Bad Lieutenant - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

As mentioned in my review of Abel Ferrara’s Dangerous Game, which was just recently released by Cinématographe: Ferrara is often a master of transgression, situating the viewer in the kind of oppressively mordant reality that many of his stories play out within. Bad Lieutenant is no exception to the rule, as it depicts New York City in the early 1990s as this dirty, godless land that the main character is allowed to use and abuse under the guise of the law. But if we take Keitel’s central role as the modern epitome of a Christ figure -- what writer/actor/collaborator Zoë Lund wanted to depict in the film – then we can explore the fallacies of messianism. And oh boy, does Ferrara explore the depths of those fallacies in full, unadulterated view.

Bad Lieutenant follows, surprise, an unnamed NYPD police lieutenant played by Harvey Keitel as he abuses drugs, juggles family life, beats up perpetrators and gets into all kinds of unholy stuff. But that doesn’t remove the massive weight that our lieutenant feels about the nature of his job; how the power given to him by the law has never felt good, it only has taken things out of him that he’s desperate to replace. Naturally, our lieutenant wants to do better, to be a better person. Is it too late?

To put it bluntly, Bad Lieutenant is loose in structure but not in intensity. Ferrara said that it was important that he abuse drugs during the production, but not the actors. Why? To Ferrara, depicting the kind of divine intervention that the lieutenant experiences requires the form and aesthetic of a drug addict atoning for their sins. That’s why the film itself is both hazy and comes in fits and starts like the body being shaken awake as it’s passing out from an overdose. No wonder the film earned an NC-17 rating, as it’s probably the best depiction of debilitating drug addiction in both form and function than any other film.

The religious guilt that the lieutenant feels comes directly from the idea of policing in general. Is it his job to serve the people? To beat up bad guys? To act as a messiah with a badge? Everything he experiences makes him fall out of faith, so he abuses everything he can to feel closer to God since he’s closer and closer to death. When a nun is sexually assaulted and the lieutenant immediately claims he will find vengeance, the film’s central issue with God is blown wide open. In a world where violence is aided, abetted and carried out by the institutions we’re supposed to rely upon, does God exist or has he ever? I don’t think Ferrara attempts to answer such a question, but he makes everything so uncompromising that the transgression becomes more essential to understanding the film than digging into the finite details of the story.

All in all, Bad Lieutenant is every bit the uncompromising work that Ferrara set out to make. And all the criticisms lodged at it aren’t necessarily invalid, but it’s telling when someone watches this despairing, loose downward spiral of Keitel’s lieutenant and comes back whining about the story not being straightforward or very fleshed-out. This guy’s a bad cop doing bad things, that both tell you the leverage he has in society and his moral state. What you take from it in terms of text and subtext speaks to what troubles Ferrara and Lund most rather than what’s actually happening on screen. Ferrara brilliantly refuses to make easy work of all the moral murkiness at play.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-rays
Bad Lieutenant does bad shit in 4K Ultra HD with a two-disc release that comes with a BD100 for the 4K disc and a BD50 for the standard Blu-ray. Both discs are housed in a standard amaray case with an o-card slipcover over it. The 4K disc offers the feature and commentary, while the standard Blu-ray offers the main feature in HD accompanied by all the supplements. Both discs boot up to standard menu screens with options to play the film, set up audio and video, plus explore bonus features

Bad Lieutenant is presented in 2160p and aided by Dolby Vision HDR with a presentation sourced from a 4K scan of the original camera negative. Yes, that means you’re seeing the fully uncut version of the film here. The film was originally shot on 35mm film using the Arriflex 35 BL III and II C camera rigs with spherical lenses, and I’m eager to report that this new presentation absolutely blows away the old HD master used on the previous 2010 Blu-ray from Lionsgate. While this was a low-budget production setting out to capture the gritty, natural look of New York City, this new presentation offers a huge boost in contrast, black levels and better in-frame stability over the previous Blu-ray. Cinematographer Ken Kelsch overexposed some of the sequences because of the lack of lighting, though it’s all handled remarkably well by the HEVC encode that hovers between 80-90 mbps for the majority of the feature. Grain can be a bit chunky in certain scenes but is never not resolved well by the encode. This is a night-and-day upgrade over the previous HD master, even going as far to correct some of the camera negative damage that was left in on the previous Blu-ray. 

We’re provided with a 5.1 surround sound and 2.0 stereo track for this new 4K Blu-ray release of Bad Lieutenant. Both tracks are presented using the DTS-HD MA codec. The film was originally released in mono, according to IMDB, and the original closing song (Signifying Rapper by Schoolly D) has been replaced here for the new sound mixes. Both tracks are front-focused and clearly derived from a mono source, as there’s not much activity in the surround channels in the 5.1 track and LFE isn’t that strong to begin with. Dialogue and music are balanced well and there doesn’t seem to be any source damage to note. Just know that whichever track you choose, it’s going to be a bit limited in soundscape because of the source.

As for supplements, Kino Lorber has carried over some legacy features from the 2010 Blu-ray, including the commentary with Ferrara and Ken Kelsch and a retrospective documentary offering interviews with cast and crew. What’s new here is an interview with Ken Kelsch that was filmed just months before he passed away in December 2023, plus a location featurette with critic Michael Gingold that takes you on a tour of some of the original shooting locations from the film. The new interview with Kelsch is a huge bonus for fans of the film, as the cinematographer goes deep on his working relationship with Ferrara and adds many anecdotes from the production, including how Ferrara forced Keitel to improvise and just have the camera follow him around.

4K UHD Disc

• Audio commentary with Abel Ferrara and Ken Kelsch 

Blu-ray Disc 

• Audio commentary with Abel Ferrara and Ken Kelsch 
• Bad Neighborhoods: The Locations of Bad Lieutenant (HD 15:26)
• Ken & Abel: Interview with Ken Kelsch (HD 14:53)
• It All Happens Here: Abel Ferrara & the Making of Bad Lieutenant (SD 34:02)
• Trailer (SD 3:20)

Are you ready to see the cursed and transgressive team-up of Abel Ferrara and Harvey Keitel in 4K Ultra HD? Well, Kino Lorber Studio Classics has got you covered with a terrific new 4K Blu-ray release of Bad Lieutenant, the 1992 crime classic that famously earned an NC-17 rating upon theatrical release. The new 2160p presentation aided by Dolby Vision HDR is nothing short of stellar, plus new featurettes have been added to further your appreciation of (or disdain for) the film. This release comes Highly Recommended to all sickos!