Youngblood - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Youngblood



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

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Movie
If you came into the review thinking they had made a live action or animated version of the “Youngbloods” comics, then you’re sorely mistaken. If you came here thinking that we were getting an indie remake of the 1986 Rob Lowe/Patrick Swayze hockey movie, then you came to the right place. Myself personally, I am rather puzzled by the attempted remake. Youngbloods 1986 wasn’t exactly a cult classic, nor was it one of those movies you watched even though it starred two of the biggest 80s heart throbs at the time either. It just came and went, and most Swayze or Rob Lowe fans barely remember the film. But here we are with a very VERY low budget re-imagining (I say re-imagining as it takes the general idea of the 1986 film, and completely changes most things around to where only the broadest of outlines of the original story are kept intact).

In this variation of the story, Dean Youngblood (Ashton James) is a young black man living in Canada as a second generation hockey player. His father Blane (the famed Blair Underwood) and older brother were almost stars themselves, but Blane was cast out of the industry due to his hot tempter on the ice. Now Dean has one chance to actually make it out of the minor leagues and actually make something of his life in the sport. But the boy is stuck between a rock and hard place. On one hand he has his father’s brutal teachings in his ear, telling him how to succeed at the sport, and on the other hand we have the more passive approach of Coach Chadwick (Shawn Doyle), with both sides having reasonable arguments, but only one will allow the boy to actually succeed.

Ironically, the remake idea for Youngblood was conceived years ago by filmmaker Charles Officer, but Officer died in his home back in 2023, leaving his friend and collaborator Hubert Davis to step in and direct the film for him a couple years later. And in many ways that is the best part of the film. You can actually see the loving care and devotion that went into making the production. The characters pop with their own unique textures, and you can see the anger, volatility, and simply human fear that Ashton Jones allows to seep through in his portrayal of Dean.

At the same time, there is a sense of “cheapness” that indie productions have, and that cheapness makes the film feel lesser than the 86 Swayze/Lowe film as a result. Not to mention the use of race and racial divides isn’t just a subtext in the film, but rather THE text for a lot of the stories twists and turns. And that sort of overt, beating you over the head, social commentary is not exactly in vogue right about now.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

I’m sure this is going to TOTALLY shock the readers, but IMDB and other online sources have almost no information whatsoever on the filming of this movie. Looking at it objectively I’d hazard a guess that we’re looking at a digital shoot with a 2K master, but that’s simply guessing based upon how it looks in motion. The image is crisp and clear, with a strong sense of detail all the way around, except for a few shots here and there that look strangely noisy and soft. But other than those few moments here and there, the 2.39:1 framed AVC encode looks amazingly clean and bright. The whites of the snow and uniforms pop off the screen, as the does the deep blacks when Dean and his father are conversing in their shadowy home. I didn’t see much banding or other major artifacting, so overall this is one impressive looking disc.








Audio:

Youngblood’s 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is right in line with most sports dramas. It’s cool and collected for a vast majority of the film, relying heavily on dialog and minor ambient surround usage as the film is distinctly talk heavy. But when we get to those few moments on the ice, things can pick up in a big way. Surrounds get used a lot more intensely, and the shouting and screaming of the crowds push in some more apparent use of the LFE channel. Again, this is not exactly a track you’re going to blast at reference levels, but it does the job more than adequately.










Extras:

• Well Go USA Previews
• Original Theatrical Trailer

Final Score: ​

Is Youngblood a good movie? I’m not sure. It certainly has good parts, but the negatives in the film are almost as big as the positives, making for a rather conflicting watch. I wanted to enjoy it more than I actually did and mostly for the reasons I laid out above. The film has some really heartwarming and intense moments, but the sloppy cliché ridden social commentary bits left me feeling a bit bored and over used. The Blu-ray looks and sounds nice though, and like usual, we have the typical nearly nonexistent extras. All in all, I’d put this at a moderately decent watch for those who are interested in the trailer, but it sits right in the middle where it’s neither great, nor so horrible that you have to turn it off. Youngblood just “exists”.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Wagner Shell III, Blair Underwood, Quintin Glasgow, Evan Kearns, Gord Rand
Directed by: Hubert Davis
Written by: Josh Epstein, Kyle Rideout, Seneca Aaron
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 105 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: May 5th, 2026

Recommendation: Decent Watch