BlacKkKlansman - 4K Blu-ray Review

Movie
I was a bit nervous going into BlacKkKlansman as Spike Lee is known for being a bit divisive with how he usually handles race relations in his more racially oriented films. That’s not to say that I have something against Spike, as the man has made some incredible films over the years. Movies like Summer of Sam, 25th Hour and He Got Game are absolutely legendary. However, he has made his share of stinkers too, especially when he tries to tackle black race relations as he suddenly becomes a “you love him, or you hate him” director, and I wasn’t sure what to expect form his latest venture. The trailer gave me pause, but I had heard some good word of mouth from people I trust and was pleasantly surprised to find a film that handles thing quite fairly and delicately. Spike doesn’t candy coat his villains and heroes, but he also doesn’t devolve into “kill whitey!” as he is prone to do sometimes. BlacKkKlansman is a fun film that bounces between serious drama and satirical comedy with deft ease, and leaves the viewer impressed, while chuckling out of the side of their mouth at he same time.

Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is Colorado Springs first black police officer, and the rookie cop is going to try and make the biggest difference he can. Sadly the young officer is put on desk duty in the records room, acting as a veritable errand boy for evidence folders. He gets an opportunity to expand his horizon when he begs his chief (played by veteran actor Robert John Burke) to go undercover in the black community. He’s young, good looking, and no one will suspect that he’s a police officer in the 70s. Going undercover to find out about some radicalized Black Panther members, Ron is introduced to the young and vivacious student body councilwoman Patrice Dumas (Laura Harrier), and soon starts up a relationship with her. Part real, and part information gathering, Ron uses her to get deeper into the black power movement.

However, this is not the big one that Ron wanted, and this “big one” comes in the form of the biggest white power group in American History, David Duke (Topher Grace) and the entire Ku Klux Klan that still survived outside of the civil war. At that time the Klan was no longer the giant vigilante group they were in the 1800s, but they were still fomenting hatred and a blight upon those people in the U.S. who wanted to smooth over relations and not live in hatred any more. While Ron has the opportunity to take down the biggest hate group in history, it’s kind of hard to do so when you’re a black man trying to go undercover. Using Jewish officer Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) to infiltrate the group physically, Ron uses a multi tiered approach that involves exposing David Duke for the terrorist he is, as well as sink deeper into the Klan than anyone has gone before.

Spike runs into the issue of race relations head on, tackling some serious topics in a sly way that mixes in copious amounts of wry humor as well as startlingly blunt social commentary. Ron Stallworth is a serious man with serious issues, but Lee creates more than enough humorous issues that he and Fip Zimmerman can use for audience mirth. While Lee sometimes likes to put races at odds with each other in his films, this one is the opposite. While there is some serious subject matter about America’s past issues with racial integration, does so with a subtle hand that allows healing and both races to come together on screen. Flip and Ron get more than enough time to bond over trolling David Duke, knowing the grand wizard of the KKK is actually talking to a black cop the whole time instead of an interested clan member, and some of the fumbling foibles of the KKK members will have you rolling on the floor.

While Lee has an incredible grasp on visuals (there’s one scene where an old man is telling about the OLD days of the KKK, where they tortured and abused his race while you get to see an initiation of a member into the Klan), it’s really the characters that make or break this film. Topher Grace is PERFECT to play David Duke, as no one can play a smarmy douche back Topher can. He just exudes a sense of charming sleaze that makes you want to wipe your hands off after shaking hands with him. While there’s a whole host of great character actors across the board, it’s Adam Driver and John David Washington that steal the show. You can’t take your eyes off of them whenever they’re on screen, and both Washington and Driver have absolutely magnificent chemistry together.




Rating:

Rated R for language throughout, including racial epithets, and for disturbing/violent material and some sexual references




4K Video: Video:

Spike Lee is one of the last visual directors who loves to shoot his movies on film, and BlacKkKlansman is one of his best looking ones to date. Transferred to a native 4K digital intermediate and thus used for both the stunning Blu-ray and this 4K UHD, BlacKkKlansman is gorgeously filmic and a nice upgrade over the 1080p Blu-ray. The Blu-ray is amazingly well done, but the 4K just takes it that one step further, showcasing more nuanced details along faces and backgrounds, as well as giving a boost to the colors with judicious use of HDR. Facial details show are some of the most improved features of the jump to 4K, showing every hair on Adam Driver’s face, every line and crease on the police chief, and the glimmer and shine of some of the swag that officer Stallworth wears as his undercover street attire. Blacks are deep and inky, and I can see no signs of any digital artifacting besides a glimpse of black crush. Overall this is a really nice transfer, showing more finesse and subtle textures than it’s 1080p counterpart, and is once again proof that a 4K master has some innate advantages over a 2K one upscaled.





Audio:

Universal is one of the more consistent studios to put the Atmos track on both Blu-ray AND 4K UHD disc, so whichever version you end up watching you’ll luckily get the full benefit of next generation audio across formats. For being a dramatic film BlacKkKlansman is a surprisingly robust and energetic track. The 1970s inspired score is lively and bombastic at times, using up a lot of the surround usage for the film’s ambiance. Background noises like the cheering and screaming at a rally is full and powerful, while the LFE rumbles away with gunshots, said roaring crowd, and the throbbing of a car engine. Dialog is precise and clean, always evenly balanced with the rest of the track and reverberates with ease even over an echoey microphone. The overheads get a few mild discrete sounds, but they are subtle and not wildly obvious, which is about the only reason I can think not to give it a full 5/5 rating.





Extras:

• A Spike Lee Joint
• BlacKkKlansman Extended Trailer Featuring Prince’s “Mary Don’t You Weep”












I went into BlacKkKlansman worried I would end up hating it due to how divisive Spike Lee is with his racially oriented films, but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. I didn’t find it to be the perfect masterpiece that others in the critic community seemed to laud upon the film, but I did find it an excellent watch nonetheless. Lee is very nuanced and balanced with his approach to race relations here, and both Adam Driver and John David Washington knock it out of the park with their performances. The 4K UHD disc is a healthy upgrade over the Blu-ray visually speaking, and with a stunning audio mix makes for one incredible view. Sadly both 4K and Blu-ray are both devoid of any real extras (something which is rare for a Spike Lee film), but still makes for a very good watch.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Adam Driver, John David Washington, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Robert John Burke, Frederick Weller, Ken Garito
Directed by: Spike Lee
Written by: Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), Spanish DD 5.1, French DD 7.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Universal
Rated: R
Runtime: 135 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: November 6th, 2018