X-Men 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.5

X-Men 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 24, 2018

Note: This 4K UHD version of the film is available as part of X-Men Trilogy 4K.

Perhaps surprisingly, given how frequently my review queue has recently been filled with 4K UHD releases that are at least tangentially tied to promotional efforts for some upcoming film (e.g., Halloween 4K ), there don’t appear to be any new X-Men movies on the horizon until 2019, when both Dark Phoenix and The New Mutants are slated to debut. With eleven films thus far in the expanding X-Men franchise, and with much of the oxygen for the series given over to Logan and Deadpool 2, at least for the last couple of years, it’s actually kind of refreshing to revisit the first three films and marvel (pun unavoidable if unintended) at the complex stories the initial trilogy tell, all while introducing an almost ungainly number of characters, most of whom are finely drawn and almost instantly distinctive. These new 4K UHD presentations all offer at least subtle upticks in detail and palette nuance, but some curmudgeons may be at least slightly disappointed that there are no “new, improved” audio options available. For those who like to stay ensconced on their home theater couches and not have to change discs, some may also find the fact the the 4K UHD discs only offer the commentary tracks as supplements may be at least a bit of a downside as well.

For those needing a refresher course at Xavier Institute for Higher Learning (so to speak), I refer you to my colleague Martin Liebman's X-Men Blu-ray review of the original Blu-ray release. Note that the 1080p video and audio scores are ported over from Marty's review.

X-Men 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080p Blu-ray.

X-Men is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with a 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. All three of the titles included in this set were shot on film, and Fox has reportedly given the first two films new 4K scans (the third film was late enough into the digital intermediate era that it had a 2K DI). The results are excellent across the board, with a really nicely resolved fine grain field (noticeably finer looking than the second two films in my estimation), and some appealing new highlights to a palette that deliberately exploits a lot of cool slate grays and icy blues. The opening concentration camp sequence looks even more desaturated than in the 1080p version, almost monochromatic in fact, something that makes the yellow stars pop probably even more. There are occasional soft looking moments (the establishing shot after the concentration camp sequence), but typically there's a noticeable uptick in sharpness and detail levels throughout this presentation. Some of the more noticeable changes in this version are subtle tweaks to the palette, with the interior of Charles' "mind reading sphere" more deeply blue, and with even the shots of Wolverine and Rogue traveling together also looking more blue as well. Though minor, the difference in red tones in some of Jean Grey's attire also caught my eye (the pill on Jean's red sweater in the lab scene with Wolverine also is an excellent example of just how precisely resolved fine detail is). There was one slight moment where grain approached some noisy territory, the brief shot at the beach at circa 43:00 (the scene that features Bruce Davison as a kind of morphing jellyfish character). As with the 1080p Blu-ray version, some of the CGI is noticeably softer looking than the bulk of the presentation, a difference which is probably only highlighted by the increased resolution of the 4K UHD disc.

X-Men 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This release contains the same excellent DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track from the original 1080p Blu-ray release which Marty assessed in his X-Men Blu-ray review. As Marty mentions in his review, this is an incredibly immersive and aggressive sounding track, but some audiophiles may still be wondering what a Dolby Atmos or DTS:X upgrade might have provided to such sonically powerful moments as the bending of the concentration camp gates early in the film (to cite just one of many potential examples).

X-Men 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Only the Commentary with Bryan Singer and Brian Peck has been ported over to the 4K UHD disc.

X-Men 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The first X-Men movie still provides a lot of entertainment value, and fans of the franchise will no doubt be thrilled to have this film in their 4K UHD collections. There's a nice uptick in video quality here, but some may be pining for a Dolby Atmos or DTS:X track, and recalcitrant couch potatoes are still going to have to switch over to the included 1080p Blu-ray disc to get to most of the supplementary material.