Why So Blu?

Baywatch: Extended Cut (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

If you’re of my generation, who didn’t watch television’s Baywatch growing up?  I mean of course we all watched for Knight Rider‘s David Hasselhoff and beach babes like Pamela Anderson, Nicole Eggert, Yasmine Bleech and Carmen Electra were just icing on the cake.  Sure (wink, wink).  Baywatch is not only part of our pop culture, but like The Terminator 1 and 2 to most people, part of our beloved childhood too.  So when word of a reboot surfaced regarding turning the nostalgic show into a motion picture I feared the absolute worst.  Yes I feared my childhood would be butchered and erased just like 2015’s Terminator: Genisys did to it.  Ugh!  However, rest assured there was a silver lining in all of this.  Baywatch would unite onscreen two of the hottest comedic stars with some pretty rad beach babes too.  Of course I’m talking about involvement from the likes of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Zac Efron to the big busted Alexandra Daddario.  What?  LOL.  I don’t know how else to describe her besides those bright, Blu-ray eyes she has.  So I was saying yeah Baywatch….

Film 

On paper and other than labeling it a reboot I guess you can call Baywatch a comedy or more like a spoof of the original television show.  It’s directed by Seth Gordon (Horrible Bosses) and in addition to the three names I mentioned up above it also stars Priyanka Chopra, Kelly Rohrbach, Jon Bass, Ilfenesh Hadera, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and cameos from David Hasselhoff and the legendary mouth of Pamela Anderson.  The filmmakers even retain the names of the original characters from the television show.  And it’s filmed on the beaches in Miami, FL so that’s always a plus too.  However, you had me at hello with the trinity of Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron and Alexandra Daddario.  The former two are on fire in Hollywood and Zac cracks me the hell up in all his comedies he partakes in.  So I guess you can say going into the press screening Baywatch already had a lot going for it…at least for me.  It can’t possibly be the critically appalled CHIPs remake bad can it?

So like I was saying on the television show you have the likes of Mitch Buchannon (Johnson).  He’s the leader of the elite Baywatch lifeguard squad, which at first is comprised of C.J. Parker (Rohrbach) and Stephanie Holden (Hadera).  The man is basically a God to beach locales.  In contrast you have Mitch’s yang, new recruit Matt Brody (Efron).  He’s a former Olympian, washed-up pro athlete forced into the squad by Mitch’s boss as I guess a PR opportunity.  There’s some fun and games there as Mitch goes out of his way to physically and mentally prove to Brody he doesn’t have what it takes to be on his elite squad.  However, hark who goes there?  When a dead body is recovered from the ocean, the two must put aside their personal differences to work with alongside the other Baywatch team members to stop a criminal mastermind’s drug trafficking operation.  Let’s just say the Baywatch squad takes the laws into their own hands and in the process we have a lot of laughs as Mitch’s team evades the police and tackles the seemingly impossible, taking down nightclub owner Victoria Leads (Chopra) and her thugs.

Up above I compared Baywatch to the other television reboot movie, CHIPs, which also came out this year.  I just mention it because they’re both reboots of famous, culture bending television shows.  So I’ll say this for the record.  I feel like Baywatch paid respectable homage to the television show that came before it while at the same time staying true to the raunchy comedies of the Judd Apatow world we have been living in the past ten plus years.  I say that with love and respect because Apatow has a way of being raunchy, but also very heartfelt at the same time.  Expect much the same with Baywatch here from the jokes, gags and even an extended penis scene, but unlike an Apatow movie I didn’t feel my heart being tugged nearly as much.  I don’t know if that makes sense, but it does to me.  Outside of the bikinis, beaches and babes on display I’m trying to paint a vibe of how Baywatch feels when watching it.  Of course you can expect plenty of over-the-top action sequences, stunts and really bad special effects.  The latter mimics the limited budgets television shows of this kind used to have.  And if you’re not an HBO show, most still do.

All in all I continue to have a fun time with Baywatch.  This is actually my third viewing of it with my second being on an actual beach here.  Yes some of the jokes and gags were forced, old and tiresome, but the new ones really worked thanks to not only The Rock and Efron, but also out of shape Jon Bass who plays Ronnie, C.J.’s love interest.  He’s the Hail Mary of this film as his sequences are over-the-top spectacular and gut busting funny.  I would have loved to see more rivalry and chemistry between Efron and The Rock, but rest assured there’s enough testosterone to go around here.  Remember like I said up above Mitch is a God to the locales and he embodies that.  Now I don’t know how you feel about this next statement, but holy hell does Efron’s ripped physique put the Rock’s body to shame.  He is frickin’ cut!  Of course the beaches and various babes are beautiful too, but it’s the sometimes boring storyline and subpar acting that keeps Baywatch in the water for me never allowing me to have ultimate land loving fun with it.  Then there are those cameos.

So there are two cameos to speak of here, that of Baywatch television alums David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson.  The former was real, acceptable and true for me, but the latter felt as fake as she looked.  It’s sad too because I used to have the biggest crush on Pamela Anderson and knew of her from her early Playboy days before she took to under the knife and wound up on television’s biggest show, Baywatch.  She looked like a plastic doll in this.  Even the shoddy special effects in the film look better than her.  It was a forced cameo, and it will be interesting to see her involvement should a sequel get green lit.  And that’s just it despite my nitpicks I still managed to have a swell time with the elite lifeguard team and I wouldn’t mind a second outing with them.  Baywatch is a guilty pleasure for me.  However, your mileage may vary.  I’ll also spare you any credit torture.  There’s nothing after them, but rather some gags and flubbers running at the beginning of them.  Now let’s talk about the important things here, how it all looks and sounds.

Video 

The below video score and related critique of things here are based solely upon my viewing of the 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Baywatch: Extended Cut.

• Encoding: HEVC / H.265
• Resolution: 4K (2160p)
• Dolby Vision: No
• Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
• Clarity/Detail: The 4K Ultra HD presentation, despite only being a 2K upscaled, offers a nice uptick in detail over the accompanying Blu-ray in the package.  The skins, and thankfully there’s a lot of skin to go around, are ripe with details such as deep pores, freckles, moles, acne, etc.  From the fine individual beads of sand on the beach to the veins in Zac’s cut body detail is prominent whenever possible here.  However, it’s not always consistent as this is a weirdly lit one.  It’s not your typical overfit comedy you’re used to seeing, but more about that in a bit.  The textures pop in objects such as rope, clothing, towels and more.  The one nitpick I do have, although you had to see this coming, is the fact that effects such as explosions do look fake.  They are not TMNT Out of the Shadows looking fake, but not realistic nonetheless.
• Depth: Because of the three-dimensional pop of the onscreen characters depth of field is a no-brainer here from the vast beach shoreline littered with never-ending palm trees and little shops to crowds that gather to witness lifeguards performing brave acts of heroism I have nothing but kind words here.  The most impressive scene had to be the rescue one with the boat on fire.  It felt like I was wearing 3D glasses during that sequence.  You’ll have to see for yourself to believe it!
• Black Levels: The black levels are deep, dark and inky, but the HDR is spotty.  It looks like a million bucks throughout with the exception of a few scenes.  Like I said though this is not your typical shot, brightly lit comedy movie.  But hey when you have to hide with dead bodies in the morgue there’s no better friend to keep you out of the shadows than Mr. HDR here.
• Color Reproduction: Colors for the most part are natural at times and vivacious, bold and rich at other points in time due in part to the way it’s lit.  There’s no denying one fact though.  Alexandria’s Blu-ray eyes shine through any scene no matter how poorly lit.  Come on though!  Sun, beach and babes.  This one just has to look spectacular.
• Flesh Tones: I can see people nitpicking here saying maybe the skin tones are a little jazzed up, but you sure they just are not bronzer?  That’s what I’m calling them here as I have no problems with them.  They’re not overblown or sun drenched at all in my opinion.
• Noise/Artifacts: I didn’t notice any persistent noise or nasty artifacts that would deter you from enjoying the visuals of this splendid 4K Ultra HD presentation.

Audio 

Like I mentioned up above in the video section, the below audio score and critical comments of such are based solely upon my viewing of Paramount’s 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray presentation of Paramount’s Baywatch: Extended Cut.  Both the 4K Ultra HD and the 1080p HD presentations come equipped with a man-sized Dolby Atmos surround audio track.

• Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD compatible), French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital, Portuguese 5.1 Dolby Digital, English Audio Description
• Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
• Dynamics: Baywatch utilizes some great sounding effects, but most of the time it’s like an extended MTV music video with deep cuts and pumped jams.  The great thing about this one is you kind of forget it’s a comedy as it can be quite aggressive and flex its muscles when it wants to be and gentle/subtle the very next with frolicking seagulls.  There’s lots of action beats and tender moments to partake in this beach journey and it’s my pleasure to further dissect it down below for y’all.
• Height: Instead of talking about the Atmos presentation here I’d rather give you examples of key items you should expect to hear out of your height channels such as kitesurfing, the Baywatch logo rising out off the water, splashing down into the water, flying a drone on the beach, fireworks…fireworks…fireworks, explosions and your obligatory helicopters.
• Low Frequency Extension: I already mentioned this Dolby Atmos presentation can be aggressive and I wasn’t lying.  Baywatch is full of action beats and the LFE channel lets you know right away it’s not fooling around from the pumping jams and raving score to the many explosions and fireworks it’s a bombastic good time to be had here.  Motorcycles roar by authentically and gun shots ring out with loud authority.  In other words, expect awesomeness here and let the bass go boom!  Furthermore, my favorite part of this audio presentation has to be the authenticity of the bass that recreates that heavy feeling of being under water for extended periods of time.
• Surround Sound Presentation: Here’s the only weak spot for me in this audio surround track, the rear channels.  Baywatch is no Bad Moms.  In other words the rear speakers are not engaged constantly, but when called upon the deliver.  Hey what do you expect though?  It’s a comedy after all!  I mentioned Bad Moms only because holy hell the rears will make you deaf during the jam and montage scenes. I  guess I was expecting that here, but no cigar.  However, we do have action happening behind us such as waves crashing, wind, score, soundtrack, fireworks, ATVs and motorcycles, underwater sounds, sliding bodies out at the morgue and more.
• Dialogue Reproduction: The dialog levels were all loud and clear for me.  I did have the disc skip on me so I had some lip syncing issues to contend with, but I’m sure that’s either a fluke or seamless branching issues.  I’ll have to further dissect this when time permits.  Otherwise I had zero issues with the volume of the dialogue.

Extras 

The Baywatch 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack include both the extended (121 min.) and theatrical (116 min.) versions of the film and are loaded with special features, including interviews with the sensational cast, a look at the “Baywatch” legacy, behind-the-scenes footage of the spectacular stunts, as well as deleted and extended scenes.  The Combo Pack also includes access to a Digital HD copy of the theatrical version of the film redeemable in both UltraViolet and iTunes.  Enough with the chit chat!  Let’s take a deeper dive into the Blu-ray Disc waters and explore the four main extras on it.

• Meet the Lifeguards (HD, 21:36) – It’s very obvious by this extra that the cast had a blast with this one.  They laugh, smile and chuckle seemingly every chance they get here.  So this one in a nutshell is the cast all talking about their respective roles and the others.  One thing is for sure they all have nothing but nice things to say about The Rock.  It Wass amazing to learn Alexandria could not get a guy in high school and now she’s a Baywatch babe!  Of course there’s also the hysterical Zac Efron always cracking jokes in this extra too.  It’s just nothing but a good time to be had here!  Everyone seems to be great friends.
• Continuing the Legacy (HD, 9:27) – This extra is about the re-imgaination of the Baywatch legacy, the most successful show ever, for modern audiences on the big screen.  This one makes me feel old because the cast and crew talk about how young they were when the TV show originally aired.  Zac Efron remembers not being able to watch it.  The cast talks about the legacy and pop culture of the historic show and what it meant to them, including all the crushes they had on the cast such as Jon on Pamela Anderson and so on.  They also make fun of the slo-motion run too.  Ha ha.  Most importantly, this is the why of what we see in the finish product here.
• Stunts & Training (HD, 9:09) – This one introduces us to Zac “The Rock” Efron.  LOL.  I kid you not.  If you have seen Baywatch, then you’ll know what I mean.  He came to set ripped and in full competition with The Rock who actually loss some mass here to prove he can actually save lives for real and be in peak athletic shape.  They also discuss the training in the film, the vehicles in the Baywatch world and the impossible obstacle course that only Zac could complete unlike his own stuntman which could not.  Get this!  The jet skis in this one go 80 mph!  Wow!  The most interesting thing here though is when The Rock talks about why he locked the door in the baby’s room for the one fight scene.  I won’t ruin it for you, but pay attention.
• Deleted & Extended Scenes (HD, 10:06) – Here we have a look at the following six sequences: CJ Messes with Stephanie, Coffee and Doughnuts, Where Could I Score?, Bathroom Misunderstanding, Directions to the Morgue, and Brody and Captain Thorpe.

Summary 

So here’s my early birthday present to myself!  Baywatch makes waves here with a new extended version, featuring outrageous footage not seen in theaters, on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack August 29th from Paramount Home Media Distribution.  The audio and video presentations are pretty exquisite and if you can accept the fact the laughs aren’t exactly as fun as playing with a Barrel of Monkeys, then I think you really have something here.  Ha ha.  Okay let’s be honest.  Baywatch could have been so much better in the end.  However, you have bought so much more worst 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray titles then this.  Don’t tell me you haven’t.  Enjoy this one.  Use it as a guilty pleasure.

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DISCLAIMER: This 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray review was judged and graded using the following 4K certified Ultra HD Premium television set found here and player here.  Make sure to check out all our 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray reviews archived here.

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Baywatch

Makes Waves on

4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

August 29th

PRE-ORDER NOW!

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