3 Days in Malay Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

3 Days in Malay Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 20, 2023

Do you know the proper way to display the flag of the United States if, for example, it's hung vertically on a wall? Despite what some may feel is counterintuitive, the "union" (i.e., the part with the stars, as opposed to the stripes), should be on the left as you look at the flag, and in my own personal experience, a lot of people simply don't know that. In fact, I grew up as the son of an immigrant who rose to the rank of Major General in the Army and who took his American citizenship very seriously, and as a child I remember more than one occasion where my Dad would simply march up to a house or the owner of a business who had their flag hung incorrectly and who would then offer a bit of "edumacation" to them. In that regard, 3 Days in Malay could have definitely used a technical advisor, or at least a better technical advisor like my dear departed father (who in fact lent his expertise to such films as Patton ), as this film is going to be downright laughable for anyone with any military experience, either personally or, as in my case, courtesy of "osmosis". There are so many ridiculous errors scattered throughout even simple things like production and costume design in this effort (albeit admittedly no mishung flags that I spotted) that attending to actual factual errors in a disjointed screenplay may revert to a less important status.

This is another film emblazoned with the supposed imprimatur of "inspired by actual events", but unless you are willing to more or less completely suspend disbelief that Army soldiers don't know how to wear a helmet or even where to sew on their name patches on their uniforms, the "actual events" herein depicted may seem (to purloin a term of "Art"), "fictionalized". The story here is a sidebar to the Guadalcanal Campaign, where American forces finally started beating back the advances of the Japanese, but even with what seems to be a relatively riveting tale of survival of an isolated ragtag group of Americans against a virtual horde of Japanese, the film has surprisingly little visceral impact.

The "story" ostensibly involves a former Marine who is now in the Army, John Caputo (Louis Mandylor, who also directed), who arrives at an isolated airbase just as it's about to be surrounded by Japanese. Caputo of course (of course) has a "history", including as a traumatized boxer (I kid you not), as well as a longstanding relationship with another guy at the base, James (Donald Cerrone), whose own story has been briefly detailed in the film's prologue. It's all by the numbers stuff, but numbers that are weirdly "out of order" in terms of trying to ferret through writing that is not always clear. The action sequences aim for a more "in your face" sensibility, and manage to fitfully inject a little energy into an otherwise pretty tired feeling project.

3 Days in Malay Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

3 Days in Malay is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Probably unsurprisingly, the IMDb doesn't offer much in the way of technical information, and the closing credits roll also doesn't provide any relevant information, but this an interesting looking digital capture that I'm assuming had a 2K DI. As can perhaps be gleaned by some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, Mandylor and his cinematographer Niccolo De La Fere have opted for a kind of strangely desaturated look that probably only emphasizes the "video" appearance, especially when contrast has been pushed so that whites come perilously close to blooming. A lot of the film has a kind of subtle green grading that I guess is supposed to subliminally support the idea of where the film is ostensibly taking place. Detail levels are very good to excellent throughout the presentation, especially when the camera calms down and is stationary and close-ups are employed.

3 Days in Malay Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

3 Days in Malay offers a rather well designed and immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, one which announces its surround activity from the get go as rumblings of explosions and gunfire begin even as some textual information imparts context about World War II and Operation Watchtower. Both the opening melee and the climactic showdown offer a lot of whirlwind activity informing the side and rear channels, and commendably even some quieter moments before battles have escalated offer some good engagement of the surround channels for ambient environmental effects. Dialogue (such as it is) is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

3 Days in Malay Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 1:39)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Packaging features a slipcover.

3 Days in Malay Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As regular readers of my reviews may have figured out by this point, I have a somewhat jaded sense of humor, and I have to say I literally laughed out loud more than once at some of the inanities on screen in this effort. My favorite moments were interior scenes where soldiers are gathered to discuss strategies, and for absolutely no reason, just one of them is still wearing a helmet (not especially well, I might add). "Little" things like that may not ultimately matter that much, but they point to a certain disregard for "truth" (or at least verisimilitude) that redound to the entire effort, and unfortunately the main story here shows some of that same inattention to detail. There are a few relatively exciting battle scenes here which may commend the film to adrenaline junkies, and for anyone who may be considering making a purchase, technical merits are generally solid (I'd argue audio more than video).