Boyz n the Hood - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Boyz n the Hood



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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] Movie
I’m gonna say something a bit click baity and controversial. Boyz n the Hood is over rated. There, I said it. All provocation aside, I stand by that statement. Back in 1991 it was the seminal “hood” film, spawning countless copy cats like Menace II Society, Juice, New Jack City etc., and garnered itself a huge following. Now before everyone gets up in arms for me dissing the most popular hood movie ever made, let me state that I think Boyz n the Hood is actually a solid movie. Back in 1991 director/writer John Singleton was watching the horrible black on black crime epidemic in the 80s, and watching their culture just eat each other alive. The hoods were rife with crack, booze and a lot of good young people never made it out of their neighborhood alive. Boyz n the Hood was his first movie, and it hit people HARD at the time. Honestly, it’s still a good movie. It just suffers from the malady that many seminal ground breakers suffer from. Mostly that it’s a trail blazer and subsequent films have built upon and matured the thematic breakthroughs, leaving it feeling a bit raw and unrefined in comparison.

The year is 1984, and 3 young friends by the name of Tre, Doughboy and Ricky find out what the world has to offer them in the streets of L.A. when they find a dead body in the concrete maze that they play in. Tre has been dumped by his mother (Angela Bassett) on his divorced father “Furious” (Lawrence Fishburne) in order to get him to shape up from getting fights in school. Doughboy and Ricky are both trying their best to survive, but the hood is hard. Fast forward 7 years and the 90s are kicking off, complete with the rise of hip-hop and rap music (at least the more modern gangster rap is just on the cusp of the scene). Doughboy (Ice Cube) has just gotten out of prison once again, Ricky (Morris Chestnut) is about to escape the hood with the chance of a promising football scholarship, and Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.) has kept himself out of trouble thanks to his father, getting good grades and keeping a job at the local mall until he too can go to college and get out of the slums of Los Angeles.

However, their lives are turned upside by the very world that they live in. As they traverse the streets, the streets follow them everywhere. Murder, lust, and the evils that plague the downtrodden warp and twist the young boys lives in ways that they they couldn’t image. At the end of the day, Boyz n the Hood is a slice of life drama about growing up in a world that can seem very different than something a middle class American grew up in. There was always the cliché of “getting out of the projects”, but for many African Americans in the ghettos of East L.A. it was a reality they called home. Singleton was so grieved by the wrongs and poverty of said ghettos that he was impassioned enough to make this, and was actually cherry picked once his screenplay came across a few desks to direct it as well.

The movie is solid, but I still think it hasn’t aged as well as it once did. Not because these areas don’t exist anymore, but because Singleton can come across a little heavy handed with the preachiness, and the first act feels a bit too contrived. It’s not until the 3rd act that the movie really takes off at full steam and finds it’s footing. The final act with Tre’s monologue and the realization of what happens, despite their best intentions, that really hits home. Some of the works are cliched, and I think the movie isn’t as good as it’s always raved about, but Boyz n the Hood will always bee the seminal “hood” movie that started it all in the 90s.

I will say this, some of my lack of adoration for the film stems from the fact that I’ve seen Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood WAAAAAAAAY too many times. The Wayans brothers slapstick parody of hood movies pretty much lampoons Boys n the Hood above and beyond insanity to the point where all I can see anymore is Loc Dawg, and the rest of them hamming it up.




Rating:

Rated R for language, violence and sensuality




4K Video: Video:

I don’t know if this was struck from a NEW 4K master for this release, but it was definitely struck from a newish 4K master for sure, as the results are a stunning improvement over the Blu-ray. The filmic looking Blu-ray was hit or miss, with some good spots, and some smeary spots that didn’t show detail well. This new 2160p release is just what the doctor ordered, as the 35mm source material shines on home video. Gone is the hit or miss nature of the original release and instead we get a strongly detailed image that showcases even film grain, great textural details, and the 90s colors pop way more than they used to with the use of HDR. It’s not heavy color changes, but the saturation points and the richness of colors are much more inviting and less washed out. Blacks are inky and deep, and even in some of the darker shots, grain doesn’t get too obtrusive at all. A fantastic encode from Sony, this is easily the definitive version I’ve ever seen on home video.








Audio:

Upgraded from DTS-HD MA 5.1 to Dolby Atmos, the audio mix is slightly better, but not worlds apart simply due to the sound design. This is a drama heavy track, with front heavy mixtures and not a WHOLE tone of surround activity, or activity that would really lend itself to overhead usage. Still, the direction of the hip hop music, and the infamous drive by certainly show the advantages of object based encoding. It’s full sounding mix that adds some good thump with the minimal action, leaving the gunfire and music to take the rest of the low end activity. Surrounds get some solid activity with the drive bys, or the streets of L.A., but once again, this is a dramatic track with most of the weigh up front.







Extras:

• NEW John Singleton Tribute
• NEW Theatrical Press Conference
• NEW Behind-the-Scenes Featurette
• Theatrical Trailer
• Commentary with Writer/Director John Singleton
• The Enduring Significance of Boyz N the Hood
• Friendly Fire: Making of an Urban Legend
• Deleted Scenes
• Audition Videos Featuring Ice Cube, Angela Bassett, Morris Chestnut and Tyra Ferrell
• Compton's Most Wanted Music Video "GROWIN' UP IN THE HOOD"
• Tevin Campbell Music Video "JUST ASK ME TO"

Final Score: ​

Boyz n the Hood is an iconic coming of age story, and one that set off the entire 90s “hood” movies that came after it. Parodied, iconicized, and still relevant today, it is a staple in most people’s hood collection. Sony’s 4K UHD disc is a massive improvement over the mediocre Blu-ray, giving us a nice new 4K transfer, Atmos audio, and some new extras to dig into as well. A solid release all the way around, and whether you pick up this one, or the steelbook from Best Buy, you’ll be pleased with the package. Recommended.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr., Morris Chestnut, Lawrence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, John Cothran, Miya McGhee
Directed by: John SIngleton
Written by: John Singleton
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English DTS-HD MA 5,1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Thai, Turkish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Icelandic, Korean, Mandarin (Simplified), Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish
Studio: Sony
Rated: R
Runtime: 112 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: February 4th, 2020.

Recommendation: Good Buy

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I remember somewhat seeing this as well as the other movies Menace II Society, Juice, New Jack City.

Will check it out once available on amazon prime/netflix since I kind of forgot most of those films that I just mentioned..

 

[WELLENDOWEDPAUL]

Thank you for reviewing BOYZ N THE HOOD. I was wondering how 4k was with atmos sound, to decide whether to buy 4k or not. I LOVE THIS MOVIE! I have the laserdisc, I have the dvd, and I have the regular bluray. BUT want the 4k atmos bluray now. Thanks again, as I have been waiting for long time to read a review on whether to (re)buy or not.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Great, thoughtful, review. I like where you kick it off: right into the land of controversy! I can see where you're going with your comments.

I saw this in theaters when it was released. It was definitely ground breaking. Definitely opened my mind.