GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 8, 2019

In a way it may be comically informative to compare GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon with another recently reviewed documentary about teen pastimes that was also released by FilmRise, Hobbyhorse Revolution. There are manifest differences between the two offerings, of course, with Hobbyhorse Revolution focusing on a bunch of teen girls in the frozen north of Scandinavia who have banded together over their love of, yep, hobbyhorses. GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon on the other hand focuses on Korean boys who have become dynamos in the wild and wooly internet gaming world, specifically with regard to the insanely popular game of StarCraft (actually, to be completely specific, StarCraft II, lest anyone think I’m not up on my pop culture references). Because my arguably over positive reaction to this documentary may not be shared by some, I should probably admit up front that my interest in this piece was piqued from the get go because my eldest son was good enough at StarCraft that he actually started making money while still in high school offering online tutorials to lesser skilled players. This same son also started his high school’s so-called “E-Sports Club”, an after school aggregation of gamers who were similarly involved with (addicted to?) StarCraft, and Korea's very active "E-Sports culture" is also a major focus of GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon. So for me personally it was fascinating to watch a piece on kids who, like the girls in Hobbyhorse Revolution, managed to evade taunts of being outright nerds and/or geeks to become proficient in their chosen hobby. Unlike the girls in Hobbyhorse Revolution, though, GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon shows that there’s actual money to be made with StarCraft (above and beyond giving online tutorials), and in fact it’s kind of mind boggling when one of the still rather young Korean boys profiled in the documentary is revealed to have made around $400,000 in tournament play over just the past couple of years.

Korea is very much in the news as this review is being written, and in one way, one of the central tenets of the United States' recent outreach to North Korea, namely that there's economic development to be had for the taking, is addressed pretty overtly in this piece, but perhaps not to the perceived benefit of capitalism. In fact, the explosion of economic growth in South Korea is actually described as being "harsh" at one point, an adjective I kind of wondered in passing might have been mistranslated in the subtitles, but which in another way seemed a perfectly apt description of some of the hardships "everyday" South Koreans seem to face in terms of economic challenges. In this aspect, it's kind of hard not see an analog to the hotly debated "1% vs. 99%" element of American society, but what's kind of cool about GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon is how it clearly shows some Korean youths grasping the brass ring of whatever the "Korean Dream" might be, courtesy of the rather unlikely "vehicle" of StarCraft. It's kind of bracing in a very real way to see these sweet and (initially) not all that well to do kids making good via something perceived as being as "stupid" as a videogame.

The documentary charts the fortunes of two main players, both of whom are champions from various tournaments, and both of whom have their own interesting back stories. Tournament play is documented as well, and it may surprise some to see what a huge event the so-called “BlizzCon” is. (Blizzard Entertainment is a huge purveyor of several of the most popular videogames, and this is their annual gaming convention.) A number of tangentially affiliated talking heads also offer some analysis and background, and even for those who are new to the world of “E-Sports” and StarCraft, GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon might prove to be a surprisingly involving viewing experience.

GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Visual and FilmRise with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While never hugely problematic, the documentary has a certain "fly on the wall" style that tends to include things like pretty prevalent noise in some darker moments. Scenes of the computer monitors can also exhibit what look like interlacing artifacts. A lot of the first person "confessional" moments look very sharp and well detailed, with a natural looking if not hugely vibrant palette. There's a pretty heterogeneous look on display here, not just due to some of the "guerrilla" filmmaking techniques, but also the utilization of some archival video, which can look pretty ragged at times.

GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As I mentioned in our Hobbyhorse Revolution Blu-ray review of that FilmRise release, FilmRise seems to still be making the transition from MOD product to "real" Blu-ray discs, and have yet to matriculate to lossless audio. GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon offers Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 mixes that feature both spoken Korean and English, and frankly this documentary could have arguably used a lossless surround track even more than the hobbyhorse documentary, simply because the BlizzCon footage is often so raucous and filled with both dialogue and game sound effects. That said, what's offered here is decently immersive, if kind of anemic on the low end. All talking head material is presented clearly, though some folks have pretty heavy accents. There's also an appealing, kind of quasi-ambient at times, score that plays underneath quite a bit of the piece. English subtitles are optional for the English language moments, but are non-removable for the Korean moments.

GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 2:28)

GameChangers: Dreams of BlizzCon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As gotten into above in the main body of the review, my personal history made me a near perfect "target audience" for this piece, and I found it consistently engaging and even at moments surprisingly exciting. The kids profiled are really interesting and devoted (my son informs me both of the focal players in this piece are legends in the StarCraft community), even if some elements of this documentary, like watching them pound computer keyboards like automatons, are probably undeniably silly. Video here is intermittently spotty, and some may feel that FilmRise needs to up its game and start offering lossless audio, for those considering a purchase.