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Ghost Canyon

Fifty Shades Freed: Unrated Edition - 4K Ultra HD
(Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan, Eric Johnson, Rita Ora, Luke Grimes, et al / 4K Ultra HD + Blu ray + Digital / NR / 2018 / Universal Pictures Home Entertainment)

Overview: Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson return as Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in Fifty Shades Freed, the climactic chapter based on the worldwide bestselling Fifty Shades phenomenon.

4K Ultra HD Verdict: Universal Pictures Home Entertainment continues to expand their 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray catalog offerings this May with the release of this quite stunning 'Fifty Shades Freed' in the new 4K home video format on May 8th, 2018.

For my money, this 'Fifty Shades Free: 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital' combo pack's sharpness takes a fairly large step forward from others in their 4K Ultra HD catalog and even comes with HDR (High Dynamic Range) for the complete 4K Ultra HD experience, of course.

So, what we have is 'Fifty Shades Free' presented to us as a two-disc combo pack with a sheet for a Digital HD Copy. Other stand out points you should know are: Codec: HEVC / H.265; Resolution: Upscaled 4K (2160p); HDR: HDR10; Aspect ratio: 2.40:1, and Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1.

As with most all 4K UHD's, everything that we watch features a much brighter, deeper, more lifelike set of colors. Noticeably crisper with the overall clarity receiving an obvious boost here on this release, what's more is that it's enjoyably noticeable.

The picture enjoys the fruits of the added resolution in terms of bringing out extremely fine facial and clothing textures within the action scenes, which in comparison leaves the 4K UHD Blu-ray presentation looking almost smooth and flat.

As for the audio, well we have: English: DTS:X; English: DTS-HD Master; Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit); French (Canada): DTS 5.1, and Spanish: DTS-HD HR 7.1. There are also Subtitles in English SDH, French, and Spanish.

Overall, this is a strong 4K UHD Blu-ray presentation, and, for the most part, the audio track remains fairly similar to its DTS-HD counterpart; with much of the action occupying the surrounds with outstanding directionality and placement where effects flawlessly pan between the sides and rears.

Phew! OK, so, as for the movie itself, well, for those following along at home, Anastasia and Christian are now married. Being married to a controlling billionaire, Ana felt stifled by Christian's rules and security, but she enjoyed defying him to make her point felt.

Their European honeymoon was interrupted by news of a fire set inside Christian's office building. Much later, Ana herself was assaulted in their own condo by an intruder who turned out to be her ex-boss Eric Hyde. Aside from trying to figure out why Hyde hated Grey with a passion, the newlyweds also try to deal with an unexpected guest.

Since this film was shot back to back with the second film by director James Foley, it looked and felt just like it. There was not much improvement to be expected in the acting of Dakota Johnson and Jaime Dornan, though they did seem to be more relaxed already by now.

Eric Johnson was one-dimensional in his portrayal of token antagonist Jack Hyde. The rest of the cast may be good-looking but were similarly bland, from Brant Daugherty (as Ana's stiff bodyguard Sawyer) to Arielle Kebbel (as the flirty architect Gia Matteo).

The cinematography was still lush and vibrant, showing the extravagant lifestyles of the rich and famous Greys (their vacations, their houses, their cars), as well as what happens in their bedrooms.

The sexy scenes were not as instrumental to the story anymore as they were in the first two films. These gratuitous scenes basically became fillers to stretch out a lame revenge crime story into 105 minutes.

The best aspect of all the Fifty Shades films remains to be its musical soundtrack. There is nothing that immediately stood out as strongly as "Love Me Like You Do" or "Earned It" did from the first film, or "I Don't Wanna Live Forever" from the second film.

However, "For You" by Rita Ora (who played as Christian's sister Mia) and Liam Payne, and "Capital Letters" by Hailee Steinfeld are definitely ear candy that deserve to be radio hits as well. We also get to see and hear Jaime Dornan sing "Maybe I'm Amazed" while playing the piano -- not bad.

The paper-thin story actually centered around dreary side character Eric Hyde and his vindictiveness, than about Christian Grey and his BDSM obsession. There was clearly nothing more to tell about Grey anymore here. We see only Christian's petulant immaturity when dealing with adult relationship issues.

While Ana had the more interesting story to tell, Niall Leonard's script can occasionally make her come across as flighty and annoying. Anyhow, at least we can see that these two really deserve each other! Watch this final "climax" to the trilogy knowing exactly what you're letting yourself in for and all will end well for you, I promise. This is a Widescreen Presentation (2.40:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs via 1080p and comes with the Special Features of:

Deleted Scene - "Hickey and Apology"
The Final Climax: 30+ Minutes Behind The Scenes Featurette
Christian & Ana by Jamie & Dakota
An Intimate Conversation with E L James and Eric Johnson
Music Videos

www.FiftyShadesMovie.com

www.UPHE.com





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