Poker
Night (2014/XLrator Blu-ray)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: D Film: C
How
do you catch a killer that's holding all the cards?
A
young detective named Jeter (Beau Mirchoff) is caught in a sadistic
game of cat-and-mouse when he is kidnapped, beaten, and tormented by
a masked serial killer (whose mask looks like a tacky cross between
Scarecrow from The Dark Knight and David Cronenberg in Clive
Barker's Night Breed) over a three-day period. In order to
survive, the rookie must use the wisdom imparted to him by senior
detectives on their regular poker night before he was taken. Poker
Night stars Ron Perlman, Beau Mirchoff, Giancarlo Esposito, Corey
Large, Titus Welliver, and Ron Eldard.
The
film feels a lot like a '90s cop thriller complete with tacky voice
over, mediocre acting, and decent cinematography and action sequences
considering the budget. The scenes with Ron Pearlman are the most
interesting and mostly revolve around his mentorship to the main
character of Jeter and as the head and wisest cop out of the bunch.
Of course due to the budget, his scenes are limited.
The
biggest issue with the film is its non-narrative structure that
flashes back upon flashing back upon flashing back and from different
characters perspectives throughout - making the whole narrative feel
a little jumbled and overloaded. There are some cringe-worthy scenes
in this film involving one where Jetter is glued to a door with his
feet and arms stuck above ground and the Killer slowly peels his face
off. When the Killer tells us his backstory, there are several
scenes where he is always wearing his mask despite the social
situation that is sometimes humorous. The style all in all isn't
terrible for the crime genre and has a pretty cinematic feel.
The
presentation on the disc is not bad at all with a stunning 1080p high
definition picture and a lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 track that doesn't
disappoint. There's considerable detail in the image and nice blacks
and contrast throughout the presentation. XLrator always does a
great job with their transfers and mixes on their discs.
The
only extra is a trailer.
-
James Harland Lockhart V
www.facebook.com/jhl5films
