5.5 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 1.5 | |
Overall | 2.2 |
Captain Jack Tuliver is an ex-Delta Force commando leading what should have been a clockwork-perfect armored car heist. Instead, he ends up with a priceless Van Gogh painting - and one of his crew ends up held hostage by the sadistic Russian gangsters who muscled in on the heist. Tuliver's only option: a suicidal rescue mission where enemies become allies, your best friend can be your worst nightmare, and survival is the deadliest art of all.
Starring: Wesley Snipes, Tamzin Outhwaite, Deobia Oparei, Pete Lee-Wilson, Serge SoricThriller | 100% |
Action | 73% |
Crime | 71% |
Heist | 23% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
French: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Portuguese: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1
English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Cantonese, Dutch, Indonesian, Korean, Thai
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 1.0 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 1.5 |
Don't blame the baker when the butcher bakes the bread.
What's with all the direct-to-video releases coming to Blu-ray recently? In the span of only two
weeks, films like Lost Boys: The Tribe,
Stargate:
Continuum, Starship Troopers 3:
Marauder, and 7 Seconds will appear on store shelves, and probably remain
there collecting dust as savvy home theater aficionados spend their hard-earned dollars on more
popular (and better) titles. What sets 7 Seconds apart from the rest is
that it's a standalone movie with no affiliation to older, well-respected films or, in the case of
Stargate, both a film and a long-running television show with spin-offs of its own.
About
all 7 Seconds has going for it is star Wesley Snipes (Rising Sun) whose
legal
problems and various convictions over the years has relegated this one-time box office draw to
becoming a staple of the
direct-to-video market along with fellow actors Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van
Damme. Look up "second-rate action movie" in the dictionary and you may very well find a
picture of the 7 Seconds cover art. This is a completely derivative action movie with an
involved plot but uninteresting characters, lame action sequences, poor acting, and miniscule
production values.
Wesley Snipes takes cover from the critics' assault.
7 Seconds debuts on Blu-ray with a completely uninteresting 1080p, 1.85:1 transfer that always looks as if its covered in a layer of fog. The opening shots of the movie set the tone for what we can expect for the remainder of the film. They are dull, a little soft, and feature slightly subdued colors. Although dull, detail levels are adequate. Nothing stands out as eye-popping or extremely realistic, but the transfer gets the job done by offering a substandard but adequate high definition viewing experience. The image is clearly high definition and offers a better picture than standard definition DVD, but compared to even the most average of Blu-ray disc transfers, this one is a disappointment. The print exhibits some large white or blue spots that appear randomly over the transfer. Black levels aren't spectacular. There is loss of detail in dark scenes, and blacks never hold a true black. Grain is heavy throughout the movie, some scenes exhibiting more than others, but as a rule, it's always there. As a direct-to-video release of a fairly miserable movie, the transfer we see here is par for the course. It's far from being demonstration-worthy, but the transfer is still watchable and adequate for the material.
7 Seconds' audio presentation fares somewhat better than the video transfer. Arriving with a lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack, audiences will find themselves generally entertained and satisfied with the film's sound design and its presentation on Blu-ray. The music heard over the opening credits has a solid presence that fills the entire soundstage and while it is focused in the front, it comes through the rears as well, and it sounds better than quite a few discs I've listened to this year. Low frequency effects are enjoyable and the subwoofer works fairly hard throughout the movie. It never kicks into overdrive, but the subtle rumble that plays along with the movie makes for a nice action movie atmosphere. In chapter four, the entire soundstage fills up with gunfire. It's heard distinctly in every speaker and the effect is a good one. Dialogue is clear and played at a fine, audible volume. With its fairly standard B-movie action soundtrack, 7 Seconds becomes a slightly more tolerable brainless action flick thanks to a soundtrack that doesn't quit just because the movie it accompanies is lousy.
7 Seconds arrives on Blu-ray with absolutely no film-related special content. 1080p trailers for Redbelt, Starship Troopers 3: Marauder, and Resident Evil: Degeneration are on the disc, and the disc will take viewers to Sony's BD-Live (profile 2.0) page with trailers, etc. I was unable to access the actual page from the disc, probably because the disc has not yet been officially released. I did double-check with a previously-released Sony title (Vantage Point) to ensure the problem was not with my connection. That disc's BD-Live page loaded right up, so I have no doubt this disc will access its own page come August 12.
7 Seconds is the very definition of mundane action. It's a worthy film of the direct-to-video monicker, but that is faint praise indeed. Replete with bad dialogue, silly stunts, and typical B-movie mistakes, like a hero getting off a shot with an obviously empty gun, 7 Seconds brings nothing new to the table and is certainly not worth buying, and probably not worth renting for even the most dedicated of action movie junkies. The Blu-ray edition makes the decision to pass even easier. With unremarkable video, serviceable audio, and absolutely no movie-related supplements, 7 Seconds is the kind of movie you buy at a yard sale ten years from now for a quarter. Skip it.
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