7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
After escaping a Michigan prison, a daring career criminal assumes a new identity in Canada and goes on to rob a record 63 banks and jewellery stores while being hunted by a rogue task force. Based on the story of The Flying Bandit.
Starring: Josh Duhamel, Elisha Cuthbert, Nestor Carbonell, Mel Gibson, Olivia d'AboDark humor | Insignificant |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Allan Ungar's "Bandit" (2022) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Redbox Entertainment/Quiver Distribution. There are no supplemental features on the release. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
No one is born bad. Like anything, it takes practice.
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Bandit arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Redbox Entertainment/Quiver Distribution.
Even though Bandit was not shot with a humongous budget, it is a very, very good looking film. Some of the panoramic footage from Canada's big cities and mountains is actually breathtaking. So, the master that was prepared for Bandit is truly outstanding. However, the film's transition to Blu-ray isn't easy to praise. Why? Well, the Blu-ray could have been encoded quite a bit better. Plenty of the darker footage reveals light macroblocking that easily could have been avoided. On my system, I was easily able to make a few small adjustments to avoid its effect(s), but the fact remains that just a few specific optimizations would have instantly eliminated it. Color reproduction is outstanding. The primaries are very rich while the supporting nuances look perfectly balanced. Image stability is outstanding. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There are three standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.
I viewed the entire film with the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. There are no technical anomalies to report and I think that the lossless audio perfectly replicates the native qualities of the original soundtrack. (I assume that the film has a fully digital soundtrack, so this isn't at all surprising). However, I would say that the soundtrack reveals that the film was not made with a humongous budget. Had it been a major studio project, this film would have had a soundtrack enriched with all sorts of different bells and whistles. Why do I mention this? Because in certain areas of the film the current soundtrack does just minimal work to produce certain dynamic contrasts.
Unfortunately, there are no special features to be found on this release.
Not even for a second did I think that Josh Duhamel's character was a proper replica of the Flying Bandit, but I still enjoyed Allan Ungar's film. Duhamel is charismatic, at times surprisingly funny too, and sells his character and his story quite well. I have not read Robert Knuckle's novel that inspired Ungar to shoot his film, but I gather that Gilbert Galvan Jr., the real Flying Bandit, was the worst kind of a compulsive liar -- he lied even when he lied. What do I mean? Because his lies constantly overlapped, Galvan Jr.'s true story will almost certainly remain incomplete. Of course, at his peak, he was a rather remarkable thief too -- or were the Canadian authorities utterly clueless, which is what allowed him to break the Canadian record for consecutive bank robberies? Redbox Entertainment/Quiver Distribution's Blu-ray release has a very attractive price tag, so I am going to recommend it, but the technical presentation of Bandit should have been a lot more convincing. RECOMMENDED.
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