The rant was instead about the home video release, which was originally HD only, with no mention of a UHD/HDR followup. This was doubly troubling because Apollo 11 is among a handful of films released at that time to actually be sourced from a 4K digital intermediate. In fact, its original film elements were scanned at resolutions between 8K and 16K. Given that most modern films, especially Hollywood tentpoles, are finished in 2K digital intermediates and upsampled to 4K for cinematic and home video release, the lack of a UHD option for Apollo 11 was as infuriating as it was puzzling.

Thankfully, that mistake has been rectified. Apollo 11 has since become available in UHD with HDR on most major video platforms, including disc and Kaleidescape, with the latter being my viewing platform of choice. I mentioned purchasing the film in HD via Vudu in my original review but that purchase didn’t offer any sort of upgrade path for UHD the way Kaleidescape does.

I did a lot of speculation in that first review about the sort of differences I thought UHD would make, and having now viewed it, most of those predictions turned out to be true. UHD does reveal a lot of detail that was obscured in HD, which makes sense given that the source of so much of this film’s visuals existed in the form of 65mm/70mm archival footage.

One of the biggest differences when comparing the HD and UHD releases is in the textures of the Saturn V rocket. Ribbing in the first three stages that dwindle to nothing in HD are clear and distinct in UHD. The little flag on the side is also noticeably crisper, and the stars in its blue field stand out more as individual points of whiteness, rather than fuzzy variations in the value scale.

As predicted, the launch of Apollo 11 also massively benefits from HDR grading. The plume of exhaust that billows from the rocket shines with such stunning brightness that you almost—almost—want to squint.

One thing I didn’t predict, though—which ends up being my favorite aspect of this new HDR grade—is how much warmer and more lifelike the imagery is. In the standard dynamic range color grade of the HD version, there’s an undeniable cooler, bluer cast that never really bothered me until I saw the warmer HDR version. Indeed, the HDR grade evokes the comforting warmth of the old Kodak stock on which the film was captured in a way the SDR grade simply doesn’t.

The new UHD presentation does make the grain more pronounced in the middle passage of the film—where 65mm film stock gives way to 35mm and even 16mm footage. But that has more to do with the enhanced contrast of this presentation than it does the extra resolution. HD is quite sufficient to capture all the nuances and detail of that lower-quality film. But the boost to contrast does mean that grain pops a little more starkly.

That does nothing to detract from the quality of the presentation, though, at least not for me. And even if you do find this lush and organic grain somewhat distracting, I think you’ll agree it’s a small price to pay for the significantly crisper, more detailed and faithful presentation of the first and third acts.

It’s a shame Universal, the film’s home video distributor, has decided to hold back bonus features. The featurette included with the UHD Blu-ray release, which covers the discovery of the 65mm archival footage, is missing here—although it’s widely available on YouTube. And only Apple TV owners get access to an exclusive audio commentary. Then again, given how badly the studio fumbled the original home video release, it’s no real surprise they’ve dropped the ball on making the bonus features widely available.

But don’t let that turn you off of the film. This is one that belongs in every movie collection, especially now that it’s available in UHD.