The flames and explosions can appear almost cartoon-like, whilst effects can sometimes look less realistic.

Compared to the regular Blu-ray the Ultra HD image is strikingly bold and eye-wateringly vivid, but it also has an over-the-top appearance that some may feel pushes the image too far. However, in amongst all this praise we must mention the whole picture which, with is saturated colours, does come across as slightly artificial, as if everything has been pushed a wee bit too hard. Dynamically the brightness and contrast are set to give deep incredible blacks with bright eye-scorching whites and this, as much as the wider colour gamut, gives the transfer a rich, powerful image. Highlights are far, far brighter, be it stars, metallic sheen, or the white-hot portions of explosions and really draw the eye. Indeed any explosions run extremely hot, with the colours almost burning off the screen. The distant shot of the destruction of the truck between the mountains is the most dramatic. Where the UHD really stands out from the HD is the depth of colour and this provides the really noticeable differences blues are that much richer with greater range (especially in the ‘night shots’) while the reds and oranges of the desert terrain are far more vivid.

The HDR grade pushes the limits of the wider colour gamut but it suits the film's over-the-top visuals

On the down side, despite being shot digitally the filmmakers added quite a bit of artificial grain, which the HDR transfer does tend to emphasise, although it is also there on the regular Blu-ray. Comparing directly with the Blu-ray it is these finer details that are the most obvious, thanks in part to the higher dynamic range, and while you may have to look closer to really tell the difference, the difference is there. What is immediately apparent is the level of detail afforded by the Ultra HD Blu-ray, everything, and I mean everything, be it sand grains, grime on skin, torn, battered and filthy clothing, skin texture, rocky terrain, hill lines against majestic sky lines, are all absolutely pristine. The Ultra HD Blu-ray was reviewed using a Panasonic TX-65DX902B Ultra HD TV and a Samsung UBD-K8500 Ultra HD Blu-ray player. The film is presented using a 3840 x 2160p transfer in the film's correct 2.40:1 aspect ratio, the disc uses 10-bit video depth, a Wider Colour Gamut (WCG) and High Dynamic Range (HDR), and is encoded using the HEVC (H.265) codec. This 2K DI presumably formed the basis for the Ultra HD Blu-ray release being up-scaled by Warner Brothers to 4K. Mad Max: Fury Road was filmed digitally using Arri Alexa cameras at a resolution of 2.8K but it was finished using a 2K Digital Intermediate (DI).

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