HUSTLE & FLOW - Blu-ray review

Terrence Howard earned a well deserved Oscar nomination for his performance in Craig Brewer's hip-hop drama "Hustle & Flow" and the film pulled home an unlikely Oscar for Best Achievement in Music written for Motion Pictures for an Original Song for the tune "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp." Against Kathleen York and Michael Becker's song "In the Deep" from "Crash" and Dolly Parton's "Travelin' Thru" from "Transamerica," a rap song about a pimp seemed the least likely to earn a victory on Academy Awards night. Howard, on the other hand, earned kudos for his performance in "Crash" and also for his supporting role in "Four Brothers." The very busy actor didn't pull home a gold statue in 2005, but certainly has the talent for a victory in another year.

Set in Memphis, Tennessee, "Hustle & Flow" is a solid film from director Craig Brewer; a man with a definite passion towards music. Terrence Howard stars as Djay, a pimp who has looked back on his life and realized he has done nothing but deal weed and pimp whores. Djay is determined to do something with his life and his passion for hip-hop music leads him into assembling a team comprised of his friend Key (Anthony Anderson) and a white church pianist Shelby (D.J. Qualls). With some of his prostitutes providing backing vocals, the unlikely trio of a clean cut family man, skinny white guy and bona-fide pimp work hard to lay down tracks and create a demo tape that will allow Djay to follow in the footsteps of another local thug turned superstar, Skinny Black (Ludacris). A local bartender, Arnel (Isaac Hayes of "Shaft" fame), has arranged a meeting between Djay and Skinny Black. Skinny is typically unhappy with the quality of weed he gets and Arnel has backed Djay's quality of product and arranged for Djay to supply Skinny Black with high quality hydroponics during a hometown visit by the successful rapper.

The world of hip-hop and gangster rap is filled with stories of drug dealers who have become successful rappers in the entertainment world. From the early days of pioneers like Eric "Eazy-E" Wright to modern artists such as The Game and 50 Cent, rap is filled with bad boys who have used their purported gangsta beginnings to write hardcore and personal songs about the violence and hard times associated with growing up in the hood. "Hustle & Flow" is a film that uses these themes and along with the powerful performance of Terrence Howard and the strong writing and direction by Craig Brewer, "Hustle & Flow" paints a believable picture of a man who gets by as a pimp and drug dealer, but destines to make a living as a rapper and get out of the seedy underworld life. Though he doesn't treat his girls with much respect and little tenderness, Djay cares for those around him and deep down, he is a man with a heart and with feelings; all of which can be heard through his hard-hitting flow.

The supporting cast of "Hustle & Flow" did not get the attention and accolades that Terrence Howard received, but they are all quite entertaining in this little film. The big man, Anthony Anderson, is a warm individual who has separated himself from growing up with Djay and life on the streets and found himself a nice house, loving wife and a respectable life. When Djay pays him a visit and asks for his help, Key sees the potential in Djay's rhymes and offers to help cut a tape. The unlikely scene-stealer of the film is DJ Qualls, the skinny, white and nerdy boy from "Road Trip." In this film, he plays the white musical genius who loves rap music and understands where it comes from and what true rap music should be. His "Can we all get along and just smoke some weed?" demeanor brings a lighthearted and multi-cultural appeal to "Hustle & Flow." Hearing him sing the hook for "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" was downright hilarious, but believable in its honesty. Taryn Manning and Taraji P. Henson are the two ladies who portray two of the last whores pimped out by Djay and both are great in their roles.

I love rap music. I always have. From my high school days of growing up in white suburbia and listening to Eazy-E, N.W.A., Slick Rick, Luke Skyywalker, Schooly D and other early rap acts, I've followed rap music from its beginnings and seen the form of music gain mainstream acceptance and the stories of past dealers-turned-rappers succeed and fail. I've seen Eazy-E and the other members of N.W.A., including Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, rise to the top of the charts and I've seen laughing stocks like Vanilla Ice fail miserably with his made up stories of growing up with 2 Live Crew's Luke Skyywalker. Having paid close attention to the stories of so many rappers, "Hustle & Flow" felt legit. Terence Howard's ‘flow' sounds like a song that has a chance to make the charts and achieve radio airplay and the lyrics of his songs were not far from many songs that have appeared on so many albums over the years. It isn't the hard edged lyrics from "Straight Outta Compton" or the debut album from "The Geto Boys," but it has a Tupac Shakur (post Digital Underground 2-Pac) feeling to it.

"Hustle & Flow" is a film that may not appeal to those that have a bias against rap. It can certainly find its audience, much in the way Eminem found an audience with his semi-biographical film "8 Mile." The film's director, a white man with a love of Elvis Presley, Memphis blues and other forms of music created another musical delight with "Black Snake Moan," but perhaps his being a white man making a black man's music has allowed "Hustle & Flow" to have a more universal appeal to it. Backed by veteran director John Singleton, who made the incredible "Boyz in the Hood," the film had a solid cast of filmmakers. The film was dedicated to the late Sam Phillips, the man responsible for discovering a young man named Elvis Aaron Presley. Phillips' life was the inspiration for the film and set to the modern stories of poor African-American males who have emerged from the wretched ghettos of the world to become chart-toppers, the film is a great depiction of a fictional person making a rise from thug to star.

Video:
I had made the choice to review Craig Brewer's "Black Snake Moan" before sitting down to review "Hustle & Flow." The former mentioned film possesses one of the finest transfers I have yet to seen on either the Blu-ray format or the HD-DVD format. Unfortunately, "Hustle & Flow" is not nearly as crisp and awe inspiring as the more recent picture. Formatted with the AVC MPEG-4 code and presented in 1.85:1 widescreen, "Hustle & Flow" is somewhat disappointing. Not possessing the ultra-fine level of detail and riddled with a consistent layer of film grain, "Hustle & Flow" has enough detail to its imagery to prove that it is a high definition release, but it doesn't look much spiffier than an average standard definition DVD release. Between the relatively low level of detail and obtrusive film grain, "Hustle & Flow" looks flat and overly two dimensional. The film's colors suffer at the hands of the transfer's shortcomings and although they are good, the overall feeling of this transfer is unfulfilling.

Sound:
The bass is thumping in "Hustle & Flow" and this modern tale of an underdog and seedy individual working hard to become a musical artist has plenty of oomph in its Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. Not only does the .1 LFE channel thump happily along throughout the film, but the films high and midrange sounds are also nicely rendered and capture the timbre of Djay's voice and lyrics rather nicely. Brewer works hard to include meaningful musical numbers in his film and "Hustle & Flow" is no exception and each selected track sounds great. Scott Bomar has provided scores for each of Brewer's films and his work here is quite good. Even when the bass is hitting the hardest and music is plentiful through each of the five directional speakers, dialog holds up rather well and easily understood. The film uses the rear surrounds effectively and sound flows from channel to channel cleanly and efficiently. I wouldn't consider "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" to be Oscar worthy, but it is a good little tune and the soundtrack treats its Oscar winner with respect.

Extras:
I believe the commentary for "Black Snake Moan" had Craig Brewer state something about watching Kevin Smith LaserDiscs and such and being inspiration for his attitude towards special features. Maybe it was somebody else, but it sounds good for this review. If it was another title I recently reviewed, I apologize to all involved. I don't feel a need to sit down and listen to that disc's commentary again to find the quote. The various releases of "Hustle & Flow" feature a nice array of supplements, including another Commentary by Writer/Director Craig Brewer. Brewer does a very nice job with his commentary tracks and this one is another good track to sit down and enjoy. The man loves music and has a lot of music knowledge. He tells good anecdotes about the making of the film and gushes over his stars.

After the commentary, a couple hours of extras are contained on the disc. Behind the Hustle (27:19) looks at the making of the film from all angles. Terrence Howard had avoided joining the cast for a year, but he is more than happy to join in on the features and Craig Brewer is present throughout the disc. This was a good documentary and looked at the character of DJay and the film's themes with additional depth. By Any Means Necessary (14:39) uses a quote from the film for its title and looks at the difficulties that John Singleton and Craig Brewer had in making this film; another good documentary on the four week production. Creatin' Crunk (13:41) had some very funny musical moments with the film's gangster lyrics sung by a fat white man with an acoustic guitar. The rest of the time was spent with Craig Brewer getting down with his love of music.

When the making of features end, a number of additional features carry on the quality offerings. Memphis Hometown Premiere (4:52) looks at the July 6th, 2005 debut of the film in Memphis. Although not terribly exciting, it wasn't a bad way to spend five quick minutes. The Paula Jai Parker Audition (2:46) is short and has Paula wearing a little bikini and cursing like crazy in this odd rehearsal video. The Ludacris and Terrence Howard Rehearsal (2:22) is another short bit and looks at the introduction scene between Djay and Skinny Black. The Scene Extensions (5:31) contain longer versions of the "Djay meets Shelby" scene and also "The Keyboard" scene. They are short, but the Shelby scene was quite good. The final offerings include "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" – Acoustic Version video, 6 Promotional Spots and two Theatrical Trailers.

Closing Comments:
"Hustle & Flow" is a good film and the first of two solid films where music is a strong supporting character by writer and director Craig Brewer. This film tells the story of a pimp and hustler who goes by the name Djay and destines to do something with his life and become a recording star and tell his stories of thuggery and survival on the streets through his flow. He has to resort to any means necessary to make his dream come true, but his heart is filled with lyrics that have a shot at success. This is one of the better rap films to come out of Hollywood in quite some time. The Blu-ray release has a disappointing picture quality that is hindered by excessive film grain. Sound quality, fortunately, is solid and the bass bumps heavily throughout the film. The supplemental materials are nicely done and Craig Brewer comes from the Kevin Smith school of supporting his fan base with wondrous bits of value-added content. This is a film and a disc I have no hesitation in recommending to others, whether or not they are rap fans.