American Heist Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		1.5

American Heist Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 8, 2015

Evidently even Academy Award winners need to bring in some extra moolah now and again, which may be one potential reason Adrien Brody is front and center in the completely generic American Heist. While that may explain Brody’s presence, it doesn’t do much to explicate his actual performance, which is kind of a like a twitching, manic take on Brando “I coulda been a contender” tropes, albeit without the naturalism. Brody struts and stomps his way through the film as ex-con Frankie, who gets out of stir and attempts to reunite with his brother James (Hayden Christensen), with a completely rote “reveal” detailing some of their backstory and why James is now supposedly forever indebted to his sibling. That in turn sets the film stumbling forward into its ostensible caper element.

That particular aspect of the film doesn’t actually unfold until perilously close to the end, something that keeps American Heist trundling along in its pretty turgid ambience of family dysfunction. There are a couple of decent interchanges between the two brothers, as well as a completely predictable and ultimately meaningless love story angle between James and a pretty police dispatcher named Emily (Jordana Brewster). According to interviews included on this Blu-ray as a supplement, Armenian born director Sarik Andreasyan speaks virtually no English, and some wags may wonder if the lack of clear communication between him and his cast and crew may have resulted in a classic case of “lost in translation”.

American Heist Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

American Heist is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. With sometimes gritty but ultimately drab looking digital photography that exhibits typical sharpness and clarity, along with equally typical murk in low light and dim sequences. Fine detail is often exceptional in close-ups, offering good looks at elements like Brody's facial stubble. The palette has not been overly color graded, and while the urban New Orleans setting is awfully bleak a lot of the time, individual aspects like the bright yellow Gremlin the boys tool around in pop quite convincingly. There were no problems with image instablity and no compression anomalies of any note.

American Heist Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

American Heist features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track that springs to life sporadically in some of the cityscape environments, when ambient environmental effects dot the surrounds, and then finally in the final act of the film when the titular caper finally ambles into view. The bulk of the film plays out in smaller, if admittedly sometimes intense, dialogue scenes where surround activity is minimal. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range fairly wide on this problem free track.

American Heist Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Creating a Complex Caper: Pulling Off American Heist (1080p; 25:57) is standard issue EPK stuff, albeit with the unusual aspect of some of the production crew not speaking English.

American Heist Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

American Heist finds a bit of fitful energy in its depiction of the roiling dysfunctions hobbling the sibling relationship between the two male stars, but you'd think that a film that advertises a caper in its title wouldn't spend two thirds of the film actually getting to it. Fans of the cast may want to check this out as a rental, but even many of them will probably feel they've seen this film before, and done better at that. Technical merits are generally very strong for those considering a purchase.