Category Archives: action

Piloting Toward a Path of Mob Hired EVIL! “Flight Risk” reviewed! (Lionsgate / Blu-ray – DVD – Digital)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Flight Risk” Blu-ray Takes Off and Is Now Availablle to Own!

After tracking down and arresting a criminal kingpin’s accountant in an Alaskan hotel, U.S. Marshall Madolyn agrees to a plea deal with the accountant in exchange for his incriminating testimony that would lock away the mob boss for years, but before prosecution can get underway, the U.S. Marshall must get her witness to New York City.  Charactering a Cessna 208 light aircraft to escort them out of Alaska, the more-than-eccentric rustic pilot is more tirelessly inquisitive than charismatically charming toward the Marshall about having a suspect chained to the seat in the rear of his plane while also gabbing about casual, byway pleasantries and his rural, for-hire lifestyle as a pilot.  Little do Madolyn and the accountant know is that their pilot is a sadist assassin hired by mob boss and by the time they reach cruising altitude, Madolyn finds herself confined with a relentless killer and without the knowhow to fly a plane herself.  

Not since 2016 has “Lethal Weapon” and “Mad Max” actor Mel Gibson directed a film, that film being the World War II action-drama, “Hacksaw Ridge.”  Gibson returns to being behind-the-camera in 2025 with his latest venture, an aerial, hitman thriller “Flight Risk” from a contained debut big picture script by Jared Rosenberg.  “Flight Risk” strays from the normal course of being an epic feature that usually draws the cinematic eye of Gibson with being a smaller production, an intimate cast, and isolated mostly on a deconstructed light aircraft in front of what is essentially a floor-to-ceiling, 180-degree IMAX screen simulator to depict coursing through the snow-topped mountains of the Alaska Range.  Gibson produces the story along with Bruce Davey, John Fox, and John Davis in a Lionsgate presented combined company production from Davis Entertainment, Icon Productions, Media Capital Technologies, Hammerstone Pictures, and Blue Rider Pictures.

Three onscreen principals and a handful of voiceover work is all there is to “Flight Risk’s” casting with many of the scenes “high” above ground inside the tight confines of a personal aircraft to intensify the close-quartered combat with the unspoken caveat of nowhere to run, nowhere to hide thousands of feet up in the clouds.  Actress Michelle Dockery, known for her role as Lady Mary Crawley in the dynamic upstairs, downstairs period drama series “Downton Abbey,” exchanges her glittering ballroom gowns and British accent for a sidearm Glock and a flat American-beurocratic accent as U.S. Marshall Madolyn with a complicated backstory that places her back into the field after being assigned desk duty when a witness dies in her custody.  Dockery is all business and no pleasure with a retaining wall that holds all her emotions in so she can focus on the important opportunity to be back into the field.  Audiences will be thrusted right the middle of the opportunity and experience her unpleasant history being unraveled exposition as she begins to empathize and sympathize with her current witness, Winston, a skilled accountant with a harmless, passive proclivity played by with the sarcastic reflex of a frightened squirrel in Topher Grace (“Predators,” “Spider-Man 3”).  Madolyn and Winston slowly, simmering bond, merging into a fight or flight friendship out of from being an authoritative escort and detainee, is forged by fire when Mark Wahlberg’s receding hairline, eccentrically crazy, sadistic rapist of a hitman pilot attempts to restrain Madolyn and divert Winstown for his own personal pleasure on the behalf of the Mob Boss instruction.  Likely Wahlberg’s most depraved role since 1996’s “Fear,” the “Transformers” and “Daddy’s Home” actor puts forth less of his muscular tone and good looks by stepping into a balding, gum-chewing wild eye maniac, relentlessly bloodthirsty with the gift of grotesque gab, in a cat-and-mouse tit-for-tat game for the plane yoke and control.  A voice cast rounds out the rest that push the story in deception and direction with Leah Remini (“Old School”) and Paul Ben-Victor (“Body Parts”) as Madolyn’s colleagues who may or may not be corrupt and Maaz Ali (“Anxious”) as your friendly and flirtatious pilot instructor. 

An absolute different kind of project for director Mel Gibson that’s not historical, period, or epic as he takes off into unknown territory and elevating as a director who can remove himself from the bigger picture for a smaller one.  “Flight Risk” is a prime example of what Hollywood should be putting into production rather than squandering millions on grand flops but limited the budget that, in turns, limits the star power and conceding the story to saturate with substance rather than with ostentatious effects.  “Flight Risk” proved to be a modest profiting film on what is now considered a meager budget of $25 million, but a profit is a profit, and the thriller is highly entertaining and engrossing with solid performance supporting a step-by-step, linear story arc.  Granted, the film isn’t completely without flaws.  While Johnny Derango (“Fatman”) can capture the correct angles in the plane’s small, confined space and gratifying the depth with the visual screen through the plane windows, these aspects are negatively counterbalanced by visual effects that stunt the aesthetics with cheap-looking knockoffs of exteriors at the beginning and end of the film.  Fortunately, these scenes are scarce and does continue the yard forward without looking back as girth of Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Dockery, and Topher Grace vie for their moment in the spotlight with their character’s idiosyncrasies. 

The Lionsgate presented “Flight Risk” takes cue from the locomotive folktale being the little film that could, replacing the small train for a small plane and chugging, climbing up the Alaska mountain of nonstop thrills.  The new combo format Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital set from the company evokes many ways to enjoy the latest, and humblest, Mel Gibson picture.  The Blu-ray is AVC encoded, 1080p high-definition, BD50 while the DVD is MPEG2 encoded, upscaled to 1080p, on a DVD9.  In covering the Blu-ray, the picture is near perfect without compression issues faulter a landscape of whites, blues, and the spotted greeneries in between that make up the Alaska geography on the big 180’ volume screen for pseudo flight. The matte visual mixed with the angle of the cameras work to the location’s authenticity and the camera angles solidify that the illusion while the pixel range sharpens any loose ends that might occur in presentation.  Coloring and breadth of saturation diffuse fine with an organic look except for the VFX that stands out like a sore thumb.  English Dolby Atmos creates an immersive audible impression, splicing through the channels that reflect more in the back channels of Mark Wahlberg’s frantic, and sordid, diatribes from the plane’s cargo tail.  Exteriors are not as explosive around the plane as expected with the Dolby’s loss of fidelity but, to the advantage of the story, the engine him and the turbulence has an agreeable depth muffle to it in the surrounding channels and into the frontloaded dialogue, which is intelligible and without unintended equipment interference.  Also included are French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks and an English descriptive audio.  English, Spanish and French subtitles are optional.  Risk Management:  Making flight Risk is the standard fare behind-the-scenes cast-and-crew interviews with some raw behind-the-camera shots surrounding the genesis of “Flight Risk” and the how certain aspects of the film, such as cinematography and Mark Wahlberg’s devilish persona, are achieved.  The theatrical trailer rounds out the encoded special features.  Personally, I was not impressed with the cover art that’s on the Amaray and the cardboard O-slip with a sheen coating that puts Wahlberg front-and-center of a misleading campaign of the ruthless killer looking oddly unflappable while zipping fighter jet theatrics are composited over his midsection; the whole illustration just doesn’t speak the “Flight Risk’s” disposition.  Nothing else to note tangibly other than the 4K digital code insert in its usual slot.  Rated R for violence and language, Lionsgate Blu-ray is region A encoded and has a textbook runtime of 91-minutes.

Last Rites: “Flight Risk” cruises at a palatable attitude of flight dynamics, aerial assassinations, and the rehabilitation of broken character in Mel Gibson’s smaller, but mighty, latest feature.

“Flight Risk” Blu-ray Takes Off and Is Now Availablle to Own!

A Prince’s EVIL Plan to Gain the Throne Meets High-Flying, Kung Fu Rebel Resistance. “The Lady Assassin” reviewed! (88 Films / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“The Lady Assassin” LE Blu-ray Now Available!

Emperor Ching’s health is rapidly declining and before his death, he challenges his 14 princes to find the best candidate to rule of his kingdom.  Ultimately, the 4th and 14th princes are vying for the throne but embark on different moral paths that set them starkly apart.  Fourth Prince Yung Cheng will lower himself to any ignoble scheme worth gaining him the throne while the 14th Prince, who might be weaker in strength, would be a better, more compassionate, ruler for the people.  When Yung Cheng plots an assassination against the 14th Prince, his plans are foiled by the prince’s skilled bodyguard Tsang Jing, the greedy Prince takes an alternate route to the throne by conning Han loyalists, who feel the Manchu clans have treated them unfairly by abusively restricting their power and fortune, into a plot to steal the Emperor’s royal decree of announcing the new Emperor and forging his name into the document.  By this very deception, Yung Cheng is announced Emperor and turns his back on the Han loyalists who joined forces with Tsang Jing and Han rebel Si Nang to end his dishonest rule over both the Hans and the Manchus.

The eclectic Shaw Brothers produced fantastical fights, high-flying stunts, and a story interweaved with deception, death, and melodramatics in the immersive period of dynastical China with the film “The Lady Assassin.”   Filmed in Hong Kong, the film is written-and-directed by acclaimed action filmmaker Chin-Ku Lu at the height of his career.  “The Black Dragon” and “Holy Virgin vs. The Evil Dead” director delivers a deluging epic of sensationalized kung fu interspersed with a usurping back-and-forth story of cutthroat politics and deceit and the minority that attempts to dethrone villainy with punitive justice, the only kind of justice ancient China knew to dish.  Mong Fong (“Killer Constable,” “The Mad Monk”) produced the feature with Run Run Shaw serving as executive producer.

One would think the title being “The Lady Assassin” would focus on a solo female kung-fu killer aimed to strike ruthlessly in a clandestine caper, but most of the story’s principal shoulders have an equal share burden amongst a deep protagonist cast of characters.  Leanne Liu plays the titular assassin Si Niang, a Han rebel whose father (Ku Feng, “Erotic Ghost Story,” “Vengeance of a Snowgirl”) is head dissident number one against the Manchu leaders, and the “Bastard Swordsman” and “Hong Kong Playboys” actress doesn’t become introduced into the story until about midway through as much of the Prince-on-Prince, good-vs-evil, tale is spearheaded by those vying throne-seekers with much emphasis on their guards, assassins, and the skilled in Kung Fu company they keep.  Tony Liu (“Fists of Fury”) and Mok Siu-Chung (“Nightmare Zone”) are respectively the evil scheming 4th Prince and the good-natured but weaker 14th Prince seeking the throne of their dying Emporor father (Ching Miao, “The Devil’s Mirror”) and the two give into their roles very efficiently, delineating a clear line where they stand in the grand scheme of the plot with the 4th Prince proactively trying to destroy any chance others may have at the throne with the 4th keeps in the shadows and avoids conflict; the latter heavily emphasized by a lot of do-nothing from the 4th Prince’s character.  A great deal of the first two acts relies heavily on Tsang Jing’s honorable service to the people who showed him kindness.  “Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain” actor Norman Chui imposes impeccable fighting ability and timing but is strangely engrossed by his character’s life to serve those who he owes and we’re not talking a purse debt or for saving his life but rather a loyalty aspect for kindness, morality, and justice that contrasts against Min Geng Yiu, played by Jason Pai Piao, who initially is introduced as an upstanding citizen fighting against unethical behavior until his hypocrisy lands him greedily in the arms of a deceiving 4th Prince, twisting You to accomplish his bidding while he always subverts his lord with his own deceptive plans of power.  Backstabbings and desperate mesasures, along with stellar, high-flying, hand-to-hand and sword fighting, zip “The Lady Assassin” into another level of martial arts mania with a rounded out cast of Cheung King-Yu, Yeung Jing-Jing, Yuen Tak, Kwan Fung, Sun Chien, and Johnny Wang Lung-wei. 

Kung Fu films, especially in the 1970s through well into the 1990s, are a dime a dozen so what makes Chin-Ku Lu ‘s “The Lady Assassin” different from the rest?  One area to note is fight and stunt choreography that smooths the edges around the other contemporaries slower, less theatrical, routines with vigorous and diverse long sequences containing large quantities of combatants.  Usually, most fight sequences are limited to 1-on-1, 2-on-2, and maybe 3-on-3 or 3 or 4-on1 at most, but hordes of swords, staffs, and topographical anomalous landscapes, constructed on a stage of course, are seamlessly dynamic and meritoriously fast paced and thrilling, produced by the stunt work team of Yak Yuen, Kin-Kwan Poon, and Yung Chung.  The other area to note, and one that goes hand-in-hand with the stunt choreography in order for it to work, is Shao Kuang Liu’s editing, taking footage and just going to town with a series of cut and tapes and still coherently fashioning a continuous fight and flight, complete with pulley wires, despite its rapid strikes that might have some accelerated motion of the film.  What’s inherently captivating for “The Lady Assassin” can also be a tiring visual as the fights flare up brief plot points in between, the fights can feel a bit long in the tooth come the third act; however, the final showdown, a last ditch effort between the last of the Han rebels versus the 14th Print and his crazy-faced, hired gun Japanese martial artist levels up the violence that halves fighters horizontal and vertical.  The story’s an effort to keep up with as the continuous double crossing and changes of heart nearly blend together and too many assumed interpretations toward the fate of characters off screen can work the thinker double time, compounding the ambiguous clarifications profoundly. 

88 Films continues to restore-to-rejuvenize the Shaw Brothers extensive catalogue of Hong Kong produced eclectic films with the UK company’s latest high-definition scan of “The Lady Assassin” from the original negative and release the 45th title on a part of their 88 Asia line  Cleanly saturated and rich in beautiful coloring, the AVC encoded, 1080p, BD50, presented in the original widescreen aspect ratio 2.35:1, is a marvel to watch. The original print has been kept well-preserved with barely a flaw to note albeit a less than a handful rough tape cut or damage framed moments that are so insignificant that if you blink, you’ll miss them.  The vivid and vibrant mise-en-scene is a convergence of stark contrasts and itemized delineation that creates space and depth while also visually stunning, even with what I like to call peacock fighting, or showing off fighting.  Of course, there’s also tiger fighting, praying mantis fighting, etc.  The gain is naturally pleasing without being too thick or smoothed over.  Skin tones and gleams are natural and absolute with a sense of popping right off the screen.  The Cantonese 2.0 mono is post-production ADR but syncs well with not an egregious division between mouth movements and dialogue.  Dialogue is overall clean and clean with faint hissing here and there.  Chopsocky audio layers have clean hand and foot, leg and arm whacks and full-bodied swish and swing of sword and glaive swipes.  There’s not lucrative range with much else, specifically the ambient environment as all the audio design is done in post, with a few only a handful of moments, such as Tsang and Si Nang fishing or a few interiors fights implementing room objects require foley.  The soundscape is epically charged but not terribly memorable and there are quite a few fights that go without a score to provide the action effects more prominence.  The newly translated English subtitles are errorfree, do sync well, and keeps with the pace.  Special features include an interview with Kin-Kwan Poon conducted by Fred Ambroisine From Child Actor to Fight Coordinator as well as the film’s trailer and gallery stills. 88 Films’ houses the Blu-ray in a limited-edition glint of golden cardboard slipcover of new art featuring the titular assassin. The same image is primary Amaray cover art with the original poster art on the reverse side. In the insert, a thick, dual-sided folded poster of both cover illustrations rounds out the tangible elements. The Blu-ray is encoded with A and B region playback, is unrated, and has a runtime of 86 minutes.

Last Rites: A spectacle of soaring Kung Fu with a spruced-up restoration that makes “The Lady Assassin” that much deadlier in all its dynasty melodrama and game of thrones strife. One of the best Shaw Brothers offerings from the early 1980s!

“The Lady Assassin” LE Blu-ray Now Available!

Black Mamba Wriggles Only for EVIL! “Venom” reviewed! (4K UHD and Blu-ray / Blue Underground)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

Slither into “Venom” on 4K UHD and Blu-ray Combo Set!

American family, the Hopkins, live in London and while Mr. Hopkins travels the globe to attend to his international hotel business, Mrs. Hopkins and son Philip, live wealthy in their three-story row home along with visiting, Safari-expert grandfather Howard Anderson.  When Mrs. Hopkins plans a trip to see her husband after a month a part, she’s worries for Philip’s severe asthma attacks but with the assurances of the grandfather, the housekeeper, and Philip’s rudimentary zoo in his room, full of furry creatures in vivarium cages, Mrs. Hopkins half-heartedly boards her international flight.   Not everything is going to fine, however, when the housekeeper schemes with the family chauffeur and an Interpol criminal Jacmel to kidnap Philip for ransom.  The foolproof plot commences to plan with departure of Mrs. Hopkins and the arrival of Jacmel but one little mishap causes the plan to quicky unravel when a Black Mamba, one of the most aggressive and poisonous snakes in the world, is mistakenly crated and provided to exotic animal enthusiast Philip instead of his harmless ordered common variety garden snake and when the Black Mamba gets loose, it slithers in the house’s ventilation system, the house they’re all hold up in when the police swarm the outside perimeter. 

What was once going to be a Tobe Hooper (“Texas Chainsaw Massacre”) directed production before his eventual and sudden departure from the film after a few weeks, the 1981 crime-thriller with a creature feature twist, “Venom,” is then picked up by the late director of  “The Blood on Satan’s Claw,” Piers Haggard, to finish the Robert Carrington (“Wait Until Dark”) adapted screenplay off the Alan Scholefield novel of the same title.  The American screenwriter Carrington writes nearly a faithful iteration of the Scholefield novel but with more emphasis on the serpent’s over-lurking presence as an important reptilian character to the story, serving as a catalyst for the upended kidnapping plot and determining the fate of certain characters.  The UK film is American produced by Martin Bregman, the spear runner for “Dog Day Afternoon” and “Serpico” as well as “Scarface” and “The Bone Collector” later in his career.  Morison Film Group served as production company on the mostly LLC entrusted venture.  

If the American Tobe Hooper did helm this picture, directing Leatherface as an actor would been child’s play in comparison to what would had been if he had to corral a pair of strong-willed, A-type personality Europeans in Germany’s Klaus Kinski and Britain’s Oliver Reed, both with well-known and formidable career of not only in genre films but also to be problematic and difficult to work with.  The “Nosferatu the Vampire” and “Aguiree, the Wrath of God” Kinski was perhaps mostly misunderstood for his not understanding of inflections, innuendos, and gestures of the English language that made him often sounds gruff and antagonistically questioning the director’s every choice whereas the “Paranoiac” and “The Brood” Reed was plagued with alcoholism and was equally gruff in his own right as a dedicated actor saturation with austere method stratagem.  Yet, on screen, Piers Haggard manages to get the two hurricane forces to be on-the-edge cooperating, backed-into-a-corner kidnappers without cutting any tension when interacting with each other.  Distinct in demeanor, Kinski as a calm, trench coat KGB-type and Reed as an anxiously and trigger-happy, hotheaded brute put on a good show in their respective performances and beat the odds of two notorious personas colliding.  Haggard doesn’t coddle them either and lets them loose to exact the carrier in their own right even if off-book and they’re even more vilified by taking hostage a young boy Phillip, the introduction of Lance Holcomb (“Christmas Evil,” “Ghost Story”), his Safari-seasoned grandfather Howard Anderson, played by beard-laden and serial gesticulating Sterling Hayden (“Dr. Strangelove,” “The Long Goodbye”), and a zoo toxicologist named Dr. Marion Stowe who is caught in the middle when checking up on the mishap switcheroo of the snake, played by Sarah Miles (“Blow-up”), neither in shape or in vigor to be a proactive hero.  The no-nonsense Police Commander William Bulloch, shoed with “The Exorcist III” actor Nicol Williamson, a brazen candor and stoic expression with Williamson offering frank wit and a sarcastic dryness that barely gets him one step into the house; instead, it’s the Black Mamba that’s the real and unintentional hero that seemingly only has a fork tongue and fangs for villains, leaving the other hostages alone.  “Venom’s” also has Susan George (“Straw Dogs”) as the traitorous housekeeper, Mike Gwilyn, Paul Williamson, Hugh Lloyd, and the first Butler of the 1980s-1990s Batman quadrilogy Michael Gough playing real life snake wrangler David Ball in tribute. 

From the pages of Alan Scholefield’s novel to the big screen, “Venom” has a slithery way about slipping into between the crosshairs of a crime-thriller and a venomous creature feature.  Leading “Venom’s” charge is an undoubtedly great, if not iconic, cast giving their all to a farfetched plot of bad luck Ophidiophobia.  While the snake seems to have heat vision eyes only for the Klaus Kinski, Oliver Reed, and Susan George trio of kidnap-for-ransom criminals, who amongst themselves are in a deceitful love triangle that’s doesn’t quite come to a head as one would expect, there’s no animal kingdom peril to the other victimized threesome who, on a physical, first glance surface, are less equipped to handle a dangerous snake with a young, asthmatic-plagued boy, an elderly grandfather, and a nerve-bitten woman but, in reality, Phillip Hopkins, Howard Anderson, and Dr. Marion Stowe are respectively the best equipped to handle the black mamba as an small animal atrium hobbyist, a former African safari survivalist and animal expert, and a venomous snake toxicologist.  Perhaps, this is why the Black Mamba avoids these three at all costs and never interacts with them on a perilous level.  The fantastical mist that’s sprays us lightly with a crimefighting snake has comical properties that standout against what is a palpable thriller involving an international criminal, cop killing, child abduction, and the mutilation of a corpse. 

Blue Underground continues to update their catalogue with a 2-disc, 4K UHD and Blu-ray combo set of ‘Venom.” The UHD is HVEC encoded, 2160p ultra-high-definition, BD66 and the Blu-ray is AVC encoded, 1080p high-definition, BD50. In regard to picture quality, both formats are nearly identical transfer that’s stems from an all new 4K 16-bit restoration from the original 35mm internegative, with the UHD receiving Dolby Vision HDR. UHD is slightly sharper around delineation when gliding between dark and light, which is often inside a merge of a half-lit house to draw more tension toward the potential presence of a deadly snake. The 1080p presentation also provides a pleasing clarity that offers little to negatively note. Color grading and saturation between the two formats show signs of varying quality by a thread with the 4K saturating that much more intently across the board with a better control over the grain levels with the Blu-ray appearing a touch thicker for the pixels to flare optically. The native 4K and 1080p come with an English Dolby Atmos as well as options for either an English DTS-HD 5.1 or a DTS-HD 2.0 stereo. Speaking only to the Atmos, the all-encompassing mix shepherds in a clean, discernible quality without any audible seams. Skirmishes, dialogues, and all the commotions in between find isolated channels of distinction that can put you immerse you into the action. And there’s plenty of action to be had coupled with a Michael Kamen’s brass horn and string score that’s both memorably building with excitement and thrilling that preludes Kamen’s orchestrated composition work of “Die Hard,” starring Bruce Willis. Despite the circumference of sound spaced mostly in interiors with a hodgepodge medley of a street full of police, reporters, and gawkers, the dialogue is equally distinct, discernible, clean, and clear without signs of hissing and crackling strains. Subtitles included are in English, French, and Spanish. The 4K special features include a new audio commentary with Film Historians and Blue Underground commenting regulars Troy Howarth, Nathniel Thompson, and Eugenio Ercolani, an archived commentary with director Piers Haggard, and film trailers. The Blu-ray disc contains the same commentaries and trailers but extends further with new exclusives in an interview with editor-second unit director Michael Bradsell Fangs For the Memories, an interview with makeup artist Nick Dudman A Slithery Story, a film historian point of view interview with British critic and author Kim Newman, and an interview with The Dark Side’s Allan Bryce providing his in-depth two cents and historical surveying. TV Spots are finish out the encoded extras. “Venom” 4K and Blu-ray combo set is physical appeasing to hold and behold with a muted black slipcover with tactile elements on both sides of embossed letters and stark coloring that’s striking in its simple snake fang design arraignment. The black, thick Amaray case has the original “Venom” artwork with the optional reverse cover art. I’m not a fan of the inside design that houses a disc on both sides as there is no room place for 18-page collectible, color picture booklet which just floats inside. The booklet features an essay by Michael Gingold, cast and crew acknowledgements, and chapter selection on the back. The discs are pressed with one or the other cover arts. This gorgeous-looking release, on the outside and inside, comes region free, has a runtime of 92 minutes, and is Rated R.

Last Rites: “Venom” might have been snakebitten back when selling book adaptations of crime capers stopped by a single snake might have seemed farfetched but, today, the 1981 film remains a cult classic of the ophidian nature being one of the earliest serpentine creature features with an imposing, impressive cast. Blue Underground proudly presents the film with a new, and improved, ultra high-definition release.

Slither into “Venom” on 4K UHD and Blu-ray Combo Set!

The Next WWII Hero to Tommy Gun Down Nazi EVIL Experimenters is “Dick Dynamite: 1944” reviewed! (Epic Pictures Group / Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“Dick Dynamite: 1944” is actioned-packed and now on Blu-ray!

In an effort to extinguish and conquer the American people during World War II in 1944, depraved Nazis develop a transatlantic bomber to plane a devastating, zombifying,  nuclear weapon to the U.S. shores.  A special operation is devised by the U.S. command and intelligence to send their most prized, as well as disgraced, Nazi killer, Sargent Dick Dynamite, to be released from military prison and head a motley crew of rough and ready soldiers to destroy the bomber before taking off from Germany.  Under heavy fire and losing already a couple of soldiers, Dick must make contact with a British operative and an enemy infiltrating dame to root out the details and whereabouts of SS Colonel Schtacker’s diabolical plan for Hitler.  A score of bullets and blood wash over an already bloodied European battlefield as Dick Dynamite will stop at nothing to kill every single Nazi he can get his hands on to complete his mission.

“Dick Dynamite:  1944” is the first of possibly a string of blackly satirical, gory, and horrors of war and of creature World War II films to the uncouth tune of “Dirty Dozen” and “Inglorious Basterds,” or “inglorious Bastards.”  The 2023 released Scottish-made feature is written-and-directed by Robbie Davidson as the musician’s first feature film following a pair of shorts from the last decade in 2012’s “Vamplifier” and 2017’s “Radge Land.”  “Dick Dynamite” is a much larger film full of practical and visual effects, multiple locations, props, voiceover work, large cast and a lot more to create a mockup of wartime Europe of the mid-1940s.  The indigogo crowdfunded campaign accumulated $3500+ from 74 backers but that total may have increased to approx. $7500 per external review of the budget costs; either way, crowdfunding backed Davison, Ian Gordon, Alexander Henderson, and Adrian Smith cofounded Square Go Film production, produced fully by Davidson and Jeffrey J. Ellen, a serial campaign contributor.

So, whose to play the titular hero filled to the brim with machoism?  That role would fall upon Snars.  Snars?  What the hell is a Snars?  That would be the very large stature of Gary Snars Allen channelling his best Scharzenegger voice for the bomber jacket-donning, punch first ask questions later role of Dick Dynamite.  Dynamite’s an extremely faced-value character with not a lot of depth and Snars doesn’t bring much to the character in a way that makes the war action hero that remarkable, especially amongst the clandestine missions behind enemy line characters in war films, like Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine with a noose neck scar and his idiosyncratic way of saying Nazi.  Dick’s surrounded by a bunch of off-color, off-beat, dirty-dozen types that beam their leader tenfold but, in themselves, are a beacon of curiosity and comedy.  Between the wise guy, motormouth of Brooklyn (Mark Burdett), a pyromanic with a flamethrower in Naplam Jeff (Andy Moore) and a loud and overconfident British Agent in Dash Dalton (Shaun Davidson), there’s support dialogue and action to take the edge off of Dick Dynamite being the sole primary muscle and that’s a good thing because while Snars is okay as the role, he’s not exactly charismatic and having backup characters keep Dick Dynamite from a lot of wear and tear of being in every frame or sequence.  Unfortunately, there is a downside of an ensembled cast in an action war film and a few will be quickly axed off before being unraveled, even some of your favorites from the character’s title card rundown at command operations, such as with drug-addicted, old timer medic (Robert Williamson) as well as Lukas from Tuchus (Brian Jamieson), Tam the Bam (Leftie Wright), and, fan-favorite who gets a little more action, Motherfucker to say only say Motherfucker through the entire time.  Valerie Birss and Adam Harper deserve to be separated from the pack because of their broader arc with Harper playing timid war photographer Officer Wakowski popping his combat cherry after being pushed to the extreme limit and Birss in covert clothing as Agent Jennings pretending to be a Nazi socialite and though not explicit, she serves as potential love interest for Dick without a fling of amorous to be had.  Irvine Welsh, Graham Scott, Athol Fraser, Nigel Buckland, Erik Grieve, David R. Montgomery, and Colin Mcafferty, as the notorious war crime Nazi leader Hitler, rounding out the cast.

“Dick Dynamite” is modern day grindhouse that pays homage to the days over-the-top, suicide mission carnage.  Visual effects and practical gore elements are compositely tied but for the budget, VFX is surprisingly sound to match up against the layered objects or landscapes in the pith of grindhouse.  I found balloon toss squibs an effective choice for bullet-riddling, bloody body shots that explode with gusto and the editing is on point to not show the moment of balloon impact.  A large cast with extras in full Allies and Axis uniforms and weaponry, plus military vehicles, such as Ford GPWs and German vintage aircraft, are garnered and used to add not only to the realism side of the World War II film but also adds to the scale of Robbie Davidson’s debut feature.  Davidson’s story is uber lean for a very cut-and-dry shoot’em up, zombie-laden, Nazisploitation film with not a ton of depth by relying solely on black comedy gags that either hit or miss comedic marks but the gags that do land are outrageous and warrant laughs.  The finale definitively sets up the return of “Dick Dynamite” for a sequel with the hope this film generates enough revenue in conjunction with, perhaps, another crowdfunded campaign to see Dynamite back to smashing the faces of swastika-heiling goons again.

My first Epic Pictures release that isn’t a Dread sublabel, “Dick Dynamite:  1944” is released on standard Blu-ray, encoded AVC, 1080p high-definition in a 1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio, onto a BD25, which is nothing new in comparison to the Dread catalogue.  Filled in with plenty of composite, visual effects shots, the feature has a plastic pulpy profile, especially in its plastique explosions overtop real and artificial layers, but the detail leveling, despite some smoothed-out areas of posterization, rides the cohesive imaging with singularity, keeping true to the grindhouse or pulp look all way through.  All the real scenes have a raw touch with not a ton of filters, gels, or distinct lighting techniques and that surfaces and houses skin tones and granular textures a lot more.  No issues with aliasing, ghosting, banding, or other compression eyesores on this lower capacity Hi-Def format nor anything that affect the deep black areas.  The English language audio mixes are either a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound or a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo, both of which are lossy formats for a machine gun heavy, explosion-laden, exposition and dialogue-saturated, and war-atmospheric-envelope ranged film.  Depth struggles with long shots and wider scenes inside the context of post-production sound effects where everything audibly comes to the front and the lossy format has pale gunfire renditions and ambient uproar but there’s also a lot of Scottish or UK English yelling and screaming with caricature German accents accompaniments to ] add to the already amplified bangarang.  English subtitles are optional but for one Scottish character, they are forced for comic, translation effect.  One of the few Epic Pictures’ releases to be packed with extras, including a Robbie Davidson director’s audio commentary, a nearly hour long making-of documentary with cast-and-crew interviews, raw footage behind the camera, bloopers, and production stages, and post-production footage with ADR and visual effects, an interview with Leftie Wright,  an Adam Harper audition tape, a slew of deleted scenes, an F/X breakdown around explosions, a faux ad for Dick Dynamite action figures and toys, a Zombie Child ad, the Indigogo.com campaign ad, Dick Goes to Japan, Dick Dynamite & Company go to the Isle of Butel, Gloirous Basterts gungho advert, the official “Dick Dynamite:  1944” trailer, and the production trailer.  The standard Blu-ray Amaray keepcase depicts Snars in soldier gear with a BAR across his back shoulders and a lot of explosive chaos behind him.  Inside the disc pressed with faux bullet holes and there are no other physical extras.  The region free release has a runtime of 95 minutes and is not rated. 

Last Rites: “Dick Dynamite: 1944” is the World War II grindhouse picture that gets in your face and doesn’t let up. Robbie Davidson renders fans expectations by turning their contributions into a bloody, visual effects blitz of zombies, Nazis, and kickass allies with the hope for a sequel to follow.

“Dick Dynamite: 1944” is actioned-packed and now on Blu-ray!

Three Million and Staying One Step Head of the Cops is EVIL’s Masterplan! “The Cat” reviewed! (Radiance Films / Limited Edition Blu-ray)

Posted by Steven Lewis on

“The Cat” Limited-Edition Blu-ray From Radiance Films Now Available!

Two ex-cons hold up a Düsseldorf bank for 3 million German marks.  Armed with handguns and brazen with their daytime theft, the two men hold hostage a handful of alarmed employees, rounded up before the bank opens for business, including the bank manager.  Going into the heist with a money figure in mind, the vault is discovered with only 200,000 inside, but that was to be expected as the arrival of the police surround the building adjacent to the towering Nikko Hotel where a third man, the mastermind, spies down from one of the upper floors, instructing the two armed men inside of his plan as well as spying on the police activity aimed to thwart the robbery.  Always one step ahead, police, bank employees, and even the bank manager’s wife are all a part of the organized crime for the riches, and maybe even exact a little retaliation in the process too. 

The 1988 released, German crime-thriller “Die Katze,” or “The Cat,” is an intense ruse engrained with deception, affairs, and a saturated with emotional weight.  Helmed by directed Dominik Graf (“The Invincibles”) put the Munich-born, drama-comedy filmmaker to the test with the Christoph Fromm script, adapted from the 1984 novel Uwe Erichsen, entitled Das Leben Einer Katze, aka The Life of a Cat.  “The Cat” would be Graf and Fromm’s second feature together who, four years previously, collaborated on the slice of life for carefree, bike friends suddenly finding themselves in the unemployment lane of “Treffer” and who would then go to after “The Cat” with the gambling comedy “Spieler” two years later.  “The Cat” is a production of Bavaria Film and Zweites Deutsches Fernshehen and is produced by George Feil and Günter Rohrbach (“Das Boot”), shot on location at the Hotel Nikko in Düsseldorf as well as in studios in Munich.

“The Cat” contains a hierarchy amongst the thieves with Britz (Ralf Richter, “Das Boot,” “Sky Sharks”) being at the bottom as a hot-headed hired gun, Jungheim (Heinz Hoenig, “Das Boot,” “Antibodies”) is next step up as the managerial ex-con looking to score big with reprisal, untamed purpose, and, lastly, the only man who can keep Jungheim from spiraling out of control and the spying eye from the tower radioing orders is the mastermind behind the heist plan with a calm as a cucumber demeanor and a cool cat, or katze, finesse and his name is Probek (Götz George, “The Blood of Fu Manchu,” “Scene of the Crime: A Tooth for a Tooth “).  But, as we all know and as the old proverb goes, there is no honor amongst thieves, yet Graf’s filmic adaptation does instill some counterbalance against that adage by keeping a sliver of diligence within their circle but there is an underlining truth well-hidden under-the-table, only informing those down the ladder what they need to know, when they need to know.  As tension ebb and flow from each personality type, throw into the mix an equivocal loyal woman (Gudrun Landgrebe, “Rosinni”), an intelligent officer in charge of hostage operation (Joachim Kemmer, “The Vampire Happening”), and a stubborn and quick to catch-on bank manager (Ulrich Gebauer) and the ensembles ensues an edge of your seat volatility elevated by the steadfast performances with the actors unhinged and let loose to exact their roles.  With lots of moving pieces to the characters’ actions, supporting parts are key to the success, adding flavor to their persona types and unravelling more about who they are and how audiences are supposed to perceive them as either friend or foe.  Sbine Kaack, Heinrich Schafmeister, Claus-Dieter Reents, Iris Disse, Water Gontermann, Bernd Hoffman, Uli Krohm, and Klaus Maas co-star. 

Hardboiled in a game of pursuit and evasion, Dominik Graf finds without difficulty the essence of Uwe Erichsen’s thrilling crime novel staying mostly in one location, evolving the story as the police try every trick in the book to thwart who they believe to be ordinary bank robbers and as the confidence, and perhaps a little brazen cockiness, slowly builds self-assured success. This constant stream of checks and balances between the hard focused, unobservant antitheft division of Germany’s finest and the cooperative crooks consisting of brawns following instructions of the brain keeping ahead of a fate less fortunate never lets down, never idles, and never diverts attention. “The Cat,” in a way, feels very much like 1988’s “Die Hard” from director John McTiernan, a steady source of one-upping the good guys peppered with moments of unvarnished, graphic violence and dark, unforeseen levity, minus a lone wolf John McClane hero behind enemy lines. The very opening scenes of Götz George and Gudrun Landgrebe engaged sexually are raw, sensuous, and sweaty but are under top a jaunty soundtrack that mismatch the heat of the moment in its cheerful, breezy Eric Burden and the Animal’s tune “Good Times,” a track with lyrics that speak of regrets of negating better moments with unsavory choices finds more of a potent meaning at the gun blazing finale where facing death is an inevitable outcome for one’s poor decisions.

UK label Radiance Films releases “The Cat” in the North American market for the first time with English subtitles in a limited-edition Blu-ray with a Dominic Graf approved high-definition transfer, newly graded by Radiance Film, onto an AVC encoded, 1080p, BD50. While the heist concept may be familiar conceptually to “Die Hard,” the look of the film also has that natural grading of “Die Hard” as well with Radiance infused punctuations on skin tones with a natural hardness. The print used was a digitized file, likely already spruced from an extracted print used by Euro Video in 2017, but Radiance retains the organic grittiness as well as the grain in their own sprucing up that sees a muted hues appear more intense. Presented in a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio, I’m curious to know if “Die Katze” was cropped in post to avoid nudity in the love scenes between George and Landgrebe that appear stretched with more pixelation and are oddly framed, as if portions were sliced off and positioning did not change. The German audio mixes include lossless DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and a stereo 2.0. The surround mix lets loose and gives way to all to all of “The Cat’s” range in securing side and rear channels with ambient police activity, fireball explosion crackling, and the echoing of cavernous settings juxtaposed against more intimate and cozy locations. Dialogue renders clear, robust, and prominent with a seemingly errorfree, newly translated English subtitle synchronicity albeit the pacing being a little rapid. No signs of compression issues nor any print damage or unpleasant hissing or crackling. Special features include new German-languaged, English subtitled interviews with Dominik Graf, screenwriter Christoph Fromm, and producer George Feil, a scene-select commentary with Graf, and the film’s trailer. Like the rest of Radiance’s catalogue, “The Cat” comes with a clear Amaray with an OBI strip overtop the reversible cover art. The reverse side displays the original home video and poster art. A 19-page color picture booklet features an essay by freelance culture writer and film critic Brandon Streussnig All the Good Times That’s Been Wasted, plus cast and crew credits and transfer information and acknowledgements. The region A/B encoded playback release has a runtime 118 minutes, is not rated, and is limited to only 3000 copies.

Last Rite: A masterful crime thriller, “The Cat” claws away the fuss to unsheathe realism and Radiance Films delivers the Germanic, harrowing heister in all its glory with a Hi-Def release.

“The Cat” Limited-Edition Blu-ray From Radiance Films Now Available!