7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.4 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Ron Stallworth, an African-American police officer from Colorado, successfully managed to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan and became the head of the local chapter.
Starring: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, Corey HawkinsBiography | 100% |
Period | 60% |
Drama | 50% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: HEVC / H.265
Video resolution: 4K (2160p)
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital Plus 7.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Digital copy
4K Ultra HD
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Director Spike Lee's (Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing) BlacKkKlansman is a compelling film focused on race relations in 1970s America, but its also an occasionally tonally disparate film that can be as humorously light as it can be maliciously dark. That contrast between funny and frightening helps ease the burden, but not lessen the impact, of the film's examination of racial strife and hate. Lee allows the script to flow and his actors to have fun at the Ku Klux Klan's expense, but when the narrative grows more extreme and the cards are down, Lee makes sure to turn off the comedy faucet and give the film's full attention and respect to the dangerous situations and fight against despicable extremism.
The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.
Spike Lee and Cinematographer Chayse Irvin shot BlacKkKlansman on film, and this UHD comes sourced from a 4K
digital intermediate. The
improvements to image stability, clarity, and textural fulfillment are obvious over the Blu-ray, which is very good on its own but lacks the
finesse,
subtlety, and total accuracy of this UHD. It's gorgeously filmic. Grain is refined and constant, perhaps a little more obvious on
the UHD, but the end
product is absolutely of cinematic quality. Textural improvements are many. Facial details bear the fruits of the increase in
resolution and the UHD
reveals the
finest pores, hairs, and imperfections with astonishing clarity that even the first-rate Blu-ray cannot match. The same goes for
clothes and
environments; crisply pressed police uniforms are just as
inherently complex as more dense period attire. An exterior neighborhood scene in chapter 11 looks amazing. The clarity and
texture on trees, bushes,
and surrounding houses is to die for. A few softer edge shots are in play and inherent to the film source.
The Dolby Vision coloring proves to be one of the more subtle applications in recent memory, bolstering flesh tones to firmer,
fuller standards and
finding an agreeable, though often more subtle than some, level of refinement and increase in boldness to the film's period
hues. Clothes, for example,
are modestly darker and enjoy a slight increase in saturation. But the movie doesn't really call for much more than that. To
more intensely bolster the
palette, to push the punchiness and exaggerate the brightest primaries any further would be to undo so much of what makes
the movie's visual tones
a major complimentary factor to capturing the era in
which it is set. The Dolby Vision parameters do tighten black levels but don't entirely eliminate some of the slight raising seen in
a handful of scenes
throughout the movie, but viewers will note some very impressively deep and even nighttime black exteriors as well. As with the
Blu-ray, artifacts are
absent
save for a handful of blink-and-miss speckles.
BlacKkKlansman's Dolby Atmos soundtrack proves its worth from the beginning with full-stage musical saturation, good low end depth, and rich, vibrant instrumental clarity. Musical excellence is a mainstay throughout the film. Ture's speech is wonderfully wide and naturally reverberating around the entire stage (which includes a mild above-stage component, one of precious few that take any advantage at all of the height channels), while crowd cheers are perfectly immersive and detailed. The track brings every environment to life with impressive spacing and saturation. Police station office din is audibly compelling and sonically detailed. The sound of a ringing phone, which is fairly prominent in the film (phone conversations in general drive much of the plot), often emanates with a sharp, clear ringing across the back, which is amplified considerably in the final minutes. A few gunshots strike with commanding power. Dialogue drives most of the film, however, and the spoken word enjoys rich, natural clarity, firm center placement save for when expansion is necessary, and prioritization above all competing elements.
BlacKkKlansman's UHD release contains a featurette and an extended trailer, which are also included on the bundled
Blu-ray. A Movies
Anywhere digital copy
code is included with purchase. The release ship with an embossed slipcover.
BlacKkKlansman champions black power but also proper and peaceful race relations; many of the film's best scenes involve Stallworth, alongside one or several white characters with whom he works at the police station, laughing at David Duke, who is unknowingly speaking to a black man on the other side of the telephone. Conversely, the film's most challenging scene features an elderly black man named Jerome Turner (played by the legendary Harry Belafonte) telling stories of the Klan's torture of colored people while several Klan initiates are sworn into the organization in a juxtaposed sequence. Lee makes his points sharply and directly but does so with care and consideration for his characters and his audience. Heroes and villains are clear-cut, and the winner to come out of it all is a tremendously entertaining yet very pointed film that was clearly a passion project for Lee, an acclaimed filmmaker who may have just released his best work yet. Universal's UHD is very good, skimpy on the extras but otherwise boasting a beautiful 2160p/Dolby Vision video transfer and a wonderful Dolby Atmos soundtrack. Highly recommended.
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