A drought in 1970s Southern California has an unexpected side effect: as people empty their swimming pools, a group of teen surfers from the Dogtown area of Venice Beach move in with skateboards, and a new sport is born. Based on a true story, this film follows “Z-Boys” skate team members Stacy Peralta (John Robinson), Tony Alva (Victor Rasuk), and Jay Adams (Emile Hirsch), plus manager Skip Engblom (Heath Ledger), as their fearless “pool surfing” leads to fame, fortune — and misfortune.

For thoughts on Lords of Dogtown, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/ZKxNTPdeCv4?si=VjUIgfrPaxZgVJG5&t=3876]

Video Quality

Lords of Dogtown gets a pretty decent Blu-Ray courtesy of Mill Creek Entertainment, but with it comes some issues that could have been avoided in parts. The film was previously released by Mill Creek as a standard Blu-Ray release in 2018, and that disc has been repurposed for this SteelBook release. This film has a very gritty, stylized palette which makes this a difficult one to perfect with Mill Creek’s known issues when it comes to encoding prowess. The presentation does showcase some nice textural detail in the grimy production design, but compression artifacts and macroblocking show up on occasion. The print itself is thankfully in great shape in terms of nicks or scratches.

The presentation also shows some weakness in its fairly lacking black levels. The shadows can often turn into a murky mess with crush and poorly defined edges. The warm colors are one of the favorable points of the disc, as many of the vibrant locations and elements of the production design radiate off the screen. Skin tones mostly look natural, if not a bit overly saturated. This film could use a nice refresh with a label that can properly handle giving this one a formidable disc, preferably in 4K UHD. Mill Creek Entertainment has kept this one from being stranded strictly in the land of DVD, but we wish the execution was a bit more consistent overall.

Audio Quality

Mill Creek Entertainment brings us this new Blu-Ray with a lossless DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track that serves the film well. Dialogue comes through nicely, emanating out clearly without being overwhelmed by the music or sound effects. The environmental effects are delineated nicely and given a presence in the mix with good environmental stretch into the rear speakers. The sounds of the city along with a slew of other noises give this movie energy and sound great within the mix. This track serves this movie without issue, and it proves to be one of the more impressive aspects of the disc. There are optional English SDH subtitles provided.

Special Features

Mill Creek Entertainment has provided Lords of Dogtown with an optional new SteelBook available exclusively at Wal-Mart that is truly lovely in person. The front artwork is a depiction of the gang hanging out at and skating in an abandoned pool. The rear features a photo of Jay skating down a grimy Venice boardwalk. The interior sports a photo of Jay flying off the pier above the ocean water. Video of the set can be found at the top of the review. The on-disc content is as follows:

Audio Commentaries: There are two commentary tracks provided from two very interesting perspectives. The first is a more production-specific deep-dive into every scene filled with very entertaining insights, and the second offers a deeper reflection on the real-life scene and how it is depicted in the film. Both are fairly raucous and worth a listen for any fan of the film.

- Audio Commentary #1: Director Catherine Hardwicke and actors John Robinson, Victor Rasuk, and Emile Hirsch

- Audio Commentary #2: Original Z-Boys Tony Alva and Stacy Peralta (who also wrote the script).

The Making of Lords of Dogtown: A 30-minute making-of documentary is provided in which the cast and creative team discuss the history of the Dogtown scene and the journey to bring it to the screen through the direction of Catherine Hardwicke, the casting, the stunts, the production design, and more.

Dogged on Dogtown: A seven-minute look at some of the medical mishaps on the set including a nasty spill by Hardwicke.

Gag Reel: A nearly five-minute collection of ruined takes, amusing moments, goofing around, and more.

Theatrical Trailer: The two-and-a-half-minute trailer is provided here.

Final Thoughts

Lords of Dogtown is a compelling exploration of a gritty subculture that paved the way for skate culture as we know it today. Under the skillful direction of director Catherine Hardwicke, these real-life characters are not spared their valid criticisms, but rather they are given the complexity they deserve. The performances are all quite strong, and the style of the film lends a certain sense of authenticity that is invaluable. Mill Creek Entertainment has released a Blu-Ray featuring a good enough A/V presentation and some great legacy special features, now in a lovely SteelBook package. We wish this would have been a 4H UHD Blu-Ray upgrade, but this is worth checking out all the same. Recommended

Lords of Dogtown is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray SteelBook exclusively at Wal-Mart.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Mill Creek Entertainment has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.