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Category:    Home > Reviews > Action > Adventure > The Flight Of The Phoenix (2004/Blu-ray)

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


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