Company Of Heroes (2013/Sony Blu-ray)/Deadfall
(2011/Magnolia Blu-ray)/Scanners
(1981/David Cronenberg/Umbrella Region B Import Blu-ray)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: C/C/C+ Films: C/C/B-
PLEASE NOTE: The
import Scanners Blu-ray is a Region B
disc, can only operate on players capable of handling that encoding and can be
ordered from our friends at Umbrella Entertainment at the website address
provided at the end of the review.
Now for a set of action thrillers that are each unusual
and even strange in their own way…
Don Michael Paul’s Company Of Heroes (2013) was intended for
theatrical release, but the WWII actioner from the director of the horrid,
recent Lake Placid [4]: The Final
Chapter (reviewed elsewhere on this site) is a flat, silly action flick
light years away from the likes of The
Dirty Dozen, The Battle Of The Bulge
or Where Eagles Dare and is based on
a video game!
A group
of U.S.
soldiers left behind after The Bulge fight more killer Nazis and could uncover
plus have to stop a deadly new weapon that could help change the war’s
outcome. Unfortunately, this is corny,
phony and despite being bloody not that realistic. The cast includes Tom Sizemore as a
cook-turned-killer for the good guys, Vinnie Jones, Neal McDonough and Jurgen
Prochnow with some money in the production, but not enough. As well, the awful music score by Frederik
Wiedmann keeps telling the audience how to think and feel with the same
“triumphant” music played every time a Nazi is killed.
That gets
tired quickly, but is the epitome of everything that goes wrong here. At least Sony will not lose the money here
they did on that CG animated Final
Fantasy as this is simple live action, but it is often insulting and comes
very close to trivializing the history it gives us. At least it is not war porn, but it even
comes close to that. Skip it!
A lame
Deleted Scene and two making of featurettes are on the disc, plus our edition
offered Ultraviolet Copy.
Stefan
Ruzowitzky’s Deadfall (2011, not to
be confused with the 1968 Michael Caine thriller reviewed elsewhere on this
site) is a convoluted thriller that starts out with three people fleeing after
stealing serious money from a casino, then a twist of fate kills one of them
leaving a brother (Eric Bana, very cold in one of his best performances) and
sister (Olivia Wilde) survivors in the middle of nowhere in the bitter winter,
though we wonder if they are related later.
They go their separate ways planning on meeting later when she is picked
up by former boxer Jay (Charlie Hunnam) who just took the fall for a robbery of
his own and is out of jail for only a few hours.
He is
also a murderer in that time by accident, but that is lost in the shuffle of a
script that goes from ridiculous to preposterous, complete with a goofy subplot
about a sexist, angry police chief (Treat Williams wasted in a cartoonish role)
and his cop daughter (the underrated Kate Mara also in a badly-written part)
that is also a storyline left up in the air when this fiasco ends early
(thankfully?) at 95 minutes.
Kris
Kristofferson and Sissy Spacek show up as Jay’s parents ready top celebrate
Thanksgiving, but this is not even helped by any of the action sequences or the
look which has its moments.
Unfortunately, this has no atmosphere, but if the makers had really
concentrated and worked out all the scripts many contrivances and flaws, this
could have been good. Instead, it is a
mess that wastes a good cast and disappoints.
Skip this one too unless you really like some of these actors.
Extras
include an AXS-TV look at the film, Behind The Scenes footage, Snow & Western and Family making of
featurette Extended Director Interview and separate production interviews with
the Director and Cast.
David
Cronenberg’s Scanners (1981) became
his breakthrough film, was a hit, put him on the map as a capable director of
distinction and completed an unspoken trilogy of telekinesis thrillers that
began with two great films from Brian De Palma: Carrie (1976, reviewed on Blu-ray elsewhere on this site) and The Fury (1978, with a limited edition
(to 3,000 copies) Blu-ray from Twilight Time also on this site) in which the
power to move objects with the mind can kill.
While Carrie isolated it to a
personal tale of rejection, revenge and terror with supernatural overtones and The Fury made it into a spy thriller, Scanners took the leap that two teams
were at war to perfect and control the power implying that the right person or
people could be the next step in our evolution and maybe even rule the world.
No one would
be able to do anything about it and world governments would not be prepared, so
a secret war starts with Patrick McGoohan in a great performance as the a
scientist who gets a good guy (Stephen Lack in an underwhelming performance,
but definitely not the bad guy here) battling a dangerous opponent (an early
bad guy role for Michael Ironside) who has a secret army backing him up and the
film manages to outdo De Palma’s bloodletting with more unforgettable visual
effects, but the screenplay by Cronenberg is ever-creepy and the film has aged
in odd ways.
The
computer technology may be old, but the fact the film even had any makes it
more compelling, plus this has atmosphere to spare and is worth revisiting. The action sequences are impressive even by
today’s standards and one famous scene retains its power to be as shocking and
stunning as it did when it stunned cinema audiences all over the world. This version is uncut and only for those
above 18 years of age and is the one to see.
It also makes the old U.S. MGM DVD obsolete.
Like Carrie for 2013 being remade for the
second time (!), Scanners is rumored
to be the next victim of a remake, but the odds that will work are a
longshot. So many bad telekinesis films
have been made since and no one remembers hardly any of them (including a Carrie sequel we’ll only leave as a
footnote), so what a remake could come up with that would make it worth our
time is highly unlikely to surface.
Extras
include The Original Theatrical Trailer, the hour long Directors segment on Cronenberg and featurette Inside Scan:
Scanners hosted by Alan Jones.
If you
have never seen the original Scanners,
catch it now!
As well
the film is coming out in the U.K.
with different extras and rumors about a Criterion edition are also circulating. We’ll see how they compare to this solid
version. For more
early Cronenberg, try his underseen, under-released Fast Company (1979) which he made just before this film, now on
Blu-ray as reviewed by us at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11120/David+Cronenberg%E2%80%99s+Fas
The 1080p
1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on Company and Scanners,
plus the 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Deadfall are about even, with all shot
on 35mm film save Company shot in HD
and they all have their limits. Deadfall has some nice shots here and
there, but style choices (clichés in the recent War genre films of late) in post
production hold back the film overall, Company
is darkened to look like most War genre films in the last 15 years and has
nothing special going for it and Scanners
is now 33 years old. It is the best it
has ever looked on home video, but the print still shows its age, but it has
the most style and atmosphere, thanks in part to Cronenberg’s longtime Director
of Photography Mark Irvin (also behind the underrated Robocop 2) delivers the most consistent look of the three which
only increases the suspense and its otherworldly-ness.
All three
Blu-rays also offer DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes, but they all
have limited soundfields and of course, Scanners
is the oldest and was actually originally issued in optical monophonic sound at
the time theatrically. Despite the
remixing, including of longtime Cronenberg maestro Howard Shore doing the
music, the other audio still shows its age, but this is as nice an upgrade as
could be expected. Company is mixed with sound a little more towards the front
speakers than I would have liked and dialogue recording is inconsistent, though
surrounds kick in well enough for the action scenes, but they are only so well
mixed and memorable. Deadfall has its sonic moments too, but
some audio is oddly synced or possibly badly rerecorded, plus it to can be too
much towards the front channels save action sequences.
As noted above, you can order the import Blu-ray version
of Scanners exclusively from
Umbrella at:
http://www.umbrellaent.com.au/
- Nicholas Sheffo
