Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

Blood Out Blu-ray Movie Review

Blood simpleton.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 26, 2011

Enquiring minds may not exactly want to know this cherché piece of information, but according to the National Enquirer, Val Kilmer, one of the ostensible stars of Blood Out, had a rather unusual way of “clearing his mind” when he failed to accurately deliver his lines. Evidently Kilmer liked to break into “ear splitting barks and howls, sounding like a wounded dog.” A more cynical critic might be tempted to say Kilmer simply knew he was in a dog with regard to Blood Out, a direct-to-video mélange of just about every other gang related revenge flick you’ve ever seen, replete with a decent if violent cop (Luke Goss) going undercover to avenge his gangbanging little brother’s death, a bad cop (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) who looks the other way as rival gangs spread their carnage across city streets, and just for good measure some high-falutin’ thugs (including Kilmer) who delight in S&M displays by a coterie of scantily clad females. This film just reeks of Academy Award nominations, don’t you think? Hobbled by one cliché-ridden scene after another, with a plot that doesn’t just defy logic, it gives it a good swift quick to the privates, Blood Out desperately wants streed cred and attempts to get it with shaky handheld cameras, washed out HD video ambience, and an overall smarmy feel that may in fact unintentionally provide the film with its tenuous grasp on verité truthfulness.

There’s not much to the plot of Blood Out. Goss portrays small town Deputy Michael Savion, whose little brother David (Ryan Donowho) wants out of his gangland lifestyle after he discovers his girlfriend Gloria is pregnant. The gang of course has other ideas, living by the infamous rubric “Blood in, blood out,” a tagline if ever there were one. David meets his fate at the hands of the ignominious Zed (Vinnie Jones), one of the big kahunas of this particular gang, along with another vicious criminal named Elias (Tamer Hassan). When David’s death isn’t really investigated by the local police force, Michael busts into the precinct and has it out with Detective Hardwick (50 Cent), leading to one of several ugly fistfights this film is littered with. Of course that leaves Michael no recourse but to leave his Deputy job, get a slew of tattoos and then instantly insinuate himself into the highest levels of David’s former gang, all without even a minimum of fuss and bother.

As might be apparent from that brief plot summary, Blood Out strains credulity to the point of ludicrousness, something that is distinctly at odds with the film’s wish to be a down and dirty, grit-filled evocation of an unseemly gang lifestyle. Things only get more ridiculous as the film proceeds, with Elias sitting around watching a bunch of leather clad women whip each other and Michael being greeted as a conquering hero by the gang when he’s seen beating the crap out of some rival gang members. Of course it’s implied that this is all part of Michael’s grand scheme to get the goods on whoever killed his brother. But that’s part and parcel of what repeatedly ails Blood Out. The film is simply too discursive for its own good. It relies on the very clichés it mines to provide background instead of filling in the details itself. This film lurches from improbability to improbability with only the audience’s unwilling suspension of disbelief providing any bridging material.

Kilmer, who has gone from being—um—quirky to downright eccentric and even bizarre, devolves into a complete parody of himself in this film. First of all, he’s a character named Arturo, supposedly the head honcho of South American “affairs” for a worldwide assemblage of competing gangs. And yet nary the hint of an accent. Okay, maybe that’s an actorly choice, as wrongheaded as it appears to be. But the fact that Kilmer evidently needed to howl like a dog because he couldn’t master his lines becomes laugh out loud hilarious when you realize the onetime A-lister is on screen for all of about 3 minutes and has a handful of lines to begin with. His delivery is odd, to say the least, full of Brando-esque pauses that add nothing and in fact up the annoyance level considerably. And he’s full of ridiculous shtick and tics, like repeatedly rubbing his face with his open hand, as if that will provide some sort of window into Arturo’s soul.

Better by far are Goss as Savion and a very nice turn by Ed Quinn as Savion’s gang buddy Anthony, who in that ludicrous way that only films of this ilk even attempt to pull of turns out to be Gloria’s brother. If Goss is way too wiry to really convince as a guy who can pulverize a group of raging gangbangers, he at least brings a world weariness and dolor to the role that helps anchor Blood Out, however fitfully, to some semblance of reality. Leading lady AnnaLynne McCord (90210), as Elias' chief whip-wrangler, albeit one with a big, big secret that will not surprise anyone who pays attention to little clues being dropped by the wayside, looks like she's battling a major bout of indigestion, and it's probably understandable, given the smarmy goings-on she's forced to take part in.

The film seems to have left large chunks of its plot on the cutting room floor. Whole segments suddenly appear as if from thin air, and the final climactic battle between Savion and a hulking beast (dressed in Roman gladiator attire, and, no, I’m not kidding) plays out like a living cartoon and then devolves into an equally ridiculous chase scene where Gloria is (of course) taken hostage by one of the bad guys. It’s almost too funny for words when Savion catches up to the bad guy’s car and causes it to crash in a flaming ball of cartwheels and careening metal. Gloria escapes largely unscathed and a happy ending just suddenly occurs, as if none of the preceding 90 minutes of absurdity had ever happened. It’s enough to make anyone bark and howl like a wounded dog.

Blood Out Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Blood Out arrives on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. Director Jason Hewitt is talented, there's little doubt, but he strikes me as a young director who wants to prove how "arty" he can be with various post-processing effects here, and that means we're greeted by an off putting assortment of blown out contrast, low contrast, oddly timed color and a host of other effects that can rob the image of fine detail and make it look unappealing, at least some of the time. Color is widely variant here, depending on what filtering has been done. There are times when the image is startlingly sharp and well defined, as in an almost disturbing close-up of Kilmer poolside in one sequence. But generally things are pretty soft here, with too many effects for the film's own good.

Blood Out Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Blood Out's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is a fairly bombastic affair, as you might expect from a film of this ilk. With virtually nonstop LFE, provided courtesy either of a glut of sound effects or the nonstop use of source rap music, this is a bass heavy mix that should delight anyone who likes to hear their subwoofer being utilized with great regularity. The film has the odd propensity of springing into "song" during fights, so we get accompanying music (by BlesteNation and La Coka Nostra among others) that make this one of the weirder "musicals" you've probably ever seen. Fidelity in these musical sequences is top notch, with an artful and well delineated surround mix alternating between the throbbing score and the well positioned sound effects. Dialogue is clear and crisp and immersion is very well handled, with some very fun panning and discrete channelization utilized throughout the film.

Blood Out Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes With Cast and Crew (HD; 16:56) is an okay assemblage of talking head interviews interspersed with behind the scenes footage of various scenes being shot.
• Trailer (SD; 1:56)

Blood Out Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Blood Out is a film whose ludicrous lapses of logic and lack of fresh approach make it seem both stale and almost hilariously camp at the same time. This film simply trods a too familiar landscape with nothing new or fresh to offer, and its hopped up filming style is too deliberately self-aware for its own good, depriving the film of the very street cred it so desperately wants to attain. Some of the performances are okay, and several of the fight sequences are undeniably exciting, but this is such a cliché-ridden enterprise that you'll see virtually every plot point telegraphed from a mile away. Like Kilmer, you'll be howling and barking like a wounded dog, except that your mind will probably still not be clear of the mess that is Blood Out.