In The Heights - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

In The Heights



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

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Movie
While Lin-Manuel Miranda is most recently known for his Broadway production of “Hamilton” (which he also starred in), one of his first big hits was over a decade ago with “In the Heights”. A show that earned him four Tony awards (13 nominations), and a Grammy, and has gone on to be one of the most successful modern plays in recent history, still ongoing today. That being said, it’s been 13 years since the play came out and we FINALLY get to see the play get an onscreen demonstration, with Jon M. Chu (Crazy, Rich, Asians) at the directors helm and Miranda himself stepping aside from the lead role to give a new cast a chance to shine (although he does play a nice little cameo). The movie itself is solid, but is plagued with pacing issues and a runtime that drones on nearly 40 minutes too long, leaving you feeling a bit let down for what is obviously meant as a life changing experience.

In The Heights is an all star studded film of many colors, bringing us several diverging story lines about a neighborhood in Washington Heights, New York, where people are just trying to live their lives. Usnavi de la Vega (Ramos) is getting ready to leave New York for his childhood home of the Dominican Republic at a chance of living his dream on the beaches where his father’s bar once was, but he’s also crushing on burgeoning clothing designer Vanessa (Melissa Barrera) too. He’s been too shy about asking her out on a date, but his younger cousin Sonny (Greg Diaz IV) decides to take matters into his own hands and set the two up, starting a chain of events that will change both their lives forever.

Simultaneously Harvard student Nina Rosario (Leslie grace) comes home to her family after having a bad experience studying at the famous university. She’s reticent to tell her father (Jimmy Smits) that she’s dropping out as all the hopes and dreams of her father, as well as her neighborhood, seems to be resting on her erudite shoulders. The rest of the star studded cast fills out a veritable cornucopia of colorful characters, from Benny (Corey Hawkins) who’s crushing hard on Nina, to Sonny realizing his hopes and dreams of a college education are crumbling down due to his immigration status. It’s bold, captivating, and the movie flows with stream of consciousness type song writing, taking over about 80% of all spoken dialog, but at the end of the day it doesn’t seem to strike that resonant chord that it’s obviously trying to do.

The movie seems to take influence from Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, with a more Latino and modern vibe to it, and of course being a musical. There are elements of racism, classism, and general social upheaval that Washington Heights natives are seeing every day, and while it’s never OVERTLY political, Miranda is not shy about addressing some of them head on. Sometimes in a rather naive way, but always uplifting and heartfelt rather than bitter or angry (ala most of Spike Lee’s films in my opinion). The music is catchy, the dancing is great, but I did find that the move started to lose steam right around the hour and forty minute mark. You could tell that the Broadway production was having a hard time fitting all of the elements inside without feeling overstuffed, and unfortunately that’s exactly what it feels like. About 30 minutes too long (possibly 40) with an ending that just didn’t really land as earth shatteringly important as it so obviously was attempting to be. The movie isn’t BORING per se, but I can see how it faltered and had enough issues to lose some of the intended impact.




Rated PG-13 for some language and suggestive references




Video:

The 1080p image was taken from a native 4K master and then “dumbed down” to 1080p, and is probably the definition of perfection on the Blu-ray format. Shiny and glossy, In The Heights is an incredible looking image, with razor sharp clarity, a brilliantly neutral color grading (outside of some amber shading in darker scenes due to the lighting) and incredibly detailed to boot. You can see every fiber and paint splatter on clothing, as well as facial stubble, individual pores on faces, and immaculate skin tones. Simply put, this is an array of colors and textures and one of the best Blu-ray discs I’ve seen for quite some time







Audio:

Almost as good as the video is the Dolby Atmos track (found on both the 4K UHD disc and the Blu-ray) which is a powerhouse track of epic proportions. Spaciousness and massive soundstage is the name of the game here, with the opening scene just setting the stage for a gigantic sounding mix. Highs are high, lows are low, with TONS of bass in between. Conversations and dialog are less frequent than singing said dialog, but they’re still there and the track knows when to fade into the background to let these sequences play out. However, it lunges back into the foreground at moments notice with a massive burst of sonic energy. Surrounds are filled with the catchy urban score, and even the overheads get some work with ambient musical energy. This a great mix ,and one that really shines in terms of musicality and clarity.





Extras:

• Paciencia y Fe: Making in the Heights
• Paciencia y Fe: When You're Home
• Paciencia y Fe: Hundreds of Stories
• Paciencia y Fe: Alza La Bandera/Raise the Flag
• Paciencia y Fe: Wepa!
• Paciencia y Fe: That Music in the Air
• Paciencia y Fe: Who Keeps our Legacies
• In the Heights Sing-a-long
• 96,000 Sing-a-long

Final Score: ​

After being a Broadway success, and after getting a TON of positive critical feedback as one of the go to movies of a post pandemic world, In The Heights ends up being a good movie, but falling slightly short of the landmark play that Miranda penned over a decade ago. The movie sometimes delivers jaw dropping visuals, a sweet romance and incredible dancing, but struggles to tie everything together in a cohesive way that resonated with this reviewer personally. Fun movie, a bit bulky, but still fun and a great GREAT Blu-ray disc to enjoy from Warner.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Jimmy Smits, Gregory Diaz IV, Stephanie Beatriz
Directed by: Jon M. Chu
Written by: Quiara Alegria Hudes (Screenplay), Lin-Manuel Miranda (Stage Play)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1 Core), English, French, Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Italian, Italian SDH, Japanese, Spanish, Cantonese, Catalan, Danish, Finnish, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Swedish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 143 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: August 31st, 2021

Recommendation: Decent Watch