Rating summary
| Movie |  | 4.0 |
| Video |  | 4.5 |
| Audio | | 4.5 |
| Extras |  | 1.0 |
| Overall | | 4.0 |
X-Men: First Class 4K Blu-ray Movie Review
Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 15, 2016
Fox has arguably been just a little random or at least haphazard with regard to releasing films in the X-Men franchise on 4K UHD. X-Men: Days of Future Past 4K was part of Fox’s
first wave of releases in the new format, and with the recent release of X-Men: Apocalypse 4K, Fox has also brought out X-Men: First Class 4K.
For thoughts on the film, please see my colleague Casey Broadwater’s
X-Men: First Class Blu-ray review.
X-Men: First Class 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.
X-Men: First Class is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in
2.35:1. X-Men: First Class was shot on film and finished at a 2K DI (according to the IMDb), and while the 4K upgrade provides some subtle
upticks in detail and especially color gradations, the overall darkness of this effort as well as some kind of noisy looking grain tends to keep this from
popping as spectacularly as some might have hoped. A lot of this film is intentionally drab looking, with an emphasis on browns, grays and other earth
tones, keeping the palette somewhat tamped down quite a bit of the time. I was surprised to notice what actually appears like brief moments of focus
problems at various moments (watch at circa 5:21 on the left side of the frame for one especially noticeable example), something that wasn't quite as
apparent in the 1080p version. Some of
what might be stock footage, as in the intro to Las Vegas or the aerial shot of the CIA Headquarters (at around 28:46) looks fairly gritty and soft, and the
CIA footage shows some noise on the roof of the main building. Still, detail levels are often incredibly sharp and precise looking, and HDR provides new
emphasis to some of the more prominent hues, like Mystique's amazing blue color. I experienced slight judder in several pans or aerial tracking shots.
X-Men: First Class 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
This 4K UHD disc utilizes the same DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that Casey assessed in his X-Men: First Class Blu-ray review.
X-Men: First Class 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
The 4K UHD disc ports over the Composer's Isolated Score from the standard Blu-ray supplemental package, albeit still in Dolby Digital 5.1. The 1080p
Blu-ray disc included in this package includes all of the
supplements Casey detailed in his X-Men: First Class Blu-ray
review.
X-Men: First Class 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
X-Men: First Class' 4K UHD presentation is solid, if occasionally slightly problematic and generally not as mind blowing as some might hope (or
even expect). I doubt anyone is going to flock to this title for "reference quality" material, but those who haven't yet sprung for the film in its 1080p
version and who have upgraded to 4K UHD may well want to take the plunge, if only do a little "comparison shopping" between the two versions.
