Gods of Egypt appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-Ray Disc. This became a stellar transfer.
Sharpness excelled, as even in the widest shots, the film appeared accurate and concise. If any softness occurred, I didn’t see it. I noticed no shimmering or jaggies, and the film lacked edge haloes or source flaws.
The palette opted for a mix of gold, red and teal. Within stylistic choices, the hues looked fine. Blacks were deep and dense, while low-light shots depicted appropriate clarity. This was a terrific visual presentation.
Gods came with a DTS-X soundtrack that downconverted to DTS-HD MA 7.1 on my system. With plenty of action scenes, the mix often opened up to give us active information. These used the various speakers to create an involving, effective sense of these situations and circumstances. The elements meshed together well and moved in a satisfying manner.
Audio quality also pleased - mostly. Music was peppy and full, while effects demonstrated good clarity and range, with fine low-end response as necessary.
Unfortunately, dialogue came with some distractions. I heard an odd sense of reverb to some of the speech, and this left the impression that the mix occasionally suffered from bad ADR. Though the track usually worked well, the iffy dialogue knocked down my score to a “B+”.
Two Deleted Storyboards show up here. We see “Horus’ Coronation Party” (1:13) and “Bek and the Phoenix” (4:31). One assumes these scenes never got filmed, so instead, we see computer-animated pre-vis versions of the sequences. “Party” offers a minor addition, but “Phoenix” offers a decent action sequence.
Six featurettes follow. A Divine Vision goes for 11 minutes, 48 seconds and offers info from executive producer Kent Kubena, costume designer Liz Palmer, production designer Owen Paterson, visual effects supervisor Eric Durst, and actors Gerard Butler, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Brenton Thwaites. “Vision” covers design elements such as sets, costumes, and creatures as well as pre-visualization and visual effects. “Vision” delivers a nice overview of some of the movie’s choices.
During the 10-minute, 52-second Of Gods and Mortals, we hear from Kubena, Butler, Coster-Waldau, Thwaites, and actors Elodie Yung, Rufus Sewell, Chadwick Boseman, Emma Booth, Courtney Eaton, and Bryan Brown. The featurette looks at cast, characters and performances. Some fluff emerges, but we get a decent array of notes.
Next comes Transformation. In this 11-minute, 10-second show, we discover comments from Palmer, Kubena, Butler, Coster-Waldau, Yung, makeup/hair designer Lesley Vanderwalt, and actor Rachael Blake. Here we learn about the movie’s costume, makeup and hair design. “Transformation” offers a quick but informative overview.
With the 12-minute, 44-second On Location, we get details from Kubena, Paterson, Durst, Boseman, Yung, Sewell, Blake, Coster-Waldau, Thwaites, and special effects supervisor Dan Oliver. The program discusses shooting in Australia and the ample use of bluescreen and soundstages. Some of this repeats info heard elsewhere, but it still manages a reasonable number of new details. I especially like the bits about how the film mingled “9-foot-tall” characters with regular size people.
The Battle for Eternity fills 11 minutes, 38 seconds with material from Kubena, Butler, Oliver, Coster-Waldau, Thwaites, stunt coordinator Glenn Boswell, and fight choreographer Tim Wong. “Eternity” covers stunts and fight sequences. Like its predecessors, it does so in a compelling manner.
Finally, A Window Into Another World occupies 10 minutes, 58 seconds with info from Durst, Butler, Coster-Waldau, Thwaites, Oliver, Paterson, Boswell, and film editor Richard Learoyd. “World” examines various effects used in the film, and it accomplishes its goals in a satisfactory manner.
The disc opens with ads for Now You See Me 2, The Last Witch Hunter, The Divergent Series: Allegiant, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 and The Crow. No trailer for Gods appears here.
A third disc provides a DVD copy of the film. It includes “Battle” and “Window” but lacks the other supplements.
With a massive budget and a grandiose world, Gods of Egypt comes with the potential to offer a lively fantasy adventure. Unfortunately, a combination of factors conspire to make the end result messy and unsatisfying. The Blu-ray offers excellent visuals, mostly strong audio and some informative supplements. Gods winds up as a forgettable disappointment.