6.1 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Two BMX expert bikers and a friend of theirs (Kidman) become entangled with a group of bank robbers after discovering a carton of walkie-talkies.
Starring: Angelo D'Angelo, James Lugton, Nicole Kidman, David Argue, John LeySport | 100% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Family | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
It has a 2.0 track, just look at the review.
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Lest you’ve forgotten, in the ‘80s, BMX was rad. If you were between the ages of, say, seven and seventeen, chances are you had a Dyno, Mongoose, Diamond Back, or Redline leaning up against the garage wall, and if you didn’t have access to trails you were for damn sure building ramps out of cinderblocks and sheets of plywood with your friends. (That, or practicing your flatland moves. Pop that endo!) If you were really into the action, you also had a bitchin’ set of elbow and kneepads, preferably in bright clashing colors. Naturally, there were a handful of films from the era that capitalized on the motocross craze. Have a look at Nicole Kidman’s lengthy filmography—yes, Nicole Kidman—and all the way, way, way up at the top you’ll find BMX Bandits, a cult kid-flick gem if there ever was one. In pastel pink short-shorts, and with her ginger hair going spastic in the frizziest perm imaginable, Kidman was only sixteen in this bike-based 1983 adventure, a film that was for Aussie kids what Goonies was for us Americans.
BMX Bandits!
BMX Bandits looks bad on Blu-ray, and by "bad" I mean surprisingly good. Really, though, I was caught off guard by how strong the
film's 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer is; you don't always expect that from small-budget cult kiddie films from the early '80s. From the very first frames,
BMX Bandits is vivid and bright, with more eye-popping primary hues than a Godard film. The bikes, the costumes—I would kill for one
of those BMX Bandits t-shirts—everything is insanely colorful, and that's before you take into account the deep blue sky and crisp green grass.
Black levels are a bit too murky, grayish, and crushing during the cemetery sequence—shadow detail is often totally obliterated—but during the daylight
scenes contrast is spot on and it's a real understatement to say the image has "pop." Although clarity isn't always tack sharp, the newfound resolution
works wonders for details like Kidman's frizzy perm, the creepy pig masks, and the texture of the bubbles during the massive foam fight. Finally, the
print itself is in fine condition—I only spotted a few scattered white specks—and there are no obvious digital alterations like edge enhancement or excess
DNR.
For a bit of trivia, BMX Bandits was actually acclaimed cinematographer John Seale's first gig as a feature film DP. His later credits include
Rain Main, The English Patient, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and Cold
Mountain.
The film's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo track is less immediately impressive, but it gets all the essentials right. To start, there's the almost absurdly cheesy soundtrack, which epitomizes 1980s fist-pumping montage music. My favorite touch is how every single time one of our three leads does a BMX stunt, a synthesizer underscores the trick with a laser beam-like schhheeeeeeeww sound. It never gets old. I didn't really notice any discernable separation between the two channels, but the mix is never muddled, and the score and effects all sound clean and bright. Perhaps too bright. The mix is shifted toward the mid-to-high end of the dynamic spectrum, with little bass to ground it. Otherwise, however, I have no complaints. Dialogue is always easy to understand, and there are no hisses, drop-outs, or crackles to report. Do note that there are no subtitle options on the disc whatsoever.
BMX Bandits may be a cornball and clichéd film about kids saving the day and—dude!—scraping together the money to build a BMX track, but it's also insuppressibly good-natured, full of sunshine, the brightest colors imaginable, and breezy nostalgic charm. If you grew up in the 1980s, the film will definitely take you back to a simpler time when kids actually played outside and rode their bikes around town instead of holing up in their rooms on the internet. Now I'm sounding like an old fuddy-duddy, and who am I to talk? I spend all day on the internet. Anyway, if you're curating an evening of ironically-enjoyed retro cheese, BMX Bandits certainly fits the bill. Recommended for a laugh.
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