Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

The Hate U Give 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 23, 2019

One of the more unsettling aspects of the relatively recent reviewed Blindspotting was how it almost stumbled (and/or drove, as the case may be) into a seeming sidebar involving a police shooting of an unarmed black man. The shooting didn’t really have any connection to the character who witnesses it, other than the witnessing itself, which then sends that character off into a roiling psychological substratum where he’s haunted by nightmares and becomes increasingly unsure of his place in the world. Something that made the shooting in that film so visceral is that Blindspotting had plied a semi-comedic tone up to the horrifying sequence where a man is almost randomly shot on a downtown Oakland street. Perhaps because there is a personal connection between a witness and a police shooting victim in The Hate U Give, and perhaps because this film's occasional exploitations of comedy tend to be less whimsical than some elements in Blindspotting, this kind of strangely underappreciated 2018 effort from director George Tillman, Jr. is often extremely unsettling, even if its obviously honorable intentions may be perceived as screed like by some viewers. Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg) is a sweet African American teenager who has learned to pretty dramatically “compartmentalize” her life. She lives in a somewhat downtrodden, almost exclusively black, neighborhood called Garden Heights, but at the behest of her mother Lisa (Regina Hall), Starr attends a largely white prep school called Williamson, where Starr has matriculated extremely well, though in a way by mimicking one of the more outrageous aspects of another recent film which, like Blindspotting, takes place in Oakland, Sorry to Bother You, where a black character learns to thrive by using a “white voice”.

Starr’s other parent is father Maverick (Russell Hornsby), a guy who it turns out lives up to his name, as an ex-con who nonetheless is definitely a “present” Dad, and who is intent on schooling his children on how to respond if they ever have an interchange with a (presumed white) policeman. One of the really encouraging things about The Hate U Give (and despite its inherently sad content, there is a lot of encouraging feeling ultimately running through the film) is how it depicts a really solid family unit in the Carter household, to the point that Starr kind of jokes about her parents’ public displays of affection. It’s a rather refreshing change from other “kitchen sink” family dramas attempting to depict urban black life, where dysfunctions, often including absent fathers, seem to be the cinematic norm.

The film quickly details Starr's ability to (in the words of the film, and also one of the supplements), "code switch", i.e., tailor her persona to whatever group she's around. There's some gentle but never over the top skewering of what might be perceived as white privilege, especially since Starr's school friends are Caucasian, but the film takes a turn into more troubling territory when Starr perhaps unwisely goes to a party where she decides to ride home with childhood friend Khalil (Algee Smith), a decision which ends in tragedy when Khalil's innocent response to a police command is misunderstood and he's shot by the policeman. Parts of this scene, including the panicked reaction of the cop, are quite reminiscent of the similar sequence in Blindspotting, but the emotional ante is upped considerably in this film since Starr is in the car when her friend is shot (outside of the car), and is obviously terrified as a result.

The rest of the film plays out as a sort of dialectic between the two competing cultures Starr finds herself in, as she has to decide how public she wants to become as the shooting is investigated. What might be thought of as her "black" side definitely wants justice for Khalil, but Starr is so heavily ensconced in the white society of her school life that she feels her status (at the very least) might be threatened if she comes forward. She's counseled by both her ex-con father and her policeman Uncle Carlos (Common), but the film really hones in on the turmoil Starr feels despite having a support system.

There are arguably a few too many subplots and/or sidebars running through The Hate U Give, and the film perhaps attempts to achieve an unbelievable kinda sorta happily (or perhaps more accurately "bittersweet"-ly) ever after, but the film really manages to bring up a number of issues without ever demonizing any of the people with perhaps questionable motives. The Hate U Give rather surprisingly seems to suggest that hope is still possible even in the most hopeless of circumstances.

The Hate U Give 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080p Blu-ray.

The Hate U Give is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with a 2160p transfer in 2.40:1. As I mentioned in our The Hate U Give Blu-ray review of the 1080p Blu-ray version, the visuals in this film understandably don't really lend themselves to consistent "wow" levels, but I found this 4K upgrade rather striking in both its accentuation of fine detail levels and especially the reproduction and enhancement of a rather interesting palette. While the film's tendency to exploit earth tones or neutral tones isn't especially changed in this version, some of the blue tinged school material is at least marginally more vivid and suffused now, especially with regard to elements like the cobalt colored lockers. A later scene involving a showdown at the school is now interestingly shorn of a bit of color, with blues tending almost toward white territory. Some of the expressive lighting, as in the party scene, or even the shooting scene, is impressively saturated. Shadow detail, already surprisingly good in the 1080p Blu-ray version, also looks great here.

The Hate U Give 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Hate U Give features an expressive DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track that exploits good surround activity in its use of source cues, as well as some of the bustling activity in the school environment. The party scene also has great immersion, and the horrifying shooting sequence has some good depth in ambient environmental sounds as well as the sonics of the shooting itself. Dialogue is always presented cleanly and clearly on this effective and problem free track.

The Hate U Give 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 4K UHD disc offers only the Audio Commentary that is also one of several supplements on the 1080p Blu-ray. For a complete list of supplements on the 1080p Blu-ray disc, please see our The Hate U Give Blu-ray review.

The Hate U Give 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This year's Academy Award nominations were announced just as this review was being written, and I was really curious to see if perhaps Amandla Stenberg's extremely impressive work in The Hate U Give might have gained recognition (probably in the Supporting Actress category, though she is for all intents and purposes the lead actress in this film). Alas, that honor was not meant to be evidently, but Stenberg really gives this film its emotional anchor, and she's ultimately devastating in this role. The film has a few stumbles along the way, but even those can't seriously distract from a story that is sadly all too common in the black community. Technical merits are first rate, though there's the fact that the 4K UHD disc features the same (excellent) audio as the 1080p Blu-ray, and the visual quality here, while noticeably upgraded, may not offer the kind of "wow" levels some may expect or want. As a film, The Hate U Give comes Highly recommended.