Youngblood Blu-ray Review
“Youngblood” is a better than average remake.
Based on the 1986 film of the same name, 2025’s “Youngblood” is a remake written by Charles Officer, Josh Epstein, Kyle Rideout and Seneca Aaron. In this Canadian hockey film, the story revolves around Detroit native Dean Youngblood. He lost his mother at a young age and was raised by his hardass father Blane to be a tough and hard working hockey player. His father’s methods don’t exactly fly in the leagues though as Dean becomes suspended and loses his scholarship. The Hamilton Mustangs team gives Dean a chance where he has to learn not to be a combative hothead but rather a team player. Through team Captain Sutton and Coach Murray, he just might be able to mature as a player and a person.
After “Heated Rivalry,” the Winter Olympics, and the start of the NHL Playoffs, hockey has become a hot commodity. Now, a modern retelling of “Youngblood” is being released into the market. Do we really need another remake? Not particularly, but as far as remakes go, “Youngblood” is pretty respectable.
In typical sports movie fashion, there are cliches abound here. You’ve got the Coach who made a past mistake, a troubled player trying to redeem himself, a villainous rival player, a tossed in romance with Dean and Jessie (who just happens to be the Coach’s daughter), you get the drift. Originality isn’t one of the film’s strong suits and that’s perfectly OK. There should be a sense of familiarity here given that it is a remake. What matters is that it does everything fairly well here. The direction and cinematography by Stuart James Cameron is quite effective especially with the action on the ice. It really captures the flow and speed of the game well and it feels like you are on the ice with the players.
Cast wise, there are 3 standouts here. Blair Underwood brings gravitas to the film as Dean’s father Blane. Veteran Canadian actor Shawn Doyle (who has been in everything from “Star Trek: Discovery” to “Big Love”) gives a nuanced performance as Coach Murray. Lastly, there’s the young star Ashton James as Dean Youngblood who is undoubtedly a rising star. Whether he’s doing scenes with his father and brother or scoring goals on the ice, his performance is very naturalistic and genuine. He makes the film better.
Video/Audio:
Presentation: 2.39:1 1080p. How does it look? Viewers can expect a sharp hi-def transfer.
Audio Track: 5.1 DTS-HD MA. How does it sound? The audio levels are a little low for my taste, but this is still generally a satisfactory track.
The lone extras are trailers for “Youngblood,” “Altered,” “You Gotta Believe” and “Greater” and a behind the scenes featurette.
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