Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

Brawl in Cell Block 99 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 4, 2019

Brawl in Cell Block 99 is everything its day-and-date release partner Mayhem is not, and more. Director S. Craig Zahler's (Bone Tomahawk) work is a slow-build construct that paints a picture of a man who takes his family's fate and future in his own hands. He brings to them financial and future security through bad dealings and violent doings, ignoring his own well-being in the process with the assuredness and coldness of an android, all the while showing his wife and soon-to-be-born daughter the love and affection of a goodhearted man without a mean streak or violent bone in his body. Throughout the film, he is a man at peace with his choices, even if he is outwardly committing acts of unspeakably brutal violence. While Mayhem created a world of graphic violence with tangential purpose, Brawl challenges its character to destroy anyone who stands in the way of saving his wife and daughter from afar. The film transitions into one of the most brutally violent finales in film history. That finale is not rewarding to watch; the film revels in viscera a little too much, but it's at least violence for purpose rather than violence for violence's sake. The film has rightly received much praise, but it's not a perfect film, either, even as it finds clarity in simplicity and a towering performance from an unflappable Vince Vaughn.

When a drug mule named Bradley Thomas (Vince Vaughn) is imprisoned for a crime he did commit, he believes he'll be in and out in a few years and reunited with his wife (Jennifer Carpenter) and soon-to-be-born daughter. But when one of his enemies on the outside promises Bradley that he will have his unborn daughter mutilated while still in the womb if he doesn't kill a man in another prison, Bradley systematically destroys various prison guards and inmates in order to be transferred to the more dangerous, inhospitable, and unforgiving maximum security facility where the man is being held and where Bradley will be under the watchful eye of a no-nonsense warden named Tuggs (Don Johnson).

The movie’s title gives away the plot point that Bradley’s new life with Lauren and his in utero daughter won’t last forever, that something will lead him to landing in prison. It’s in prison where the film takes its most dramatic turns and begins its relentless depiction of violence, and it takes a solid hour to reach that point. Brawl is not a film for the impatient. On the one hand it’s a film worthy of admiration for its dedication to thoroughly building the story and character. On the other hand the story is not at all interesting or novel enough to warrant this much story building and slow pace construction. Brawl is a basic story of a father doing what he must to protect his family, here from inside of a prison rather than roaming around with a gun or however most other, similar films tell the same tale. What's unique, and engaging, is how Zahler, who also wrote the film, shapes the character, deliberately but also quickly. After viciously pummeling his wife's Mitsubishi, the film establishes Bradley as a loving man who, even after learning his wife cheated on him, wants to set things right with her, begin a family with her. He's a man of passion and dedication. The two define him arguably to fault, leading him to doing bad things for the right reasons. He's a violent man as he must be violent. He stands up for what is right, for what will fill and fuel his soul, the cost to his body and life be damned.

Zahler somehow manages to keep the film fresh and invigorating even if the story could have been told fully and competently in 3/4 of the time. Zahler lingers on various scenes, mostly to allow the audience to soak in Bradley's surroundings and circumstances and take full register of the character's mindset and decision making processes, which Vaughn conveys with both a simplicity and intimacy that is established from the film's outset, doesn't evolve, yet somehow always feels intimately fresh with each new transfer to a deeper, darker, filthier, grimier place, literally and also metaphorically. By the time the film reaches its conclusion, the combination of extreme graphic violence and unforgivingly dank, dreary, and unlivable conditions almost seem to be one and the same, created and executed in a world of extreme discomfort for the viewer. Vaughn's character, as stoic as he may be, also finds the prison reprehensible, but he ultimately embraces its gross imperfections, using the environment to his advantage to smash heads, tear off flesh, to turn his victims into unrecognizable pulp in a place that is unrecognizable as anything resembling humane. Through it all, Bradley remains a rock, focused on task with as much extreme inner determination as his physical dismantling of his opponents.

And Vaughn's Bradley is easy to cheer for, despite working outside the law on the outside of the prison cell and executing violence beyond even the most radical and reasonable realms of the imagination on the men standing in his way, be they innocent (albeit somewhat crude and cruel) prison guards at the medium security facility, the more hostile guards at the high security prison, or the men who truly stand in his way. He is perhaps the most basic representation of an anti-hero ever depicted in film. What he does ranges from questionable to deplorable to downright disgusting, yet his heart is always on his family. His intentions are never selfish, and he proceeds through the physical destruction of his enemies without remorse or doubt, not with delight but certainly with determination to ensure that his family remains safe and that anyone in his way will not just pay, but pay in a way that there won't be any open casket funerals, to say the least.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Pertaining to Brawl in Cell Block 99's 4K UHD release, Blu-ray.com was told that the film "was shot at a resolution of 6K...the 4K UHD release was rendered directly from those 6K files and all post work/color was done with the UHD finish in mind. The 4K UHD version of the film has not been upconverted from 2K." The technical credentials are impressive, but the end product UHD is not particularly stout by any means. It offers a modest increase in overall image clarity and stability compared to the 1080p Blu-ray. The slight improvements to clarity amplify the movie's somewhat natural glossy and flat state. Improvements to raw detailing are fine-point at worst and degrees of gradation at best; there's simply no significant boost on the UHD format. Improvements to clarity allow for slightly more visible definition on clothes, faces, and environments, all key visual components to the picture, of course; it's just that none of them make a leap in obvious quality from one format to the other. Take a look at a shot at the 1:05:04 mark where Bradley sits in shadow in his cell, contemplating his next move and his future. One side of the frame appears in bright sunlight. On the UHD, the level of visible detail and clarity on the cinderblock walls, the concrete floor, and the brushed metal sink and toilet enjoy just a hint more clarity and ease of making out some of the extremely fine scuffs and imperfections. At the 1:25:00 mark, Bradley sits outside his new prison home and discusses the place with a fellow inmate. The results are much the same, with incremental improvements to clarity of the prison jump suit and the character's facial scruff. And with no HDR colors on hand and banding that's not appreciably lessened, the modest-at-best benefits this UHD brings to the table render it one of the most marginal improvements over the Blu-ray to be found on the format.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The included DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack impresses from the beginning with whirring machinery off to the sides when Bradley receives his layoff notice. These are the first of many enveloping and environment-detailing sounds in a track that is surprisingly not big on the kind of silly over the top sonic mayhem as heard in a movie like Mayhem. Here, the sounds match the movie's tone and pace, which are more deliberate and contemplative, and a more robust soundtrack built on excess would have done it an injustice. But basic support and ambient effects are clear and well positioned throughout the stage. Gunfire pops in chapter three with fine positioning around the stage, particularly when heard at distance. Close-up shots lack that desirable depth and intense volume. Quality reverb may be heard at the first prisoner count in chapter four in a tightly confined prison hallway, and again towards the film's end. Punches and slams and sounds of squashing heads and ripping flesh and breaking bones are more than adequately clear and prioritized. Dialogue follow suit with excellent front-center positioning. Musical delivery takes full advantage of the speakers given to it. Fidelity, depth, and stage balance are all positives.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

RLJE's UHD release of Brawl in Cell Block 99 contains two featurettes. A Blu-ray copy of the film is included. A digital copy is not. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• Journey to the Brawl (1080p, 15:10): Key cast and crew discuss the production's history, the story and characters, the qualities the cast brought to the film, life on the set and production constraints, building the fight scenes, shooting locations and sets, and destroying the car at the beginning of the film.
• Beyond Fest Q&A (1080p, 31:31): BeyondFest Co-Founder Christian Parks sits down with Vince Vaughn, S. Craig Zahler, Udo Kier, Don Johnson, Jennifer Carpenter, and Jack Heller to discuss the film.

Brawl in Cell Block 99 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Brawl in Cell Block 99 is a very good movie, somehow capable of extending its story beyond a more reasonable runtime with a rewarding, slow-burn story advancement and very capable scripted and acted characterization. The film's unflinching brutality is as much a calling card as the carefully constructed characterization. What's more impressive is that the film works so well despite a near total lack of basic plot originality. It's a credit to just how good a film it can be, and often is, considering the violence and how divisive the film feels like it should be amongst critics and the movie-watching community. In short, it's a film that defies almost all the odds. RLJE's UHD delivers good video, though video that is not more than incrementally better than the Blu-ray. The 5.1 lossless audio track is fine. Supplements are limited to a pair of featurettes. Recommended.