Can't Be Stopped Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Can't Be Stopped Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 18, 2022

If you asked any random assortment of people what the acronym CBS stands for, chances are you'll get "Columbia Broadcasting System" as the most frequent response. If you narrowed your respondent field to those who grew up and/or reside in Los Angeles, especially those with a knowledge of some of the roiling history of gangs and (by their own definition) homeless youths who often populated the metropolis, you might in fact get a whole different set of meanings, including "City Bomb Squad" and/or "Can't Be Stopped". Your reaction to the similarly named documentary Can't Be Stopped may hinge at least in part as to whether you feel like graffiti is vandalism or street art, but one way or the other, this rather unexpectedly involving piece details a perhaps unknown to many "secret history" of "taggers" who banded together and created their own community probably out of necessity as much as any other aspect.

There is a veritable glut of fascinating talking head interviews in this documentary, but my hunch is for most the only recognizable names might be David Arquette, and one of CBS' notables who also made a mark in the music industry, Rob One. Rob and another "titan" of CBS, Skate, receive the bulk of the biographical background here, though that said, the piece emphasizes the history of the taggers as an aggregation, rather than going overboard in terms of detailing the sometimes evidently troubled backgrounds from which they sprang.

That said, there is definitely a pointed subtext here of kids at least somewhat in distress (as they themselves mention in some of the interview segments). If banding together to "rack" (i.e., steal) items, get wasted and then move on to painting graffiti anywhere they could mange to provides the group with a feeling of family, even diehard law and order types might find it hard to quibble too much with their desires to create some perception of permanence. There's also a decidedly melancholic aspect to at least some parts of the stories of Skate in particular but also probably Rob One, which turn out to have some surprisingly visceral emotions imparted.

Can't Be Stopped Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Can't Be Stopped is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer (often) in 1.78:1. Like many documentaries, this has been culled from a huge variety of sources, and this presentation simply can't overcome some inherited deficits in what looks like old style minicam footage. While this is ostensibly a progressive presentation, a lot of this footage is littered with "baked in" combing artifacts and even old school issues like tracking problems. The contemporary interview segments understandably look a lot better on the whole, with generally appealing detail levels and a natural palette. Still photographs range in quality from sometimes blurry to actually rather sharp and nicely detailed. With an understanding of the context of the piece, and its often quite interesting use of archival video, I can't imagine anyone will have too many complaints about this transfer. My score is 3.75.

Can't Be Stopped Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As might be expected, this documentary is filled with some great head banging material (including quite a bit by Rob One), and both the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 tracks are rather robust and enjoyable as a result. I'd definitely recommend sticking with the surround track if your setup allows for it, since that definitely ups the midrange and low end of the music. Both tracks offer more than capable support for all of the talking head material. Some of the archival video doesn't offer superb audio quality, but nothing is overly problematic. Optional English subtitles are available.

Can't Be Stopped Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, there are no supplements of any kind of this disc.

Can't Be Stopped Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Both of my millennial sons are big fans of street art, while their curmudgeon father is often left wondering "how the frell did they get up there to paint that?" Even those who decry perceived "vandalism" may find this an unusually captivating documentary. Technical merits are what they are in terms of some of the archival video, but contemporary interview segments look fine, and the audio is rather nicely forceful due to some fun source cues. Recommended.