Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		2.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		2.5

Staying Alive 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov September 5, 2023

Sylvester Stallone's "Staying Alive" (1983) arrives on 4K Blu-ray courtesy of Paramount Pictures. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new program with actress Finola Hughes; exclusive new audio commentary by critics David Del Valle and Ed King; and vintage promotional materials for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Sylvester Stallone’s Staying Alive is defined by its excess. Some of it is good, some of it is bad, and some of it is so utterly ridiculous you can instantly tell that it is a product of the 1980s. This excess is what makes and breaks Staying Alive, too. If you lived through the cultural euphoria that produced so many good and bad films, music albums, and fashion trends in the 1980s, and you had some sort of connection with it, you will get why Staying Alive exists. Of course, it is not a great film that was somehow misunderstood and now deserves to be reevaluated and rediscovered, but it is absolutely not the giant turkey the ‘serious’ critics described either. It is a big, unleashed film, a unique cinematic kamikaze that self-destructs in spectacular fashion. I enjoy these types of films a lot. The ‘serious’ critics do not, but it is not because they cannot. It is because admitting that they enjoy them too is a very, very serious liability.

Since Staying Alive was heavily promoted as a sequel to John Badham’s Saturday Night Fever, you would think that the two make a pretty decent double bill, correct? It may seem so because Tony Manero (John Travolta) is back, dancing again, and the girls are still chasing him, but if you choose to see Staying Alive immediately after Saturday Night Fever, I guarantee you will have an underwhelming experience. You should see Staying Alive on the same night you have the time to revisit Paul Verhoeven’s Showgirls. Start with the former and end your night with the latter. These two films have so much in common it actually makes perfect sense that the ‘serious’ critics had to smear them with bad reviews and shame them with Razzie awards. There is too much excess in them and some of it is so unleashed it becomes revelatory.

Verhoeven conceived Showgirls to be that kind of outrageous and revelatory film but Stallone’s plan for Staying Alive was different, and this is why I think that the former is a much more effective film. In Showgirls, Verhoeven dispatches Nomi Malone to Las Vegas and as she evolves into a professional dancer her failures and triumphs expose a ruthless business selling kitsch as art. In Staying Alive, Stallone dispatches Manero to Broadway where his transformation into a star exposes another ruthless business selling kitsch as art. Manero has many of the same experiences Malone does but is not as cynical -- or is he? In the final act, during the massive performance, which looks every bit as outrageous and tasteless as the ones Verhoeven shot for Showgirls, Manero humiliates his partner (an outstanding Finola Hughes), and over the course of a few minutes, feeling emboldened, conquers Broadway. While impressive, his evolution is largely unimportant, but there is a message behind it that is as brutally honest as the one that emerges at the end of Showgirls. Unfortunately, instead of making this message the centerpiece of Staying Alive, Stallone instantly moves away from it and forces the audience to conclude that what mattered the most in it was Manero’s triumph on Broadway and meaningless romance with a fellow dancer (Cynthia Rhodes).

The soundtrack features several outstanding tracks by The Bee Gees, including the superhit “Stayin’ Alive”, “Life Goes On”, “I Love You Too Much”, and “Someone Belonging to Someone”. Also, Stallone’s brother, Frank, can be heard singing the terrific “Far From Over” and “Moody Girl” as well as the “I’m Never Gonna Give You Up” with Rhodes.

Staying Alive 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Kino Lorber's release of Staying Alive is a 4K Blu-ray/Blu-ray combo pack. The 4K Blu-ray disc is Region-Free. However, the Blu-ray disc is Region-A "locked".

Please note that some of the screencaptures that appear with this article are taken from the 4K Blu-ray and downscaled to 1080p. Therefore, they do not accurately reflect the quality of the 4K content on the 4K Blu-ray disc, including the actual color values of this content.

Screencaptures #1-30 are from the Blu-ray.
Screencaptures #34-39 are from the 4K Blu-ray.

Staying Alive was fully restored in 4K from the original camera negative by Paramount Pictures. The 4K makeover can be viewed with Dolby Vision and HDR. I viewed the entire film with HDR.

In native 4K and 1080p, the film looks seriously disappointing. I do not wish to speculate precisely what was done or why while the 4K makeover was finalized, so I am just going to describe some of the issues I observed on my system. Delineation and depth range from average to disappointing, in select areas even very problematic. I saw smearing of the kind that I would typically associate with digital tinkering/filtering, so on a larger screen pretty much all of the dancing footage is unconvincing. Clarity is acceptable but usually during close-ups. The visuals do not have a proper grain structure. Color balance is good. The color blue could have been managed better, but I do not think that there are any serious issues. This being said, there are a couple of areas where the visuals become a tad too warm and acquire a creamy appearance. Image stability is outstanding. The entire film looks spotless as well. The HDR grade does not produce any serious discrepancies in the dynamic range of the visuals, which I found a tad surprising. Darker areas looked good on my system. All in all, the current presentation of the film does not have proper organic qualities. My score is 2.25/5.00.

Staying Alive 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I viewed the entire film with the DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. I thought that the quality of the audio was excellent. Clarity, sharpness, and stability were definitely better than those on my old R1 DVD release of Staying Alive. Dynamic intensity is greatly improved as well, so the final act and all areas where music is used sounded great. I did not encounter any encoding anomalies to report in our review.

Staying Alive 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

4K BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics David Del Valle and Ed King of the Irish Film Institute.

BLU-RAY DISC

• Commentary - this exclusive new audio commentary was recorded by critics David Del Valle and Ed King of the Irish Film Institute.

• Alive and Kicking - in this exclusive new program, actress Finola Hughes recalls how she became involved with Staying Alive, what it was like to work with Sylvester Stallone and John Travolta, the type of look that the film tried to get right, the reception of the film, the 'honor' of winning a Razzie award, etc. In English, not subtitled. (15 min).

• Promotional Materials -
  
  1. Original trailer
  2. Teaser trailer
  3. Home video trailer/VHS years
  4. TV spots
  5. Radio spots

Staying Alive 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A few strategic tweaks easily could have transformed Staying Alive into a very effective satirical film. I still like it quite a lot and very much disagree with old claims that it was a giant misfire but its finale was unquestionably mishandled by Sylvester Stallone. Kino Lorber's combo pack introduces a recent 4K restoration of Staying Alive that was completed at Paramount Pictures. Sadly, I must report that the makeover is unconvincing.