The Flight Of The Phoenix (2004/Blu-ray)
Picture: B+
Sound: A-* Extras: C Film: B-
I so enjoyed the 2004 remake of Robert Aldrich’s 1965 film
The Flight Of The Phoenix, that I was happy when it was announced for
Blu-ray. The film’s success is not what
it should have been in theaters or even on DVD, but those who have had a good
chance to look at it tend top enjoy it.
Our original review of the DVD-Video version can be found at:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/1998/Flight+Of+The+Phoenix+(2004/Wide
Now comes the Blu-ray edition and it is without a doubt
one of the best on the market, including a much better representation of the
2.35 X 1 real anamorphic scope Panavision frame as seen in 35mm projection with
MPEG-2 @ 18 MBPS. Though the DVD looked more like Super 35mm,
Director Of Photography Brendan Galvin’s work here is represented in a much
fuller way in this version. The digital
effects he had little control of are thankfully limited and when shown with
this improved fidelity the film has far more impact visually as it was meant to
with good depth, Video Black, decent detail for a digital-age release and even
has some demo moments.
*A regular DTS 5.1 track was included on the DVD-Video
that was superior to the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, but this Blu-ray is even more
impressive with its DTS-MA 5.1 (aka DTS HD Master Audio 192/24 lossless) mix, including
some hit records and a decent score by Marco Beltrami. However, the sound design is one of the best
of the last few years as far as I am concerned, definitely demo quality, a
challenge to any system and when DTS-MA chips arrive, we will revisit the mix
for deeper analysis. Fans of state of
the art sonics will not be disappointed.
The only extra from the DVD is a commentary by Production
Designer Patrick Lumb, Moore, and co-Producers John Davis and Wyck
Godfrey. This is decent, though one
wishes a fifth person was there to ask additional questions. Not included in this version from the
DVD-Video include The Phoenix Diaries shows the behind-the-scenes of the
film, along with its editing and scoring that ran over a half-hour, four
extended scenes and two deleted scenes that could not fit for some reason on
this 25GB disc. However, this is a great
Blu-ray demo, especially for sound and is not to be missed.
Check out more about the original 1965 version at these
links:
1965 film on DVD-Video
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/328/Flight+Of+The+Phoenix+(DVD-Video)
Limited Edition CD soundtrack of the 1965 film
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/247/Patton/Flight+Of+The+Phoenix+(Limited
- Nicholas Sheffo
