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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Brawl in Cell Block 99 (Blu-ray) (2017)

Brawl in Cell Block 99 (Blu-ray) (2017)

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Released 31-Jan-2018
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Details At A Glance

General		Extras
Category	Crime Drama	Featurette-Making Of-Journey to the Brawl
Rating
Year Of Production	2017
Running Time	132:47
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu	Cast & Crew
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	S. Craig Zahler
Studio Distributor	Universal Sony	Starring	Vince Vaughn Jennifer Carpenter Don Johnson Udo Kier Marc Blucas Dion Mucciacito Geno Segers Victor Almanzar Tom Guiry Willie C. Carpenter Clark Johnson
Case	Standard Blu-ray	Starring
RPI	$19.95	Music	Jeff Herriott S. Craig Zahler

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 French dts 5.1 Polish dts 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No	Miscellaneous
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired French Czech Danish Dutch Icelandic Norwegian Polish Swedish	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

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Plot Synopsis

    Following up a directorial debut like 2015's sleeper surprise Bone Tomahawk is a tall order, but prodigy writer-director S. Craig Zahler defies the odds (and his own relative inexperience) with seemingly little effort. Brawl in Cell Block 99 is a f***ing masterpiece from top to bottom; a brutal, completely mesmerising showcase of extreme violence, hyper-masculine behaviour and dark humour, buoyed by superb direction and a remarkable, career-defining performance by Vince Vaughn. An ode to old-fashioned prison films and grindhouse cinema, Zahler's sophomore effort further demonstrates his unique filmmaking voice, with deliberate but enthralling pacing, and a screenplay that crackles with unforced wit. There is genuine artistry throughout Brawl in Cell Block 99 to boot; this is practically an art-house movie, but it's also more accessible than that label implies.

    A recovered addict and former boxer, Bradley Thomas (Vaughn) loses his job as a tow truck driver and discovers that his wife, Lauren (Jennifer Carpenter), is seeing another man. Determined to put his life and marriage back together, Bradley becomes a successful drug runner for old friend Gil (Marc Blucas), while Lauren falls pregnant; their second attempt to have a child. Bradley is cautious and proficient in his line of work, but things go south when Gil gets into business with Eleazar (Dion Mucciacito). When Bradley works alongside a pair of Eleazar's enforcers to pick up a shipment of crystal meth, the police get involved, compromising the job and putting Bradley behind bars. Unwilling to give up Gil to the police, Bradley is sentenced to seven years in a medium-security prison, which separates him from Lauren in the latter stages of her tough pregnancy. However, Eleazar is not willing to let Bradley off the hook, demanding that he gets himself moved to Redleaf, a maximum security facility housing a special target whom Bradley must assassinate to pay off his outstanding debt. With Eleazar's men holding Lauren hostage, Bradley has little choice but to comply.

    Chief among Brawl in Cell Block 99's strengths is that Zahler is unafraid of length. Although the narrative is largely uncomplicated and the movie could have probably run a proverbial 89 minutes, Zahler lets the story breathe with a running time exceeding two hours, creating an intoxicating atmosphere and keeping us under his spell until the end. For its first two acts, Brawl in Cell Block 99 concentrates on procedural minutiae. Prior to Bradley's incarceration, Zahler lets us watch the drug trafficker engage in his routine as he travels around delivering product, exercising caution at every turn and concealing his car with a camouflage net when it is not in use. When Bradley transfers to prison, Zahler lingers on mundane details such as surrendering personal belongings, initial checks, and orientations, letting us authentically feel his frustrations. Visceral highlights pepper the movie, but Brawl in Cell Block 99 takes off once it reaches the titular Cell Block 99 in Redleaf, populated with the worst types of criminals and overseen by ruthless, immoral guards.

    In spite of a limited budget, Brawl in Cell Block 99 never feels like a direct-to-video cheapie, as the technical presentation from top to bottom is outstanding. Zahler's style is defiantly stripped-down and old-fashioned; music is minimalist, pauses are allowed, and shots run for longer than a second each. Furthermore, Zahler achieves practically everything in-camera, making use of squibs and prosthetics, on top of blank-firing weapons and real explosions. This may seem like a minor victory, but in an age of digitally-enhanced action movies, Brawl in Cell Block 99 is a breath of fresh air. Even though the brawls take place in dim corridors and subterranean rooms, they are a masterclass of choreography, shooting, and editing. The vicious prison fight scenes are welcomely steady, often occurring in extended wide angles to do justice to the unpolished but satisfying choreography. In addition, a badass, low-key score complements Benji Bakshi's (Bone Tomahawk) stylish, atmospheric cinematography, making this one to watch on a large screen with surround sound. Meanwhile, the deliberately retro-style prosthetics and practical gore effects are effective, allowing us to watch faces get ripped off, arms being brutally broken, and skulls being shattered. This is the type of violence that makes you cringe and turn away (awesome though it certainly is), which is so rare in contemporary cinema.

    As Bradley (do not ever call him Brad), Vaughn is the movie's secret weapon; he is one of the key reasons why Brawl in Cell Block 99 works as well as it does. Perhaps owing to his many years of awful comedies, Vaughn's comedic timing and delivery is ace; Bradley is a complete wise-arse, and his one-liners crackle with the sort of wit that Quentin Tarantino was once capable of. Additionally, Brawl in Cell Block 99 is one of Vaughn's only movies to use his imposing height to make him appear intimidating and scary. Vaughn worked to get himself into shape to convincingly portray this physically tough former boxer with a fiery temper, and it really is a sight to behold when Bradley is unleashed. Vaughn is well matched against a sensational Don Johnson as the sadistic Warden Tuggs, who runs Redleaf with a no-nonsense attitude. Johnson exudes masculinity and badassery from every pore, and he is a captivating on-screen presence. The supporting cast is effectively filled out with the likes of Jennifer Carpenter (The Exorcism of Emily Rose), Udo Kier playing one of Eleazar's associates (of course he's a villain), as well as Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Marc Blucas, among others.

    Brawl in Cell Block 99 is a manly classic for the ages; the work of a genuine auteur committed to a vision, regardless of political correctness or commercial-friendly ratings. Every frame and dialogue exchange throughout the movie is entrancing, and it's hard to foresee precisely what will happen next because Bradley is so unpredictably brutal. With a focused narrative that is free of unnecessary tangents, the two-hour duration of Brawl in Cell Block 99 flies past in what seems like half that time. It never feels like a chore, nor does it lose momentum, which is a testament to Zahler's command of the screen. The extended climax, meanwhile, is heart-stopping and riveting, and the movie manages to end with a bit of unforced emotion. Although certainly not for all tastes, Brawl in Cell Block 99 is essential viewing that's impossible to forget.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    In the United States, Brawl in Cell Block 99 received a 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release. Although the disc unfortunately does not contain High Dynamic Range, the presentation was minted from a native 4K master, and it's among the best and most textured discs currently available on the market. To date, the 4K release remains exclusive to the United States (and Canada), leaving the rest of us to make do with a regular old 1080p Blu-ray, the local release of which arrives courtesy of Universal Sony Home Entertainment. Placed on a dual-layered BD-50, and only sharing disc space with a 15-minute featurette, the movie maintains an impressive average bitrate of 29.99 Mbps, and retains its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. After having watched the movie repeatedly on 4K Blu-ray, this disc is a noticeable downgrade, as it lacks the textural precision and tightness of the 2160p encode, as well as the pitch-perfect contrast and gorgeous image depth. Nevertheless, this Blu-ray is watchable on its own terms, and casual viewers watching on a smaller screen will scarcely notice the image's shortcomings.

    Directly comparing this Blu-ray to its 4K counterpart, this transfer looks slightly blurry, lacking in textural "pop" and highlight detail, though it still looks good overall. The transfer particularly soars during close-ups and medium shots in daylight or well-lit scenes, resolving ample detail on skin, clothing, and the brick walls of each prison set. When Bradley wakes following his first night in The Fridge at the 62-minute mark, appreciable textures are visible on his skin and clothing. Noise is kept to an absolute minimum, in keeping with the source, but there is noticeable noise at 30:55; a shot from behind Bradley's head. Thankfully, said noise is finely-rendered and not distracting, and most people probably won't notice it in the first place. Furthermore, the presentation is not as sharp as the 4K disc, but it does well enough. A shot at 16:45 of Bradley's car driving through a bushy area is almost flawlessly sharp, revealing every leaf and shrub in the shot. However, wider shots are softer, though some moments fare better than others. Since this is a digital movie, it does look overly smooth from time to time - several shots in the titular Cell Block 99 look exceedingly flat and lacking all fine detail.

    The colour grading throughout Brawl in Cell Block 99 is deliberate, pushing for blue hues when Bradley is in The Fridge, and mild green hues in Redleaf. This is faithfully retained on the Blu-ray, which looks accurate to Zahler's intentions, though the look of the movie might not be for all tastes. In terms of the encode itself, there is banding in some of the opening company logos prefacing the movie, while banding reoccurs at 61:10, on the wall behind Lauren, under a light source. There is also a strange effect during a series of shots starting at the 15:20 mark; the image is dark, but blacks are strangely compromised, with traces of blue and red. It's hard to miss. This effect is also visible on the 4K Blu-ray, implying that it's likely a source issue - perhaps an unavoidable shortcoming of the colour grading, or an error whilst creating the master to be used for Blu-ray releases worldwide. Furthermore, shadow detail is hit and miss, though skin textures are solid when Bradley kisses Lauren's stomach in bed at 16:15, despite the low light. The subsequent heist scene is less successful, with the limited colour space and resolution of 1080p struggling to resolve deep blacks and omnipresent textures in the darkness. Even more bothersome is a wide shot at 39:52, in which Vaughn and Clark Johnson look like blurs amid the shadows and backlighting, with poor shadow detail and almost non-existent highlights. Understandably, when a flashlight is shone in Bradley's face at the 58-minute remark, the skin is completely blown out and highlight detail is obliterated, but this is a Standard Dynamic Range transfer, so that's par for the course. The same issue occurs when Bradley is in the yard at Redleaf and the sun shines on the bricks.

    Brawl in Cell Block 99 was captured with Red cameras, which I've found tend to create smoother-looking images, particularly within a 1080p encode. Indeed, the 4K Blu-ray is much better, and among the best the format has to offer in terms of sheer crispness and fine detail, and I'll be sticking with it wherever possible. Nevertheless, there is merit to Universal Sony's standard Blu-ray, all things considered. Even though there are occasionally mild issues with banding, I did not notice any other encoding anomalies throughout; nothing in the way of aliasing, ringing or macroblocking. It's not among the best 1080p transfers I've ever seen, but Brawl in Cell Block 99 looks fine on Blu-ray.

    Subtitles are included in a variety of languages. The English track is easy to read, though Redleaf is written as Red Leaf, and other minor errors are also present.

*Video Ratings Summary*
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

There are three audio tracks available on the disc: a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, and lossy DTS 5.1 mixes in French and Polish. Naturally, I concentrated on the lossless English mix for the sake of this review, and it's a winner. As usual, the lack of an object-based mix like Atmos or DTS:X might draw the ire of certain audiophiles, but it's likely the movie was only mixed at 5.1, as no information is available which implies otherwise. Of course an Atmos remix would be preferable, but this 5.1 track is effective nevertheless, packing a punch when necessary and making astute use of the surround channels. When Bradley walks away from the firefight occurring at 35:25 and onwards, the firearm sounds come from the rear channels, while the gunshots themselves as well as the bullet impacts are given terrific subwoofer accentuation. Whenever Bradley throws punches, cracks heads open or snaps an arm in half, the impactful sound effects will make you cringe. However, the track is subdued for the most part, with sparse use of music; dialogue is front-centred and there often isn't much in the way of environmental atmospherics. This is the same on the 4K Blu-ray, meaning that this is faithful to the intentions of the filmmakers.

At the 10-minute mark, Bradley has an intense conversation with Lauren in his home, and the dialogue is noticeably soft. Again, this is also true on the 4K Blu-ray as well as the Region A Blu-ray, meaning that this is likely how the movie was originally mixed - or perhaps the audio track was improperly created. At least the dialogue isn't drowned out by any music or other sound effects, so you can crank up the volume, but that isn't ideal as you'll have to turn it down afterward. This is the only time when the track has such an issue. Throughout, dialogue is crisp and clear, despite the aforementioned minor mixing hiccup. On that note, I never detected any encoding issues such as pops, clicks, drop-outs or sync issues - it's smooth sailing.

*Audio Ratings Summary*
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

A single extra feature is included, which is disappointing given the supplemental material produced for the Region A release of Bone Tomahawk. The lack of a commentary is especially gutting.

Journey to the Brawl (HD; 15:11)

A brisk but informative behind-the-scenes featurette about the making of Brawl in Cell Block 99. Several of the major players are interviewed, including Zahler, Vaughn, Carpenter, Johnson, as well as the producers. The extra covers the genesis of the movie leading up to production, while other topics include the fight choreography, the set built for Bradley's cell in Redleaf, the main location used for Redleaf, and how the crew created a car that Vaughn could pull apart with his bare hands. I wish that this was an hour long.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

The Region A-locked Blu-ray release contains the same making-of featurette. Buy local. (Unless you're 4K-compatible, in which case you should import the 4K Blu-ray.)

Summary

Brawl in Cell Block 99 is astonishing; one of the most badass, outright manly and mesmerising movies I've seen in some time. This one will see plenty of re-watches in my household.

Although it's disappointing that the movie did not receive a 4K Ultra HD release locally, Universal Sony's Blu-ray is adequate nevertheless, with a strong technical presentation and a short but worthwhile making-of featurette. Especially given the low price point, this one is a no-brainer - highly recommended.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Review Equipment
DVD	Sony UBP-X700 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player, using HDMI output
Display	LG OLED65E6T. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 2160p.
Audio Decoder	Built in to amplifier/receiver. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
Amplification	Samsung Series 7 HT-J7750W
Speakers	Samsung Tall Boy speakers, 7.1 set-up

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