6 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.8 |
Jean Grey begins to develop incredible powers that corrupt and turn her into a Dark Phoenix. Now the X-Men will have to decide if the life of a team member is worth more than all the people living in the world.
Starring: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, Sophie TurnerAction | 100% |
Adventure | 83% |
Comic book | 75% |
Sci-Fi | 74% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A phoenix rising from the ashes is one of the more redolent images from mythology and/or Mankind’s collective unconscious, but it’s just one of the ironies that Dark Phoenix perhaps brings an incontrovertible end to the long running if sometimes problematic X-Men franchise, and in this case it’s an end with no obvious resurrection in sight. That “finality” may in fact be a chimera (to reference another mythological beast of some renown), since one of the things that has frequently attended Marvel cinematic (and, frankly, other) science fiction adaptations is the whole conceit of an alternate timeline, where death is an illusion, supposed epochal events seemingly a passing fancy, and any sense of one coherent storyline is an almost laughable proposition. What’s kind of odd about this particular alternate timeline is that it was at least delved into if not completely explored in X-Men: The Last Stand, a film which was not exactly met with the same general critical rapture as its two predecessors. But what’s also odd is how the story of Jean Grey (played in this installment by Sophie Turner of Game of Thrones, who also briefly portrayed the character in X-Men: Apocalypse) is that in at least one timeline previously explored her story doesn’t end all that well, by which I mean, her story ends. All of this adds up to a rather odd combo platter of ideas and snippets culled from other X- Men properties, but like many an odd casserole, only certain ingredients register while the overall taste is a bit muddled.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Captured with Arri Alexas and finished at a 2K DI, this is another generally stellar looking outing from the usually reliable folks at Fox. The film does have some kindly oddly soft looking moments, and some arguably less than mind blowing CGI, but for the most part detail levels are quite impressive and the saturation of the palette is regularly striking. Kinberg and cinematographer Mauro Fiore like to emphasize extreme close-ups quite a bit of the time, often with faces filling the side of the frame, and textures on facial features offer expressive levels of fine detail. There's been some complaining that Fox didn't opt for a 3D release of this film (something that I understand, as a 3D fan myself), but I found the "flat" 2D experience to be still rather surprisingly "dimensional" at times, especially in some of the slo-mo moments like the big car crash that starts the film or the rescue in space that ends up sending Jean on a spiral of uncontrollable powers and/or emotions. As is usually the case with some of these X-Men epics, there are some interesting grading choices at times, but despite everything from deeply saturated reds and blues (along with some yellows) permeating the frame to almost completely desaturated moments, detail and fine detail levels are typically consistent. There are some very passing minor issues with deficits in shadow detail, but I noticed no real compression anomalies of any kind.
X-Men: Dark Phoenix features an impressive DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track that may not offer the ubiquitous array of surround activity that fans of this kind of film may expect, but which nonetheless delivers a lot of superb directionality and some forceful LFE. There are excellently designed effects offered throughout the film from the get go with the spectacular car crash that kicks things off, and a number of set pieces offer really nice discrete channelization of effects, but there's a kind of "all or nothing" approach to the sound design where big immersive moments then ebb back into almost more of a straight ahead stereo presentation, especially when longer expository dialogue moments intrude. Hans Zimmer's very effective score wafts through the surround channels quite appealingly throughout the film.
There are some rather interesting ideas underpinning X-Men: Dark Phoenix, including a kind of feminist subtext along with some roiling psychological issues that were obviously highlighted to try to make this more of a personal story than a traditional sci-fi superhero epic. Unfortunately, the story here never manages to completely convince, probably especially because of previous "alternate timeline" efforts where people and events come and go almost randomly at times. Fans of this film will most likely be pleased with the technical presentation here, and the disc does offer some appealing supplements.
2019
2019
2019
2019
2013
2018
2018
Extended and Theatrical versions
2011
Cinematic Universe Edition
2019
Ultimate Collector's Edition
2017
2014
2018
2016
1986
2005
Limited Edition / Reprint
2018
1978
2017
2003
2006
2017
Theatrical & Extended Cut
2016
2013
2015