Why So Blu?

1992 (Blu-ray Review)

Do you remember the 1992 LA Riots? I know I do.  The whole debacle was covered by news outlets much like they did in The Hunger Games, filling homes with the disparate violence and angry response to the unjust not guilty verdict given to the police officers who beat an unarmed Rodney King one awful night. The uprising was monumental and devastating. No doubt a response that law enforcement and racist people wanted the black community to make at the time, we are still haunted by this tragic moment in the 90’s. 1992 is the first film to my knowledge that is based on that fateful April day, even with a dramatized heist thriller embedded in the story, the history remains on the screen.  Read more about 1992 and see where the film lies in its historical accuracy.

Film 

In 1992, Mercer (Tyrese Gibson) is desperately trying to rebuild his life and his relationship with his son (Christopher A’mmanuel) amidst the turbulent 1992 LA uprising following the Rodney King verdict. Across town, another father and son (Ray Liotta and Scott Eastwood) put their own strained relationship to the test as they plot a dangerous heist to steal catalytic converters, which contain valuable platinum, from the factory where Mercer works. As tensions rise in Los Angeles and chaos erupts, both families reach their boiling points when they collide in this tense crime-thriller.

So the synopsis that was provided to us for this review does tell the exact story included within the film.  We have Mercer who is trying to keep his life straight for his son, and who happens to work at a factory where catalytic converters are made. And yes, Grieg (Eastwood) and his little brother get their father Lowell (Liotta) to go along with their idea to rob that factory that Mercer works at.  And of course, the day to do so is April 29^th, 1992… why? For a few reasons really.  One, this is the day when the LA riots happened and tore apart the predominantly black neighborhoods of the LA area. Secondly, this is an ideal date because with those riots going on, police presence will not be a factor in Lowell and his sons sneaking into the factory to do the job.

As we know from countless other heist films, this is not a smooth process.  The robbers in the film did not factor in the fact that security would be at the factory.  They also didn’t think of other security measures that could stop them. In the film, Lowell is a ruthless and greedy father. His children only do criminal things because he is a criminal.  It’s apparent immediately that he does not love his sons and has spent their lives stringing them along while he does bad things.

On the other side, we have the recently rehabilitated Mercer.  He is an OG in his neighborhood, so despite his desires to fly straight he is said to be protected by others where he lives.  As the riots begin to break out, Mercer is sent home by his boss, but knowing his neighborhood may be a hot zone during the uprising, he asks to hold up in the factory with his son.  The son, Antoine, is terrified as the violence begins, but also, as he should be, angry at the verdict just as his peers are.  He goes out to get into the uprise with others but is found by Mercer.  As they arrive at the factory after a tense police stop, they discover the dead security guard and the hostile Lowell.  As Antoine becomes captive to the robbers, Mercer must use his street smarts to get his son back to safety and fight off the robbers who are stealing the platinum used in the factory for a big payday.  It’s a showdown between fathers and sons and tense is a definitive way to describe it.

There are many things you can say about 1992.  It is the first movie to my knowledge to cover the 1992 LA Riots, and unfortunately it is not an ideal representation of the civil unrest and harrowing experience those riots are.  We instead have to deal with a generic heist story enacted by capable performers.  Tyrese Gibson gives us a strong and grounded father figure, showing off his acting chops that usually aren’t as flexible.  Scott Eastwood delves deeper into character actor mode, doing what he can with hammy dialogue.  Ray Liotta in his final role is menacing and murderous but more of a whisper compared to his past character Henry Hill’s commanding scream.

1992 is not a bad film, but it reeks of straight to streaming or straight to video.  It’s low-budget and has been shelved since 2022.  The film was in development for many years as well, so that has to mean many rewrites and many choices changed.  Who knows – could 1992 have been more about the riots and the outraged community at first? Were the characters more fleshed out? How about the root of the problem on that day—Racism… How is that covered here? Refreshingly, the white robbers here do not appear to be the racists of the film.  And a late twist at the end of the film was also refreshing to me, but not enough to salvage the film as a whole. As much as I can say the film is not a bad one, I can also say it isn’t a very good one either.  It feels like the director, Ariel Vromen has potential to do better, with his visual style feeling very naturally filmic, so here’s hoping his next feature is better than this mediocrity.

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

HDR: N/A

Layers: BD-50

Clarity/Detail: 1992 looks good on Blu-ray.  Colors are slightly de-saturated as a style choice and once the sun sets in the film, much of the film is in quite a bit of darkness.  The shadowy look helps keep things like dodgy CGI less apparent. Clarity is good but not particularly popping off the screen.

Depth:  Cinematography overall is quite good throughout with nice lensing throughout, but the locations are nothing special to look at from a visual perspective.

Color Reproduction: Greys, yellows, fiery oranges, browns and blacks are predominant with the darker color spectrum catering to the action and locations on the screen.

Black Levels: Black levels look good here.  With much of the film is in dark or dim settings, I saw no crush on display.

Flesh Tones: Natural throughout.  The transfer did give special attention to facial textures as well.

Noise/Artifacts: Clean.

Audio 

Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos

Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish

Dynamics: 1992 comes to Blu-ray with an Atmos mix.  Does it sound like an Atmos mix? Sometimes. Music and the ever-present helicopters in the mix benefit from the added channels, but beyond that the overall sound field is on the generic side.

Height: Helicopters, riot noise and echoes go up top, along with source cues, whether they’re modern rap or Donny Hathaway.

Low-Frequency Extension: Bass rumble is set for some of the heist sequence, cars, music, helicopters and gunfire.

Surround Sound Presentation: Surrounds cater to ambience and echo as well as the riot throughout the film.

Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue levels are clean.

Extras 

1992 gets the “nothing special” treatment for this Blu-ray release. Along with a DVD, the film comes with a digital code.

Special Features:

Audio Commentary by Ariel Vroman and T’Shaun Barrett

A South Central Story: A featurette with interviews from Ariel Vroman and Tyrese

Two Families, Two Worlds: Making 1992: Giving us more than the standard stuff, this feature talks about the riot and the heist and how they come together.

Deleted Scenes – Totaling a little more than 3 and a half minutes

Theatrical Trailer

Summary  

1992 does not present much in the way of new or exciting.  The film doesn’t shed much light on the historical significance of the 1992 riots, but instead chooses to plant a heist film in the middle of the riots.  This is fine, but nothing special.  I think I’d rather have seen a drama about fictional characters and what they went through in the middle of the riots more than the generic robbery plot. Acting is fine, direction is fine… The film is fine. I still believe we should want and definitely deserve better than fine.

Order your copy of 1992 HERE