Dark Blue Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Dark Blue Blu-ray Movie Review

Fourth time's a charm?

Reviewed by Randy Miller III February 26, 2026

Just one year shy of its 25th anniversary (!), Ron Shelton's gritty police drama Dark Blue has been quietly re-released on Blu-ray by MGM ahead of a forthcoming 4K edition from the Australian boutique label Imprint. While MGM's new disc apparently doesn't make use of a new master, it at least combines the best elements two earlier domestic Blu-rays: a 2011 MGM release with all of its bonus features previously locked on DVD and the slightly better visuals of Olive Films' 2015 Blu-ray, both of which are long out-of-print. This is still a "jack of all trades, master of none" release... but for those unwilling or unable to import, it's probably the best home video option we'll have for awhile.

Dark Blue will forever be grouped with Antoine Fuqua's Oscar-winning film Training Day, which arrived one year earlier in 2001. Both scripts were written (or at least co-written) by David Ayer, both revolve around crooked cops mentoring reluctant young partners, and both take place within a short window of time as their careers and personal lives quickly and precipitously spiral out of control. That's really where the similarities end... and though Training Day is regarded as the better film in most circles, they both have their own set of merits and drawbacks.

It almost goes without saying that both films -- but especially Dark Blue -- can still be seen as socially relevant due to similar real-world events that seem to happen with more regularity each year. Our story follows Sergeant Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell) in Los Angeles, just days before the acquittal of his fellow LAPD officers in the wake of Rodney King's 1991 beating. Perry is not the textbook example of a stand-up officer: he's racist, judgmental, and unafraid of bending rules to push his own agenda and outdated "boy's club" politics. Reluctantly along for the ride is young Detective Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman), who's still a little wet behind the ears but is clearly pegged to be the future Chief of Police... at least according to Perry and his superiors, including Commander Jack Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson).

The bulk of Dark Blue concerns the questionable actions of Perry, Van Meter and, to a lesser extent, Keough during the aftermath of a violent convenience store robbery by Darryl Orchard (Kurupt) and Gary Sidwell (Dash Mihok), as well as their ongoing friction with one of the film's most heroic figures, Assistant Chief Arthur Holland (Ving Rhames). Holland's assistant Sergeant Beth Williamson (Michael Michele), who had an earlier fling with Keough before becoming aware of his involvement with the case, is another beacon of light in what amounts to an endless sea of shady political dealings, corruption, and other moral roadblocks. Yet Dark Blue plays it smart by framing its story in the shadow of a horrific era in LA's history when the controversial and immoral King verdict resulted in city-wide riots that killed 53, injured more than 2,000, led to more than 10,000 arrests, and caused more than $1 billion in property damage.

Its "slow-burn" mentality gives Dark Blue time to breathe before its explosive final act, when Perry finally begins to question his actions and Keough forms an unlikely second partnership with Williamson. It's an ugly story that manages to go out on a hopeful note, and the trio of performances by Russell, Rhames, and Gleeson help to maintain the film's potent atmosphere despite a limited budget. In fact, the only real roadblocks are its familiarity and a few moments of ridiculous "street" dialogue that not even Russell and Kurupt can deliver convincingly. Denzel Washington may have pulled it off a year earlier, but Dark Blue isn't as smooth in that regard. Is anyone as smooth as prime Denzel?

For an alternate synopsis and take on the film, please see Dustin Somner's 2009 Blu-ray review.

Nonetheless, Dark Blue remains a decently well-crafted film that holds up almost 25 years later and, though it's not quite a genre classic, it deserves a solid home video release. Although my introduction already implied that this fourth Blu-ray attempt still isn't definitive in all regards, it at least comes closer to that designation than any other domestic disc. That said, I'm curious to see what Imprint delivers with their forthcoming import 4K edition.

Dark Blue Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

There's less to say about the 1080p video than expected, as MGM's new Blu-ray appears to be sourced from the same master as their own 2011 edition as well as Olive Films' 2015 Blu-ray, which were both re-encoded versions of MGM's even earlier 2009 disc linked above. That's not very surprising given Dark Blue's then-recent vintage which, for obvious reasons, didn't warrant any kind of total overhaul at the time... but it's frickin' 2026, so a facelift would certainly have been appreciated. Although certainly not a disaster, this master is starting to show its age here: as evidenced by these direct-from-disc screenshots, Dark Blue still looks a lot more like video than film, and it would definitely benefit from better-controlled black levels and more pronounced film grain. I'll give it a soft 3.5/5 since it'll look fine on smaller to mid-sized displays, but those with larger setups will see this disc's unavoidable shortcomings more clearly.

Dark Blue Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track appears identical to all earlier editions of Dark Blue, so please see Dustin Somner's 2009 Blu-ray review for more details. It's a largely front-dominant but still occasionally atmospheric and heavy effort that ups the intensity at critical moments and contains no real drawbacks within format expectations.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature only, not the extras listed below.

Dark Blue Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a keepcase with sharp poster-themed cover artwork. Several legacy extras are included here, most of which were locked on DVD and packed with MGM's earlier Blu-ray editions. Although they're in SD and look pretty rough, that's almost to be expected from supplemental content produced during the early 2000s.

• Audio Commentary - This vintage commentary with director Ron Shelton is a candid and enjoyable track that gets right down to business but mostly chugs by at a modest speed, offering a good amount of social context in addition to technical info, stories from the set, and other details. This might be the first commentary I've heard from the director, and it's overall a very good effort that should interest fans of the film.

• Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes - Originally grouped together on DVD under the heading "Internal Affairs", these short to mid-length production featurettes include interview clips with Kurt Russell, Ving Rhames, Brendan Gleeson, Scott Speedman, director Ron Shelton, co-writer David Ayer, producer Caldecot Chubb, and several others, a few of which are heavily filtered (guess which color?). These could have easily been grouped together given their similar participants and subject matter, but they're all worth a look.

• Code Blue (18:19)
• By the Book (7:16)
• Necessary Force (6:53)

• Riot Easter Egg (3:02) - A short featurette that's also been rescued from DVD purgatory.

• Theatrical Trailer (1:58) - This one's actually upscaled to HD, which is nice.

• Behind-the-Scenes Gallery (1:40) - Likewise, this manual or self-playing slideshow is in HD.

Dark Blue Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Ron Shelton's gritty police drama Dark Blue turns 25 this year and, though it mostly stands in the shadow of similar fare like Training Day, it has its own merits and deserves a bit of love of home video after three uneven Blu-ray editions from MGM and Olive Films. I'd love to say that MGM's new Blu-ay ticks all the boxes but it stall falls short in the video department, although the lossless audio passes muster and several interesting legacy bonus features have finally been upgraded from DVD including a director's audio commentary and a few behind-the-scenes featurettes. Die-hard fans of Dark Blue will probably want to look into the forthcoming 4K edition from Australian boutique label Imprint, but this mildly upgraded Blu-ray -- its fourth release on the format -- might make a good substitute for everyone else.