Blu-ray Movie Reviews

For Jimmy Smith, Jr., life is a daily fight just to keep hope alive. Feeding his dreams in Detroit's vibrant music scene, Jimmy wages an extraordinary personal struggle to find his own voice - and earn a place in a world where rhymes rule, legends are born and every moment...is another chance.

Essentially a bit of a biography for rap superstar Eminem, 8 Mile shows the struggle of a young white rapper trying to earn respect in the hip hop community of Detroit. Rather than take on a simple tone, director Hanson did a great job of keeping the film focused and serious and not falling into the conventional stereotypes so many hip hop films fall into. Eminem does a tremendous job in his freshman film effort and the supporting cast is great as well.

Universal continues to deliver solid HD presentations and this is no exception. The image has a very film-like look to it with a nice grain structure and plenty of detail. This is a dark movie with most of the footage taking place in dark clubs or dimly lit environments so there is a bit more grain than typical. Detail is still preserved quite nicely though and contrast levels are strong giving this transfer a nicely dimensional look. Colors are stylized and a bit exaggerated in spots but this lends to the photography and feel of the film.

The 5.1 lossless soundtrack is a nice mix of urban beats and hard bass lines punctuated with a lively score that balances the feature nicely. Dialogue is always clean and the mix has a very spatial quality to it, especially in the underground club sequences. As one would expect from the themes, there is plenty of low bass activity and the track does a great job of keeping the bass lines tight and balanced within the mix.

Extras include a short making of feature that goes behind the scenes with the cast and crew along with a look at the rap battles done for the film. There is also a uncut version of Eminem’s Superman video that is quite explicit.

8 Mile is one of the better music themed dramas and reminded me a bit of Prince’s Purple Rain back in his early years. The production is handled perfectly and never drifts into cliques. Universal delivers a solid presentation that deserves to be seen.