The Boost Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

The Boost Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 24, 2016

Harold Becker's "The Boost" (1988) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of independent distributors Olive Films. The only bonus feature on the disc is an original theatrical trailer for the film. In English, without optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Together we are invincible

Lenny Brown (James Woods, Videodrome, Cop) knows that it is only a matter of time before his life changes forever. All he has to do is meet the right guy that will recognize his talent and give him a chance to show how good he is. Then he will start making money and he won’t stop until he becomes rich. Very, very rich.

The right guy, Max Sherman (Steven Hill, The Firm), approaches Lenny in a bar and offers him a job in LA. He tells him that he can sell tax shelters through his company in a market where the sky is the limit. If Lenny is as good as he claims, in a couple of years he could be a millionaire.

A few days later, Lenny and his wife Linda (Sean Young, No Way Out, A Kiss Before Dying) land in LA. The city is as beautiful and as intense as he always imagined it would be, the kind of perfect place a man like him needs to be a star.

Lenny quickly becomes Max’s best trader and begins making big money. Max treats him like a son. He also teaches Lenny how important it is to look and act confident because in their business the first impression can make or break a deal -- and that’s all that matters in LA, closing deals and making money.

Then suddenly Lenny’s perfect world crashes with a bang. Congress changes the tax law and forces the big sharks to withdraw their disposable income from the market. Max advises Lenny to take a break until the smoke clears out and he restructures his business, but he ignores him because he can’t imagine himself being inactive. He also needs to make money so that he can continue supporting his newly adopted lifestyle.

For a short period of time Lenny panics, but then one of his party friends (John Kapelos, Man Trouble) convinces him that he needs a “boost” that will bring back positive energy in his life. He and Linda quickly become cocaine addicts and hit the bottom. The dark and cruel world they discover and the people they meet scare them, while their out of control addiction nearly destroy them.

Harold Becker’s film The Boost is about two different yet equally dangerous types of addictions. The first half of the film shows how men like Lenny become addicted to money and eventually lose touch with reality. The euphoria they experience convinces them that they are invincible and then it is only a matter of time before they crash and burn. The second half is about drug addiction and its ability to transform people -- regardless of their age or social status -- into spiteful and self-destructive animals.

The film is incredibly cynical and completely free of political correctness. Basically, it reveals the dark side of the American Dream without sparing anything. Interestingly, this seems to be the reason why some critics dismissed it when it was released theatrically in the late ‘80s, which is rather ironic because since then there have been a number of big and very successful films that have targeted exactly the same culture and the dangerous addicts it created prior to the burst of the dot.com bubble. (See Boiler Room, The Wolf of Wall Street).

Woods delivers a career defining performances that should have earned him at least an Oscar nomination. Young is very good as the supportive wife. Hill always looks like a real veteran who understands how dangerous the business can be. Kapelos is the typical playboy whose life is one never-ending party filled with free riders and all sorts of different phony characters.

Cinematographer Howard Atherton (Fatal Attraction, Indecent Proposal) effortlessly captures the glamour and ugliness of LA. The moving soundtrack is from award winning composer Stanley Myers (The Deer Hunter).

The Boost Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Harold Becker's The Boost arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films.

The Blu-ray release appears to have been sourced from the same master that MGM used for the initial DVD release of the film. There are some obvious limitations, but the film does look quite good in high-definition. Many close-ups, for instance, boast decent depth, and even when light is restricted definition remains quite nice (see screencaptures #3, 8, and 12). Obviously, during the darker footage shadow definition could be better, but there are no serious distracting anomalies. Generally speaking, colors remain stable. However, saturation and balance should be better, and ideally there should be a wider range of nuances. Grain is visible throughout the entire film, but with some encoding optimizations it would have been better exposed and resolved. Regardless, the film has a slightly dated but quite nice organic appearance. There are no basic stability issues. Also, there are no large damage marks, cuts, debris, or burn marks, but a few tiny scratches can be seen. So, a new master would have given this film a much fresher appearance, but the current technical presentation is rather nice. My score is 3.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Boost Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are not provided for the main feature.

The film has a subtle but very effective soundtrack. It benefits rather well from the lossless treatment, but you should not expect to hear a great deal of dynamic movement. Balance and separation are good. The dialog is stable, clean, and easy to follow, but optional English SDH subtitles should have been provided for people that may need them.

The Boost Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Unfortunately, the audio commentary with James Woods and director Harold Becker as well as the deleted scenes that appear on the old DVD release of The Boost are not included on this release.

• Trailer - original trailer for The Boost. In English, not subtitled. (2 min, 1080p).

The Boost Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

James Woods delivers a career defining performance in this incredibly cynical film about an ambitious trader who gets a lucrative job offer and relocates with his wife to LA. I always thought that The Boost could end up in The Criterion Collection as it remains relevant today, but it is now out on Blu-ray via Olive Films. Consider adding the Blu-ray to your collection, but also get the old DVD release as it has a very nice audio commentary with James Woods and director Harold Becker. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.