The Defiant Ones - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Defiant Ones

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie

There are very few people in the hip hop world who have not heard of Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre are. While Jimmy many not be AS noticeable outside of that world, EVERYONE knows who Dr. Dre is, aka the richest hip hop legend in the WORLD (supposedly reported as over $870 million this year, and known for selling his “Beats by Dr. Dre” headphone/speaker line to Apple for over $3 BILLION!). However, there life story has been pretty private comparatively, with movies like Straight Outta Compton shinning some light on the career of Dr. Dre, but not a whole lot in reality. HBO decided to pull a 4 hour documentary mini series, consisting of 4 one hour episodes, regaling the life and times of Dr. Dre and his unlikely collaboration with record producer Jimmy Iovine. The show was originally sold as taking a look at those two people exclusively, but it expanded to be an entire spotlight on not only those two men, but their influences on the hip hop world as seen through the eyes of the beneficiaries, as well as the two men themselves.

The first episode is a bit spotty and sporadic for those people not intimately familiar with the hip hop history. It drops you right into the middle of the spectacle, expecting you to know who people are, and their relationships to other people and just sink or swim. By the time the first hour long episode wraps up you’re familiar with the players in the game, and then the show takes off as it shoots you into a fantastic and entertaining life that these rock stars live. Starting with the basics we get a good look at the young life of Italian college dropout Jimmy Iovine, and his subsequent stumbling into the job of a lifetime as he helps co-produce the 1973 The Beatles album that started him on his career. Years later he’s working with Stevie Nicks (as well as dating her) when she separated from Fleetwood Mac, as well as the rising legend that was Tom Petty.

The series jumps around quite a bit, so it’s almost futile to try and give a full play by play rundown of the documentary. First we see a bit of Jimmy, then we get interviews from Dr. Dre as he’s making his name with Ice Cube, Eazy-E and the rest in N.W.A., only to be interspersed with stories about his later days, to breaking away from N.W.A. and starting up Death Row Records with Suge Knight. Then once again backtracking and getting interviews with Ice Cube, his mother, and various other rock and Hip Hop legends who witnessed the rise to power of these two legendary icons.

One of the biggest aspects of the game was the creation of “Beats by Dr. Dre” headphones and speakers, which turned them from record producers to general entrepreneurs back in 2008. I remember sitting around 9 years ago and rolling my eyes at the concept, thinking it would just be a flash in the pan, but the Beats brand has stuck around made them MILLIONS upon MILLIONS of dollars. Especially when they were able to make a deal with apple for a $3 billion + deal for the product. A move that turned Dr. Dre into the single richest hip hop mogul in the business.

The series plays out to a very niche audience, fully inundating the audience with that type of culture and bent. A move which certainly alienates the non hip hop, or documentary lovers, but does well at playing directly TO the audience. It takes about the first episode to get into, but once the wheels start making connection, the show picks up steam and soon turns into a salient and very intriguing look at one of the biggest hip hop producers of all time and his VERY unlikely partnering up with a skinny Italian from Brooklyn, which turned out to be one of the biggest influences in modern hip hop of all time.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

The Defiant Ones looks like your typical modern documentary shot on video in this day an age. Most of the imagery is clean and clear, with the typical weaker blacks due to the video cameras used, but overall a very nice looking picture. There’s some SD sources that get used here and there, but nothing to really mar the image at all, just making notice of them as some of the source videos used were back in the “good old days” when HD cameras were not the norm. Facial details are well defined, with intimate lines and wrinkles on the musical mogul’s facing showing up well, and clothing looks appropriately clean and detailed as well. There’s a few bits where black crush takes over, and some mild artifacting from the video camera sources, but all in all this is exactly what what would expect from a modern documentary.





Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track on the Blu-ray is stunning to listen to and really is an exciting and encompassing music track. There are good portions of the film where the interviews take over and the surround usage fades into the background with a talk heavy mix, but a majority of the documentary is filled with heavy hip hop beats and a variety of different musical stylings to fill out the sound stage. The track is spacious and large, filling the room with efforless ease and wrapping the listener in a cocoon of classic hip hop (as well as modern fare) in rich and energizing way. The LFE is deep and powerful, adding some serious mid range bass to the beats which makes for one of the better documentary tracks that I’ve heard in quite some time.
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Extras:

• Nada

Final Score: ​

The Defiant Ones, much like most music documentaries, appeals to a niche market of people who are really into hip hop music. While it’s not going to appeal to every music fan out there, it IS a fascinating looking into a genre that has been shrouded in mystique and mystery for a very long time. It’s a well done look into their world and into the machinations that made Dr. Dre one of the single richest hip hop producers in the entire WORLD (I believe he is the first hip hop BILLIONAIRE). It’s a bit on the sluggish side to start out, but it starts to gain a quicker pace as the 4 hour mini series delves deeper and deeper into the relationships and dealings going on. Universal’s Blu-ray disc is done with every attention to detail in the audio and video department, but is sadly lacking any special features besides the inclusion of a DVD to make it a combo pack. Definitely worth checking out if you’re a fan of the Hip Hop genre, or if you’re just simply curious about two of the biggest music moguls in the business.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Trent Reznor, Gregory Schwabe, Dr. Dre
Directed by: Allen Hughes
Written by: Allen Hughes, Doug Pray
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Studio: Universal
Rated: NR
Runtime: 261 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: November 28th, 2017

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Recommended for a Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I will check this one out once it is available on amazon prime/netflix