (13 minutes, 15 seconds – HD) is a must-see. Stone discusses the dedication that Tom Cruise had for this project and shooting in the Philippines again, where he had previously used for Vietnam in his film “Platoon” (1986). He finally discusses the film’s reaction from audiences and the Academy Awards, namely when Tom Cruise didn’t win “Best Actor in a Leading Role.”
- NEW “The Ghost Generation” – Interview with Special Makeup Effects Artist Gordon J. Smith (12 minutes – HD) was from a video chat. It’s fun hearing him reminisce about making this particular film.
- NEW “The War Continues” – Interview with Associate Producer Clayton Townsend (11 minutes, 32 seconds – HD) is very informative. We learn here that the film was meant to have been made sooner but it took a while for it to become a reality.
- TV Spots (2 minutes, 4 seconds – SD) are all combined together.
- Theatrical Trailers (9 minutes, 44 seconds – SD) are all combined together.
- Edie Brickell & New Bohemians “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” Music Video (3 minutes, 57 seconds – SD)
Overall, the bonus materials here are pretty lengthy, totaling up to roughly around an hour, and are very informative and entertaining. The audio commentary with Oliver Stone as well as the new interview he did are both something you need to experience after you’ve seen the film for the first time. There’s also a new audio commentary track included from film critic Matt Zoller Seitz. It’s a tad bit of a shame a few extras didn’t get ported over from the original 2012 Universal Studios Blu-ray Disc release. I’m not sure why that is, but I’m expecting it had something to do with licensing that NBC News held on one of those featurettes. Regardless, the extras put together here by the folks at Shout! Studios prove to be solid and worthwhile.
Bonus Materials Rating: 4 (out of 5)
click to view a 4K Screenshot
Closing Thoughts
“Born on the Fourth of July” proved to be a great film, offering excellent direction and co-writing on the screenplay from filmmaker Oliver Stone and and excellent performance by Tom Cruise in an unforgettable leading role. It also offered great supporting performances from Raymond J. Barry, Caroline Kava, Kyra Sedgwick, Frank Whaley, and Willem Dafoe.
The movie reportedly had a budget of 14 million dollars, and it then ended up grossing 161 million dollars at the box office worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. The film won its share of awards, namely Academy Awards (“Oscars”) for “Best Director” (Oliver Stone) and “Best Film Editing” (David Brenner & Joe Hutshing). It’s worth noting that Tom Cruise received a nomination for “Best Actor in a Leading Role” but did not win. Also, John Williams received a nomination for “Best Music, Original Score.” The critics seemed to enjoy the film as it still carries a “Certified Fresh” badge (at the time of writing) on Rotten Tomatoes.
In terms of video quality, you get a new 4K restoration approved by the director (Oliver Stone). There’s a substantial amount of newfound detail here with a much brighter visual presentation and a slightly different (cooler) color timing. The addition of HDR (high dynamic range) really makes for a much more accurate representation of the color itself and flesh tones. This delivers on one impressive 4K video presentation. Fans will want to make the upgrade from the previous Blu-ray.
In terms of audio quality, you get an impressive Dolby Atmos mix as well as well as lossless (DTS-HD Master Audio) 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo sound mixes. I found the Dolby Atmos mix to be satisfying and felt that it did the film justice in terms of sound. This makes some discrete but nice use of the height channel speakers. It’s nothing too extreme but it still manages to have its moments, namely during the scenes that take place in Vietnam.
The bonus materials here include some new interviews, namely with the director Oliver Stone, and total up to roughly around an hour in length. There are some extras featured on the original Blu-ray Disc release (from Universal Studios) that are not included on this release and that could be because they were from the NBC news network, which the studio owns. Perhaps they couldn’t get the rights to include that particular Featurette on this release due to licensing. Regardless, this still manages to deliver a pretty nice set of supplemental materials and brings with it new content.
Overall, “Born on the Fourth of July” on 4K UHD Blu-ray proves to be a rather impressive release. Fans of the film will certainly want to upgrade their previous Blu-ray release. That said, this comes as a recommended upgrade.
In terms of 4K UHD Blu-ray release, this gets:
4.5 (out of 5) for video quality
4.25 (out of 5) for audio quality
4 (out of 5) for bonus materials
Overall Verdict:
A Recommended Upgrade
Available As:
2024 4K UHD Blu-ray Release
Available at: Amazon | GRUV | Walmart
Commissions Earned
4K UHD Blu-ray Screenshots:
Blu-ray VS. 4K Screenshots Comparison:
SOURCES: 2012 Blu-ray (left), 2024 4K UHD Blu-ray (right)
4K UHD Blu-ray Technical Specifications:
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Exact Runtime(s): 2:24:24
Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 core), English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (with a DTS 5.1 core), English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo (with a DTS 2.0 Stereo core)
Languages: English
Subtitles: English
HDR: Dolby Vision, HDR10
Disc Size: BD-100
Disc Use: 88.54GB total / 87.7GB for the film
Video Bitrate: 71.9 Mb/s