The Apprentice Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

The Apprentice Blu-ray Movie Review

"You create your own reality. Truth is a malleable thing."

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown January 6, 2025

Hm. A review of a movie Donald Trump... ahem, President Trump denounced and swore holy jihad upon. What could possibly go wrong with publishing a positive review of said film? So let me just start with anime. The X-Men. You know when a villain or mutant has the power to absorb whatever powers are hurled their way? That's our dear leader in a nutshell. The more people fire at him, the more powerful he becomes. How else to explain the sheer magnitude of forces set against him that failed to prevent his second ascendency? In case you couldn't tell, and to put all my cards on the table, no. No, I'm not a fan of Trump. I don't like him. I didn't vote for him. And nothing in The Apprentice surprised me one bit. Disgusted me? Sure. But surprised me? Nah, this is Trump exactly as I've always imagined him. Secretly weak. Ineffectual. Insecure. Narcistic. But that's my bias. And I assume the likely bias of anyone coming to this film, as the MAGA faithful only mention it in jeers and sneers. There's something to The Apprentice, though. Something that borders on revelatory without every quite reaching such heights. Trump is not his own creation. He just wants us to believe he is. He's not a success. He's a man who's taken advantage of the success of others. He's not a leader. He's a bully, eager to pounce on the weak to convince us all he's strong. Sorry for the politics, but that's The Apprentice in a proverbial nutshell.

"No matter what happens, you claim victory and never admit defeat."

A young Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan, landing somewhere just shy of an SNL sketch impression), eager to make his name as a hungry second son of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of Roy Cohn (a masterfully sleazy Jeremy Strong), the cutthroat attorney who would help create the Donald Trump we know today. Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protégé; someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win. Directed by Ali Abbasi and written Gabriel Sherman, the film Donald Trump tried to stop any of us from seeing also stars Martin Donovan as the Don's father Fred, Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump, Catherine McNally as Mary Anne Trump, Charlie Carrick as Freddy Trump, Ben Sullivan as Russell Eldridge, Mark Rendal as Roger Stone, Joe Pingue as Tony Salerno, Ron Lea as Victor Palmieri, Edie Inksetter as Barbara Katz, Matt Baram as Dr. Steven Hoefflin, Brad Austin as Dick Morgan, Stuart Hughes as Mike Wallace and Jim Monaco as Al Formicola.

The Apprentices has the hallmarks of a biopic created without the involvement of its still-living subject, and certainly comes across as a hit piece. There's little denying that. But there's also a sense that the filmmakers have done their due diligence, up to the point of almost humanizing Trump. There were moments I... felt something? Sad? Empathy? It's hard to empathize with someone so bound and determined to villainize anyone and everything -- to borderline sociopathic ends -- but I did. Moments in which Stan's Trump yearned for his father's respect, or stood staring in the mirror, or paused to wonder how he had reached a point of no return left me feeling sympathy. No small feat, and one that speaks to the film's power. The real mastermind dealmaker of the picture is Cohn, simultaneously a puppet-master and king-maker who delights in elevating people dim enough to do his bidding; malleable minds that are easy to manipulate and ripe for the opportunistic picking. That may disappoint some who deeply desire to see Trump at his worst, but The Apprentice paints a portrait of a man-child grasping at power, completely oblivious to the superiority of those making his rise possible. He believes Cohn is in his pocket, but he has permanent residence in Cohn's, which bearing out all the research done on Trump over the last decade, doesn't seem that far from the truth.

The film unfortunately has all the shortcomings of the aforementioned biased biopic, shying away from things that might absolve or justify in clear favor of anything that might allow us to feed our own preconceived notions. I wasn't offended, mind you. This is the guy I already thought was about to waltz into the White House again. No skin off my back. But those hoping for a more balanced examination of corrupting power and absolutism -- the makings of a would-be totalitarian -- will be sorely disappointed. This is Trump as another man's Play-Doh, shaping and fashioning him into a hedonistic, self-indulgent monster that fulfills every fantasy to which we in the middle and on the left sometimes cling. Watching Strong Rasputin Stan's Trump is thrilling; seeing Trump slide further and further into his own whims and desires frustrating but telling; watching his circle fall prey first to Cohn then to Trump's self-infatuation horrifying. The Apprentice is a portrait of a man slowly being corrupted from the inside out, becoming the very thing that will empower and destroy him. His self-destructive ideations become his greatest strength; the myth of the man more palpable than the reality. Stan and Strong play off of one another with effortless ease, delighting in the dance and delivering a terrifying twosome worthy of awards attention. But with its bombing at the box office and Trump's election to a second term, the film is more likely to fade from memory; a brief blip in a series of blips designed to stop a man all involved failed to stop. And so we have a convicted felon as president. What a world we've fashioned, whispers the film. What a world.

The Apprentice Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Filmed to evoke video footage of the era, The Apprentice isn't exactly a looker. That said, it's 1.50:1 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer is faithful to its filmmakers' every intentions, delivering a crisp, not-so-clean presentation of a not-so-clean businessman. Colors are actually warm, beautifully contrasted and quite life like, minus scenes that are meant to be drowned in red or yellow hues. Exterior shots are extremely natural and dump the feeling of proper Hollywood lighting. Black levels are deep throughout, grain and other intentional video lines and anomalies are present but intentional, and detail is quite good. All told, this one works, regardless of how aesthetically pleasing or unattractive a docudrama/biopic it may be.

The Apprentice Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Apprentice also features a decidedly decent 5.1 surround track that captures the hustle and bustle of New York. Dialogue is intelligible and nestled within a soundscape of crowded parties, busy streets, chattering offices, and eerily silent isolated spaces. Ambient effects are everywhere, coming from every speaker and to great effect. Directionality isn't perfect but serves the film and its locales well, LFE output is decidedly decent, and dynamics and fidelity are spot on.

The Apprentice Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extra is the film's theatrical trailer (HD, 2 minutes).

The Apprentice Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

"I got three rules. OK? They're my three rules of winning. Rule one: the world is a mess, OK? The world is a mess, Tony. You have to fight back. You have to have a tough skin. Attack, attack, attack. If somebody comes after you with a knife, you shoot 'em back with a bazooka. OK? Rule two: what is truth, Tony? What is truth? You know what's truth? What you say is truth, what I say is truth, what he says is truth. What is the truth in life? Deny everything, admit nothing. You know what's true? What I say is true. And third of all, most important, no matter how fucked you are, you never ever ever admit defeat. You always claim victory. Always."

The Apprentice is a flawed but fascinating biopic that wears its bias on its sleeve. For those who accept that this is the Trump we watch on television day in and day out, the film will be near-revelatory at best, a consolation prize at worst. For the MAGA faithful, though, it will continue to be an attack on their beloved; a deep-state lie wrapped in Hollywood lies that forgoes the truth in favor of propaganda. The Blu-ray release is a good one either way, with solid AV presentations. And while I'm not entirely surprised that there aren't any extras, the barebones nature of the disc is still a disappointment.