6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Asst. D.A. Nick Gold must partner with his worst enemy, New Orleans Det. Nick Blades, to recover his father’s most prized possession, a 1956 Studebaker Goldenhawk.
Starring: Adam Copeland, Jamie Kennedy, Jennifer Esposito, Alicia Witt, Kevin WeismanDrama | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
An ongoing effort at WWE Studios has been assembling projects for its more photogenic stars in the hope of igniting or assisting nascent film careers. The effort seems to have given a boost to the celluloid aspirations of John Cena, with whom WWE made Legendary and The Reunion, but the 2012 buddy-cop crime comedy Bending the Rules failed to provide a similar lift for Canadian brawler Adam "Edge" Copeland. It's hard to say why, because Copeland is appealing in the film, which is constructed according to the basic WWE formula: an efficient, if unoriginal, script (by Dylan Schaffer, who also wrote Inside Out for the studio); an experienced director (Artie Mandelberg, whose extensive TV credits include Saving Grace and Moonlighting); and a seasoned cast to help carry the fledgling star, including Jamie Kennedy, Jennifer Esposito, Alicia Witt, Alias' uber-nerd Kevin Weisman, Philip Baker Hall and the still-beguiling Jessica Walter, whose credits go all the way back to Clint Eastwood's directorial debut, Play Misty for Me.
Definitive information about the shooting format of Bending the Rules was not available, but the credits suggest it was shot on film and finished on a digital intermediate. The cinematographer was Kenneth Zunder, who has shot seven films for WWE Studios to date and has extensive credits in both features (Bye Bye Love) and television (Judging Amy, among others). With both the director and the DP sharing a TV background, it's not surprising that the film has a primetime look, with everyone clearly and brightly illuminated, even at night, and nothing especially artful or eye-catching in the use of shadows or colors. Note that this isn't a criticism; that kind of "invisible" style is well-suited to comedy. RLJ/Image Entertainment's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray provides a solid, clear, noiseless and detailed image. But for the credits listing various personnel involved with film and the appearance of film cameras in production footage in the extras, the image might almost be mistaken for digital capture, because, as is so often the case in today's DI-processed work, the film's grain pattern has been virtually eliminated by the kind of sophisticated software that translates grain into pixels without loss of detail. The color palette tends toward the bright and cheerful, in keeping with Nick Blades's upbeat temperament ("I've always been lucky", is his mantra) and the flamboyant red of the vintage Studebaker. Even the donuts are colorful. At an average bitrate of 19.00 Mbps, the compression is somewhat tight, but the film has a lot of quiet, talky scenes that allow conservation of bandwidth for the few busy action sequences (and there are only a few). Compression artifacts would have stood out in this smooth surface, and I didn't see any.
Bending the Rules's original 5.1 track is encoded as lossless DTS-HD MA. It's a serviceable but unremarkable track consistent with the film's modest budget. Despite the presence of a major wrestling star, the film lacks any major action set pieces; indeed, only one scene involves significant gunfire. The surrounds provide an expanded sense of environment and a larger presence for the generic score by Trevor Morris (Olympus Has Fallen). Dialogue is clear, and dynamic range is wide.
Bending the Rules is a pleasant enough entertainment, especially for Edge fans. It's competently written, acted and shot, and the Edge shows enough presence on screen to deserve another chance. But the film isn't likely to stick in the memory or spawn any catchphrases, unless you count Jamie Kennedy's on-set nicknames for his costar ("Yeti!" "Sasquatch! "Viking!"). Worth a rental.
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