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No Escape (1994)
No Escape (1994) poster

No Escape (1994)

Action, Drama, Science Fiction, Thriller • 1h 58m

Director: Martin Campbell

Australia Umbrella 4K Blu-ray

Best English-friendly & video release · updated 5 months ago

Video notes:

Australia Umbrella 4K Blu-ray (native 4K sourced) is better than Turbine Germany 4K Blu-ray which is an upscale, not a true 4k source see caps

UHD tiers

Excellent
Umbrella
Worse Than BD
Turbine:

(German Import) upscale, not a true 4k source (best BD is the Unearthed Films)

Overview

In the year 2022, a ruthless prison warden has created the ultimate solution for his most troublesome and violent inmates: Absolom, a secret jungle island where prisoners are abandoned and left to die. But Marine Captain John Robbins, convicted of murdering a commanding officer, is determined to escape the island in order to reveal the truth behind his murderous actions and clear his name.

Release details

Length
118 mins
Type
Movie

More from Martin Campbell

See more →

Director: Martin Campbell

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

2023 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook

Video Notes:

2023 Sony 4K Blu-ray Steelbook edition added Dolby Vision, previous editions are HDR10 only.

Director: Martin Campbell

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly & Video:

MGM 4K Blu-ray

Director: Martin Campbell

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Warner Archive Blu-ray or Japan Blu-ray?

More from Umbrella

See more →

Directors: Banjong Pisanthanakun & Parkpoom Wongpoom

Best English-Friendly:

Australia Umbrella 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Australia Umbrella 4K Blu-ray encoded by FiM

Director: Mamoru Oshii

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly:

US GKIDS 4K Blu-ray authored by FiM

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

US GKIDS/Australia Umbrella 4K Blu-ray authored by FiM

Video Notes:

US GKIDS/Australia Umbrella 4K Blu-ray authored by FiM with identical encodes

UHD vs BD comparisons

Best Audio:

4K restoration includes a high-fidelity Dolby Atmos remix sourced from new transfers of original magnetic elements, with inconsequential content differences from the original mono mix. Umbrella 4K Blu-ray only includes a 5.1 mixdown of the remix, other discs have it in Dolby Atmos.

Umbrella/GKIDS 4K Blu-ray's 2.0 track is a stereo downmix. Older BDs and LDs have the original mono mix in varying quality, but are all inferior in fidelity to the new Dolby Atmos remix. The digital track on the Bandai/Emotion Japan LaserDisc BELL-942 is the best of the bunch.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23714400&postcount=159

Only the GKIDS 4K Blu-ray has the English dub.

Director: Hal Needham

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

2026 Vinegar Syndrome 4K Blu-ray, 2025 Umbrella 4K Blu-ray

Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

4K · Disappointing
Upcoming Release:

Umbrella 4K Blu-ray, part of Alejandro Jodorowsky Collector’s Edition, scheduled for November 2026 release

Best Video:

Severin 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Severin 4K Blu-ray has bad encode

Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky

Best English-Friendly:

Arrow/US remastered abkco Blu-ray or Germany Bildstörung Blu-ray depending on preference

Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Umbrella 4K Blu-ray, part of Alejandro Jodorowsky Collector’s Edition, scheduled for November 2026 release

Best Video:

Even though Arrow/US remastered abkco Blu-ray are the newer restoration, the Germany Bildstörung Blu-ray seeming look better in many of the scenes see caps  ut the grading might also be over-exposed see caps
Ultimately it's up to personal preference.

Directors: Alan Mak Siu-Fai & Andrew Lau Wai-Keung

Best English-Friendly:

Criterion US Blu-ray or Umbrella Australia 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Best Video:

Maybe Umbrella Australia 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode), Plaion Germany 4K Blu-ray, or Pony Canyon Japan 4K Blu-ray. All other existing 4K Blu-rays have terrible compression: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=21423337&postcount=173

The master is heavily DNR'd.

Best Audio:

Original 5.1 from Jokers France 4K Blu-ray or Criterion US Blu-ray or older Blu-rays

Director: Richard Stanley

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

Umbrella AU 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

Umbrella AU 4K Blu-ray, encoded by Fidelity in Motion

Best Audio:

Original matrixed Dolby Stereo mix: 2018 Ronin Flix US Blu-ray / 2009 Optimum UK Blu-ray
5.1 surround remix: Umbrella AU 4K Blu-ray / Umbrella Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

The 2.0 on the 4K Blu-ray is a downmix.

Director: Christopher Nolan

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Spain Selecta Vision 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · linkedin.com (opens in a new tab) · dvdcompare.net (opens in a new tab)

Upcoming Release:

Collector's edition of a new restoration from Umbrella

Video Notes:

> other releases and old 2006 release - impressions of Selecta Vision release

Director: Ted Kotcheff

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

Umbrella/Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Umbrella/Arrow 4K Blu-ray (FiM encode but the mastering shows signs of DNR albeit only momentarily); all other BDs pretty bad.

Audio Notes:

But whether in the correct speed/pitch is TBC.

Director: Rolf de Heer

Best English-Friendly:

Umbrella Blu-ray

Best Video:

Australia Umbrella Blu-ray or French Intersections Blu-ray

Video Notes:

Australia Umbrella Blu-ray or French Intersections Blu-ray no comparison available

More Action on Blu-ray

Director: John Woo

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly, Video & Audio:

US Shout! Factory or UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray

Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

> Disk Kino/WCL China import

review: Disk Kino

better encoding, some shots are better on Shout! Factory, others on Arrow

Audio Notes:

Shout! Factory/Arrow 4K Blu-ray has the original mono

Director: Michael Mann

Best English-Friendly:

88 Films UK Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray  in December

Best Video:

88 Films UK Blu-ray for both cuts 

Best Audio:

88 Films Blu-ray

Audio Notes:

88 Films Blu-ray is missing Michael Mann commentary for the DC found on other BDs

Director: Soi Cheang

Best English-Friendly & Video:

US Well Go or Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray?

English-Friendly & Video Notes:

UK 4K is SDR only Japan is HDR10 only

Director: Guillermo del Toro

Best English-Friendly & Video:

WB US Blu-ray or UK Entertainment in Video Blu-ray

Upcoming Release:

WB 4K Blu-ray teased by Guillermo Del Toro

Video Notes:

CA Alliance Blu-ray or dutch Blu-ray are the same masters but have additional sharpening.

Additional Info:

The original DVD has an isolated score and a exclusive easter egg

Director: Miguel Sapochnik

Best English-Friendly & Video:

Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray

Director: Nicolas Winding Refn

4K · Excellent
Best English-Friendly & Video:

UK Second Sight Trilogy Boxset 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

US Magnolia Pictures 4K Blu-ray uses the same source but with worse encoding

Director: Terence Young

4K · Solid
Best English-Friendly:

WB 4K Blu-ray

Best Video:

WB 4K Blu-ray despite frozen grain

Best Audio:

UK mix: 1984 CBS Fox VHS Hifi but missing one scene
International mix: WB 4K Blu-ray though source origin is unknown

1995 MGM stereo remix: 1998 LaserDisc and 2000 DVD fix gunbarrel dropout

Director: Mamoru Oshii

Video format: UHD Blu-ray

Best English-Friendly & Audio:

2008 Japan Blu-ray (BCXA-0085)

English-Friendly Notes:

Has English subtitles, better than 2015 Maiden Blu-ray which lacks the original mix

Audio Notes:

Bandai 4K Blu-ray? vs 2008 Japan Bandai Blu-ray (BCXA-0085): same video but includes Bandai English dub and original mix

Best Video:

2026 Bandai 4K Blu-ray

Video Notes:

But completely DNR'd.

For grain, most release starting from 2007 Japan Bandai Blu-ray (BCXA-0003) are ok.

Director: James Cameron

4K · Disappointing
Best English-Friendly & Video:

Fox Blu-ray

Sources: movie-censorship.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:

Fox Blu-ray for original cuts without the extra scene added in the re-release and AI upscaling

Newer Blu-ray/4K has the extra scene, but is poor and has excessive AI upscaling

Additional Info:

An additional scene was added to the ending of the movie in the 2022 re-release: https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=493908

Director: James Cameron

4K · Worse Than BD
Best English-Friendly & Video:

2015 Lionsgate Blu-ray 

Sources: fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab) · originaltrilogy.com (opens in a new tab)

Video Notes:
  • 2015 Lionsgate Blu-ray (but it's missing the extra scenes in the Ultimate Edition)

  • 2017 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray and subsequent 4K Blu-rays are notorius for being heavily denoised and smoothened. Alternatively, 35mm scans for the theatrical cut is also available.

  • For the Ultimate Edition with the T-1000 searching John's room and the happy future ending, the 2009 Skynet Blu-ray, which is the older pre-2017 transfer, but has DNR.

Best Audio:
  • Original Kodak/ORC CDS mix:  Japan Pioneer DVD in DTS/ac3 5.1

  • Original Dolby Stereo SR: USA Widescreen LaserDisc and others.

Audio Notes:

Differences of mixes on various releases: see thread and more info here.

Additional Info:

2017 Blu-ray (which has the DNRed transfer), the 2009 Skynet Edition Blu-ray, and the 2000 Ultimate Edition DVD have exclusive extras. The 2003 Extreme Edition DVD has some exclusive easter eggs.

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Researched and maintained by

tyyuxvanshady

· last reviewed 5 months ago

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