BlacKkKlansman Blu-ray review

Nov 08, 2018- Permalink

From director Spike Lee, BlacKkKlansman examines race relations in America during the Seventies. John David Washington plays Ron Stallworth, Colorado Springs’ first black cop, who begins to form a relationship with the local Ku Klux Klan chapter over the phone. When he obviously can’t meet them in person, he gets a Jewish cop, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), to handle that end of things. The two men work to keep their identities a secret while getting closer to the KKK’s national leader David Duke, played here by Topher Grace.

The 1080p AVC-encoded transfer is presented in the movie’s original 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Shot on film, the transfer to digital is nearly flawless. Details are sharp, whether they be the pores on faces, the textures of clothing or the natural and man-made locations. There’s a light film grain, which along with the colour palette, makes us feel a bit like we’re watching one of the politically-charged films from the Seventies. There are no compression artifacts to speak of and they only slight issue is some black levels in low light scenes. Other than that, this is a great film-to-digital transfer.

On the audio side of things, we get an English Dolby Atmos soundtrack as well as a French Dolby Digital Plus 7.1 track and a Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Subtitles are available in English SDH, French and Spanish. The soundscape created on this disc puts the viewer in the centre of the action, from a rally to the busy clatter of the police station. Low-end frequencies give the required scenes the extra weight they need. The movie’s music sounds great and the dialogue, so important when phone calls are important plot points, is clear and centred.

Besides a digital download code, the film also contains interviews with the cast and production team as well as an extended trailer.

A great Spike Lee film with a great video and audio transfer, BlacKkKlansman is a worthy addition to your home video library.