The King of Staten Island Blu-ray review

Aug 24, 2020- Permalink

The King of Staten Island, from director Judd Apatow, takes a semi-autobiographical look at Pete Davidson’s life. Davidson plays Scott, a 24-year-old who has been drifting through life since his father died fighting a hotel fire. He lives at home with his mother (Marisa Tomei) and his ambitious younger sister (Maude Apatow) and spends his days smoking weed, dreaming of being a tattoo artist and hanging with his friends. One of those friends is Kelsey (Bel Powley), a girl that Scott is wary of committing to. When Scott’s mom starts dating a firefighter, Ray (Bill Burr), Scott must finally confront his grief and how is life is going. The King of Staten has now been released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. I had a chance to review the Blu-ray Combo Pack, which also includes a DVD and digital code.

The 1080p AVC-encoded transfer is in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The video presentation is crystal clear, with excellent skin textures as well as textile and environmental surfaces. The colour palette moves from almost neutral tones to vivid hues depending on the context of the moment. Excellent black levels show shadowy detail and there are no digital noise or compression artifacts to speak of. It’s a good looking disc.

On the audio side, there’s an English Dolby Atmos TrueHD 7.1 soundtrack well as an English DVS Dolby Digital 2.0 track. Subtitles are available for English SDH, French, and Spanish. Dialogue is clearly presented, centred and well-prioritized in the mix. The surrounds are well used for environmental ambient effects and as well as some of the musical elements. Music is dynamic and the low end is used to add some gravitas when necessary.

On the extras side, the Blu-ray comes with a DVD and a digital access code. There are deleted scenes, a gag reel, and a good variety of featurettes that look at the production, as well as a benefit stand-up performance for the FDNY, and a tribute to Pete Davidson’s father, Scott Davidson, a member of the FDNY who lost his life during the attacks on September 11th, 2001.

The King of Staten Island, has great performances, excellent audio and video presentations, and a good selection of extras. Recommended.