Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

X-Men: Days of Future Past 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

The Future Looks Brighter

Reviewed by Michael Reuben March 17, 2016

It's not surprising that Twentieth Century Fox would choose the fourth film in the X-Men franchise for its initial wave of UHD titles. In addition to being the most recent film in the series, X-Men: Days of Future Past is also the most successful to date. Its massive set pieces and elaborate visual effects exceed anything seen in the previous three films, and its contrasting time periods (a "present day" of indefinite date vs. the early Seventies of the first Nixon Administration) provide a study in visual contrasts that should show off the new format's superior resolution to great advantage.

So it's disappointing to have to report that Fox's UHD release of X-Men: DOFP provides only a marginal uptick in quality over the excellent Blu-ray release previously reviewed by my colleague Jeffrey Kauffman. The lack of any dramatic improvement in the 4K release is especially problematic in this instance, since UHD has no 3D capability, and X-Men: DOFP is one of the rare projects shot natively in that format. For a film that was obviously designed for the additional dimension, the 4K version needs to compensate with enough additional detail and definition that the 2D image acquires a sense of tactile immediacy. Warner Brothers achieved such a result with its 4K release of Mad Max: Fury Road (though not without side effects), but the 4K version of X-Men: DOFP falls short.

Screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

For a detailed discussion of the film, please see Jeff's thorough review. I would only add that I have found X-Men: DOFP to be one of those big-screen extravaganzas that improves on repeat viewing. Director Bryan Singer, returning to the franchise after dropping out for X-Men The Last Stand, has so filled the story with character and incident, and the frame with elaborate imagery, that there is always something more to discover. (And that's not even considering the alternative Rogue Cut released by Fox to home video a year after X-Men: DOFP's theatrical release.)

X-Men: Days of Future Past 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Bryan Singer's usual cinematographer, Newton Thomas Sigel, returned with him to the X-Men franchise for Days of Future Past, and Singer talked up the pair's plans for a visual feast in pre-release publicity. However, like the majority of UHD releases in this first wave, X-Men: DOFP was finished on a 2K digital intermediate, which means that the 4K disc is an up-rezzed image—and it shows. Switching back and forth between the UHD disc and the included standard Blu-ray, one cannot spot any significant increase in detail or definition. Both discs are sharp and clear, save for those scenes where distortion is intentional (most obviously, in the effects-laden Pentagon kitchen scene). Here and there, one can spot a touch more refinement in the UHD image, but that is more likely the effect of the disc's HDR encoding, which is where the real differences appear. X-Men: DOFP is filled with eye-popping colors, from the intense blue skin and red hair of Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique to the kaleidoscope of lights (if that's what they are) that surround the "present-day" group of mutants taking refuge in a remote temple, where they make a desperate last stand against the pursuing automatons known as "Sentinels". In shot after shot, bright colors on the UHD version are more vivid and intense. The difference is somewhat less pronounced in the Seventies sequences, where a faded palette is used to create a period look, but even those scenes have their share of heavily saturated colors, e.g., whenever Mystique reverts to her normal appearance. Indeed, a comparison of Lawrence's scenes as Mystique between the Blu-ray and the UHD is a convenient index for gauging the extent of the change wrought by HDR encoding. After the glowing red and deep blue of the UHD, Mystique's coloration seems almost pale on the Blu-ray.

The unanswered question, of course, is which version is more accurate to the source. It's not necessarily the case that more color equals better color. Just as the flames in Mad Max: Fury Road are rendered artificial and cartoonish by HDR encoding, the Mystique makeup is more obviously a set of prosthetic appliances in the UHD rendition, at least to my eyes. (The red hair looks like a bathing cap.) Directors, production designers, cinematographers and digital colorists work hard to achieve a balance of hues and intensities that serves the story and "sells" the illusion, but the most noticeable applications of HDR encoding to date seem to have been intended to add pop to the image without any concern for what should (and shouldn't) stand out from the frame. On X-Men: DOFP, the effect sometimes works well, primarily in the present-day sequences featuring the "old" X-Men led by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen. For the Seventies scenes, the impact varies from negligible to overcooked.

The UHD version does offer minor improvements in contrast and black levels, which are particularly valuable in the extended sequence depicting the Sentinels' approach and assault on our heroes.

X-Men: Days of Future Past 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Although X-Men: Days of Future Past was released to theaters in Dolby Atmos, Fox persists in its puzzling refusal to include the format on its UHD releases. Still, the 7.1 track encoded in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio remains every bit as dynamic and impressive as when it first appeared on Blu-ray in 2014. Jeff Kauffman's review of the track can be found here.

X-Men: Days of Future Past 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

In an interesting twist, the UHD two-pack combines extras from two previous editions of X-Men: Days of Future Past. The included standard Blu-ray is identical to the film's initial Blu-ray release and contains the extras listed and described in the earlier review. On the UHD disc, Fox has included the commentary by director Bryan Singer and screenwriter Simon Kinberg that first appeared on X-Men: Days of Future Past (The Rogue Cut) accompanying that special edition's presentation of the theatrical cut. The Rogue Cut's second commentary, which accompanied the alternate cut, has not been carried over, nor has The Rogue Cut's second disc of additional extras. (And yes, this is confusing.)

X-Men: Days of Future Past 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

For any early adopter of UHD who doesn't already own a copy of X-Men: DOFP, the title is an easy recommendation, because it's a terrific entry in the franchise, includes the excellent Blu-ray and adds an additional commentary from The Rogue Cut. For those who own the earlier disc, it's a much closer call on whether the UHD offers enough of a difference to justify a purchase. If extras are your thing, I'd recommend acquiring The Rogue Cut instead, which has the alternate version, an additional commentary and an entire second disc of featurettes and image galleries that are nowhere to be found in the UHD package. Of course, anyone who wants to see the film in its natively shot 3D format will have to buy the so-called "Ultimate Edition" (which, as we have now seen, was far from "ultimate").