Soylent Green 4K UHD Review

Arrow Video

4K UHD Release: July 28, 2026

Video: 2.35:1/2160p (HDR10/Dolby Vision)/Color

Audio: English LPCM 1.0

Subtitles: English SDH

Run Time: 96:49

Director: Richard Fleischer

In a world of overpopulation and ecological collapse, resources are scarce. While the elite live in spacious, walled-off communities eating natural food and drinking clean water, the masses live in squalor, collecting water from communal taps and eating highly processed food wafers made by the Soylent Corporation. Soylent Red and Soylent Yellow are a staple, but now there's a tastier and more nutritious option: Soylent Green. (From Arrow’s official synopsis)

The late Charlton Heston was a Hollywood stalwart and classic overactor who survived the fall of the studio system, thrived in the blockbusters era, and became the face of the NRA as public opinion began to turn on the association. His acting career was broad and eclectic, but, to film fans raised on television and home video, he’s mostly remembered for Biblical/historic epics, war films, and a trilogy of dystopic sci-fi films that he appeared in during the ‘60s and early ‘70s, made up of Franklin J. Schaffner’s Planet of the Apes (1968)*, Boris Sagal’s The Omega Man (1971), and Richard Fleischer’s Soylent Green (1973).

Despite its dark themes and Twilight Zone twist, Planet of the Apes was designed as a family adventure and Omega Man turned Richard Matheson’s novel into an action film befitting the NRA’s greatest champion, which leaves Soylent Green as the most adult-oriented of the three movies. Much of the production seems to be built around referencing Planet of the Apes, especially in its approach to world-building – not to mention its own Twilight Zone-like twist – but Soylent Green also connects its apocalyptic worldview to current events in surprisingly prescient ways, beyond “nuclear war and racism are bad.”

I wouldn’t go so far as to say Soylent Green is better than Planet of the Apes (it’s definitely better than Omega Man), but its prognostication comes from a more mature and practical place. Based on Harry Harrison’s 1966 novel Make Room! Make Room! and adapted by television docudrama pioneer Stanley R. Greenberg, Soylent Green presents a society collapsing under the weight of overpopulation and environmental catastrophe. It accurately depicts global climate change as the existential threat a few years before the popular coining of the phrase ‘global warming’ and depicts the day-to-day lives of regular people struggling to survive the end of the world.

Framing the story in the context of a police procedural reinforces this sense of reality and grounds the performances, despite the retro-futuristic imagery. Low-level authoritarian enforcers, like cops, always make good point-of-view characters when exploring corruption and social divides in dystopian fiction. As such, Soylent Green isn’t the first story to combine contemporary detective fiction with sci-fi – earlier examples include Isaac Asimov’s The Singing Bell (pub. 1955) and Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man (pub. 1953) – and Jean-Luc Godard’s Alphaville beat it to theaters by eight years. Still, I suspect that its blue collar approach to characters inspired later Philip K. Dick adaptations, namely Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner (1982) and Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report (2002), while its bleak vision of 2022 New York likely inspired everything from the 2000 AD comics (1977-present) to Paul Michael Glaser’s The Running Man (1987).

Heston does a decent job dialing it back to fit the role, though his reputation does precede him – he’s still Moses and Ben-Hur. Chuck Connors, known for tough guy roles and his professional baseball career, is cast for and against type as a subservient, mild-mannered bodyguard/murder suspect. Brock Peters plays Heston’s superior**, Joseph Cotten appears briefly as the murder victim, and Edward G. Robinson (who passed away shortly after filming) steals the show and lends real noir credentials as Heston’s elderly roommate. Arguably, Leigh Taylor-Young and Paula Kelly are somewhat wasted as indentured sex slaves, but I appreciate the attempted sci-fi-ification of women typically found in film noir.

The son of animation legend Max, Richard Fleischer had been directing since the 1940s. Working his way up from B-pictures, he helmed his share of beloved classics, flops, and everything in-between over five decades, including 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), The Vikings (1958), Fantastic Voyage (1968), and Doctor Dolittle (1967).

He never really developed a distinctive style, which served him well when he needed to fill a studio template, make a sequel to another director’s film (such as Conan the Destroyer, 1984), mesh with Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970) co-directors Toshio Masuda & Kinji Fukasaku, or take over troubled productions (something he did on four occasions). Soylent Green fits this pattern – it’s a handsome film that matches the aesthetic of similar high-concept, early ‘70s sci-fi movies, like George Lucas’ THX 1138 (1971), Robert Wise’s The Andromeda Strain (1971), and Michael Crichton's Westworld (1973). There are glimmers of panache, but utilitarianism is paramount.

* Heston also appeared in the first Planet of the Apes sequel, Ted Post’s Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970). That film reveals that the surviving humans are living in irradiated underground catacombs, where they worship an unexploded nuclear bomb, which is deeply dystopian stuff, but, because Heston only features in a supporting role, I don’t personally consider it part of this trilogy. Arrow appears to agree with me, because they also only refer to Planet of the Apes, Omega Man, and Soylent Green as a ‘trilogy’ in the advertising for this release.

** By coincidence, Peters and Connors starred in spaghetti westerns that came out in the year 1968 – Giuseppe Colizzi’s Ace High (Italian: I quattro dell’Ave Maria) and Enzo G. Castellari’s Kill Them All and Come Back Alone (Italian: Ammazzali tutti e torna solo). Patrick and I covered both on the three-part Spaghetti Westerns of 1968 episode of the podcast (here and here).

Video

Soylent Green has been a home video stalwart for Warner Bros. since the VHS days. It first hit stateside DVD in 2003, then Blu-ray in 2011, both times from Warner. Arrow’s 4K UHD debuts alongside a Blu-ray, both featuring a new 4K restoration of the original 35mm camera negative. I’ve included some screencaps from that Blu-ray copy, which doesn’t have the full 2160p resolution or HDR/Dolby Vision upgrade, but still illustrates the general clarity and color timing of the UHD. 

The remaster exhibits few artifacts, even grading, and fine, naturalistic filmgrain. Cinematographer Richard H. Kline’s photography is dark and moody, but ultimately intended to set a consistent tone and showcase the production design, not evoke stylistic extremes, as mentioned in the feature review. The standout aspects are the deep blacks and delicate shadows, both bolstered by the Dolby Vision upgrade. A lot of the film plays out in wide angle or medium shot, so sharp textures aren’t as important as clean lines. Interior colors are largely neutral and cool with a few punchy red and yellow highlights sprinkled throughout, often signifying wealth, in opposition to the grimier street scenes.

Audio

Soylent Green is presented in its original mono sound and uncompressed LPCM 1.0. The tracks are thoroughly cleansed to the point that some dialogue and effects are arguably over-crisp and inherent inconsistencies in volume and performance quality are a bit more noticeable than were likely intended. That’s not the worst problem to have, of course. Composer Fred Myrow was not a household name on the level with Planet of the Apes’ Jerry Goldsmith, but he is a favorite among cult fans, thanks to his many collaborations with director Don Coscarelli, including the first three Phantasm films (1979, ‘88, and ‘94). His work here includes ambient noise, jazz, and even early disco, which is a nice contrast to the typical symphonic scores from the era.

Extras

• Commentary with Richard Fleischer and Leigh Taylor-Young – This track was originally recorded for the 2003 Warner DVD release and features director Fleischer and actress Taylor-Young looking back on the making of the film from personal and technical perspectives. There’s a lot of blank space that is made up for with charming behind-the-scenes anecdotes. 

• Commentary with film historian Michael Brooke and author Johnny Mains – BFI and Second & Sound contributor/historian Brooke and Bound in Blood: Stories of Cursed Books, Damned Libraries and Unearthly Authors (Titan, 2024) contributing author (among others) Mains team up for this, the only Arrow-exclusive extra on the set, aside from the image galleries. The commentators explore the production, the story’s prescience, dystopian fiction, Harry Harrison’s original novel, other works that inspired or were inspired by Soylent Green, the wider careers of the cast & crew, and factual environmental science.

• Charlton Heston at the BFI –  This audio interview, recorded in 1985, runs as a third track over the first 71:48 of the film. It covers Heston’s wider career, rather than just Soylent Green.

• A Look at the World of Soylent Green  (10:02, HD) – The original 1973 EPK featurette.

• MGM's Tribute to Edward G. Robinson's 101st Film (4:50, HD) – Footage from a press conference celebrating Robinson’s long career.

• Richard Fleischer at the BFl (76:25, SD) – A 1994 career-spanning video interview with the director.

• Theatrical trailer

• Image galleries – Posters & artwork, black & white promotional stills, color promotional stills 

The images on this page are taken from Arrows remastered Blu-ray – NOT the 4K UHD – and sized for the page. Larger versions can be viewed by clicking the images. Note that there will be some JPG compression.