NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (June 2021): Criterion have transferred Bill Duke's Deep Cover to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "New 4K digital restoration". There are moments of exceptional color depth (reds, pinks etc.) and impressive detail in close-ups but also some minor teal-leaning in spots and an inherent softness throughout. There is very little in the way of film grain texture. It is on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate; the darker scenes that dominate the film come through with layered contrast and this looks pleasing in-motion.

NOTE: We have added 78 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use a DTS-HD Master stereo track (24-bit) in the original English language. There are abundant aggressive effects with strong gunplay, intense slaps and a resounding car chase that have relatively modest but still impacting depth. The score is credited to Michel Colombier (Un Flic, Barb Wire, Colossus: The Forbin Project, Une Chambre en Ville. Against All Odds) sounding excellent in the lossless. There is other 90's music in the film; the Deep Cover theme is notably performed by Dr. Dre - introducing Snoop Dogg (as Snoop Doggy Dogg), we have Jewell's Love or Lust, Marcos Loya's Linda Mexicana and Yo Te Quiero, Kokane's Nickel Slick Nigga, Calloway's The Way (Is in the House), Nate Phillips' Depth of Thought, Paradise's Down wi' My Nigga written by Snoop Doggy Dogg, Po' Broke & Lonely's The Sex Is On and others. It is used effectively in the film. Criterion offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' / 'B' Blu-ray.

The Criterion Blu-ray offers a new 18-minute interview with Bill Duke. In this conversation, recorded remotely by the Criterion in 2021, actor and director Bill Duke discusses his wide-ranging career, paying special attention to the making of Deep Cover. Included is an AFI Conservatory seminar from 2018 featuring Duke and actor Fishburne. It runs almost an hour after a screening of the film. Film critic Elvis Mitchell moderated the conversation between director Bill Duke and actor Laurence Fishburne. There is a new conversation between film scholars Racquel J. Gates and Michael B. Gillespie about Deep Cover’s place within both the Black film boom of the early 1990s and the noir genre. It runs 36-minutes. Gates (author of Double Negative: The Black Image and Popular Culture) and Gillespie (author of Film Blackness: American Cinema and the Idea of Black Film) discuss genre, culture, and Deep Cover in the context of Black cinema of the 1990s. There is also a new 18-minute conversation between scholar Claudrena N. Harold and professor, DJ, and podcaster Oliver Wang about the film’s title track and its importance to the history of hip-hop. It was also recorded remotely by the Criterion in 2021, where Harold (author of When Sunday Comes: Gospel Music in the Soul and Hip-Hop Eras) and Wang (professor of sociology at California State University, Long Beach, DJ, and co-host of the Heat Rocks podcast) discuss the introduction and lasting importance of Deep Cover's title song. Lastly, is a trailer and the package has liner notes with an essay by Gillespie.

Bill Duke's intense Deep Cover treats the viewer in respectful, non-pandering terms with realistic but subtly expressed themes of inter-city drug use, its effect on children, a conscious look at the drug trade explosion, greed, immoral criminals etc. Larry Fishburne, Clarence Williams III and Charles Martin Smith were excellent, - Jeff Goldblum - maybe not his best role - but director Duke realizes the film exceptionally well while maintaining a very Neo-Noir-ish thriller hold on the viewer. It's exciting and riveting with excellent characters driving the suspense of unforeseen interpersonal decisions and moral conflicts. The 4K-restored Criterion Blu-ray provides a dynamic 1080P presentation and is stacked with over 2-hours of valuable supplements. This film is strongly recommended!

Gary Tooze