Pineapple Express 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
Brad Sturdivant
March 24th, 2016
After developing a bit of a reputation for being the “stoned guy” in movies and TV shows, Seth Rogen and James Franco decided to embrace the typecasting and go all out with PINEAPPLE EXPRESS; the story of a small time drug dealer and a process server on the run from a drug kingpin. It’s over the top, completely unbelievable and although it doesn’t always come together properly, it works because it’s clear Rogen and Franco are having a blast making it.
Dale (Rogen) is an underachieving process server unhappy with his job or his high school girlfriend, but content getting stoned as life passes him by. He gets his weed from a drug dealer named Saul (Franco), who seems content on his own just selling drugs out of his apartment. After spending the day getting high with Saul, Dale camps outside a house he needs to hand a notice to and accidentally witnesses Ted (Gary Cole) kill someone. Freaking out, he runs back to Saul’s apartment and the two quickly find themselves on the run from Ted and his gang of thugs.
Their third movie in two years, behind the hilarious SUPERBAD and the misfire DRILLBIT TAYLOR, Seth Rogen and Evan Gold Berg branch out into new territory with PINEAPPLE EXPRESS. This isn’t a pure comedy like their previous two efforts and that might be why the tone of the film is a little off a times. This is technically an action-comedy, which is probably the hardest comedy sub-genre to pull off. But director David Gordon Green knows what he has on his hands and he’s quick to establish a world that the audience shouldn’t take too seriously. Normally, that would be a problem for a film since the characters in PINEAPPLE EXPRESS are actually serious at times, but it really work for PINEAPPLE EXPRESS as their seriousness leads to funny situations and hilarious scenes. That is, if you can sit through the dramatic attempts long enough to get to the action and/or comedy.
The movie excels when it’s going all out; the moments where the characters are in crazy situations. Watching Saul drive through town at full speed with his foot through the windshield was easily the highlight and the movie needed more things like that. The film stalled when Dale and Saul were trying to be serious for no reason. These weren’t lifelong friends or romantic partners, so we didn’t need them to discuss the intricacies of their friendship. At the end of the day, we’re watching the story of a slacker and his drug dealer running from bad guys and as long as you keep that in mind, the film can be a lot of fun.
PINEAPPLE EXPRESS isn’t the best film from writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and definitely not the funniest, but it’s a worthy addition to the duo’s resume that’s quickly becoming one of the best in the business. The chemistry between Rogen and Franco works yet again and carries the movie even when it starts to stall a little bit.
4K ULTRA HD REVIEW
Video: PINEAPPLE EXPRESS got a very unnecessary “Mastered in 4K” Blu-ray release not long ago, so I’m not sure what the source of this transfer was. It was originally shot in 4K, then downconverted for 2K, then downconverted again for Blu-ray and presumably upconverted for the Mastered in 4K Blu-ray and so now I’m not sure where this transfer comes from. My suspicion is that it’s from the original 2K master and has been upconverted. But either way, this is a very nice transfer and another Sony title that is definitely an upgrade over the existing Blu-ray, but nothing that’s going to convince your grandparents to run out and buy a 4K system. The upgrades here are again in the details. The best examples are in the scenes that take place in Saul’s apartment; you can see the finite details of every fabric and item in his living room. The action scenes in the warehouse are also much clearer, giving you detail you didn’t see in the original Blu-ray.
Audio: The audio was also very impressive, featuring a brand new Dolby Atmos track.
There are no 4K exclusive special features, but it does come with the Blu-ray that contains all of the special features from the original release.
Click 4K Ultra HD to read more of our 4K reviews.
