Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: The Hate U Give
January 22, 2019
The Hate U Give - Buy from Amazon: DVD, Blu-ray Combo Pack, or 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack
The Hate U Give opened in limited release in October and while it never reached the top five, it did very well at the box office. Its reviews are 97% positive, but it hasn’t gone anywhere during Awards Season. Does it deserve more? Or is it busted Oscar-bait?
The film begins several years in the past with Starr Carter and her older brother being given the talk. Her father, Mav tells them how to behave when dealing with the cops. We then flash forward to the present day and we hear Starr talk about her life. Her father was part of the gang that still runs the neighborhood, but he got out and now runs the local grocery store. The Garden Heights high school isn’t safe, so she and her brother go to a private prep school, Williamson Prep. This has caused her issues. She has to very finely control her behavior both at home and at school. At school, she can’t do anything that would make her seem “hood” or “ghetto”. She hates that she has to do this to fit in. She has been able to fit in, with two best friends, Hailey and Maya. She even has a boyfriend, Chris, but that relationship might be on hold for a bit.
On the weekend, Starr stays in Garden Heights and hangs with her cousin, Kenya, but she doesn’t really fit in with this crowd either. Things pick up when she spots an old friend, Khalil, and they begin to chat. Unfortunately, the party abruptly ends when there’s a confrontation and everyone takes off. Khalil drives Starr home and they start talking and really seem to connect. Khalil’s grandmother has cancer and was fired from her job because she was too sick to work. To make ends meet, Khalil has turned to selling drugs, which pisses off Starr.
Before the pair can get to Starr’s home, they are pulled over by the cops. What happens next isn’t a spoiler. In fact, it’s the main plot of the movie. However, the details are best experienced first hand.
The Hate U Give is a message movie and message movies are tricky to make, but can certainly elevate a film if done correctly. They are high risk, but high reward. Too many similar films come across as preachy, or preaching to the choir, but this one manages to strike the right balance. Not only does it manage to start a conversation, to borrow a phrase from the extras, it does so in a way that should engage people rather than turn people away; at least it should with people that can be reached. The script is able to show the complexities of the situation without painting anyone in a cartoonish light and that’s a rare accomplishment for a film like this. It’s one of the things that makes bad message movies so infuriating / entertaining to watch.
A lot of this is the result of a stellar story / script, but Amandla Stenberg has to be given a lot of credit as well. She’s the center of the film and without her strong performance, the film wouldn’t have been nearly as well received. Frankly, I’m a little surprised it has been ignored by Awards Season voters. Perhaps it is because it is a Young Adult adaptation and that genre is not considered serious enough for awards. Or perhaps it is because there are too many similar films that were released this year, like BlacKkKlansman or Blindspotting. Whatever the reason, it deserved more attention.
Extras begin with an audio commentary track featuring George Tillman, Jr., the director; Angie Thomas, the author of the original novel; Craig Hayes, the editor; and two of the actors, Amandla Stenberg and Russell Hornsby. There are three extended scenes with a total running time of 15 minutes. Starting a Conversation is a ten-minute featurette on the messages in the movie. The Talk is an eight-minute featurette on “the talk” that so many African-American families have to give their kids when it comes to dealing with the police. Code Switching is a nine-minute featurette on “code switching”, i.e., how African-Americans have to change how they act in order to move between predominately Black communities and predominately White communities. Starr: Shine Your Light is a 14-minute look at the lead character, from her connections to the author, Angie Thomas, and how she was inspired to write the novel. The Heart of Georgia is a five-minute look at Georgia, where the film was shot. Finally, Thank U Georgia is a two-minute look at how Atlanta, Georgia is such a great place to shot a film.
This would be a good amount for a first-run release and it is excellent for a limited release.
The Hate U Give is one of the best movies from 2018 I’ve seen and the DVD / Blu-ray / 4K Ultra HD has more than enough extras to be a Pick of the Week contender.
Video on Demand
The Movie
The Extras
The Verdict
Filed under: Video Review, The Hate U Give, Blindspotting, George Tillman, Jr, Amandla Stenberg, Craig Hayes, Russell Hornsby, Sabrina Carpenter, K.J. Apa, Megan Lawless, Algee Smith, Lamar Johnson, Angie Thomas, Dominique Fishback