Bounty Hunters Blu-ray Movie 
MPI Media Group | 2011 | 79 min | Not rated | Apr 02, 2013
Movie rating
|
| 6.1 | / 10 |
Blu-ray rating
| Users |  | 0.0 |
| Reviewer |  | 2.0 |
| Overall | | 2.0 |
Overview click to collapse contents
Bounty Hunters (2011)
Wrestling champion and fitness icon Trish Stratus explodes onto the screen in her feature film debut, Bounty Hunters, a thrilling and sexy ride through crime-infested streets where everyone has a price.
Starring: Trish Stratus, Frank J. Zupancic, Christian Bako, Boomer Phillips, Andrea James LuiDirector: Patrick McBrearty
| Thriller | Uncertain |
| Crime | Uncertain |
| Action | Uncertain |
Specifications click to expand contents
Video
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Audio
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
French: Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles
English
Discs
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Playback
Region A (B, C untested)
Review click to expand contents
Rating summary
| Movie | | 2.0 |
| Video |  | 3.5 |
| Audio | | 3.5 |
| Extras |  | 3.0 |
| Overall | | 2.0 |
Bounty Hunters Blu-ray Movie Review
I can't get no Stratusfaction...
Reviewed by Casey Broadwater April 22, 2013I once worked with a grizzled old dude who fancied himself an after-hours bounty hunter. He liked to talk big about driving down to Florida on weekends to track bail-skippers—and he did keep a pair of .357 Magnums in the glove compartment of his truck—but I think it was all self-aggrandizing bluster. He was probably just staying in, watching Cops on Fox and reading Guns & Ammo during the commercial breaks. My point—and I do have one—is that his Saturday afternoon exploits on the couch were probably about as interesting as Bounty Hunters, a dull straight-to-video actioner that's more routine than a cop scribbling a traffic ticket. With low-budget production values and a stultifyingly pointless story, the film is notable only because it stars the hard-bodied former WWE wrestling idol and current fitness guru Trish Stratus, who can kick serious ass, yes, but has the acting chops of...well, a former WWE wrestling idol. Director Patrick McBrearty—whose only other credit is 2007's poorly received slasher Psycho Ward—seems to be banking that his target audience cares less about performances and storytelling than seeing the 37-year-old Stratus dolled up in a schoolgirl costume. Maybe he's right. Regardless, Bounty Hunters is bad.
Stratus plays tough blonde Jules Taylor, a Bond Enforcement Agent by early evening, waitress at a strip club by night. We never see her during the day, but I imagine she watches Cops and reads Guns & Ammo. Jules is the third member of an independent bounty hunting crew, along with her boss, Ridley (Frank J. Zupancic)—with whom she may or may not have a thing—and her partner, Chase (Canadian comic Boomer Phillips), the joker of the group. We're introduced to the team as they cooperatively take down a mohawked brute at a gym, Ridley running distraction, Chase wielding a dumbbell as a weapon, and Jules straddling the criminal's face and bludgeoning him with her fists until he submits.
After dropping the goon off at lockup, they get a tip about Peter (Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll), a harmless low-level drug dealer who jumped bail and is hiding out at his girlfriend's house. They round him up too—he lamely tries to fend them off with a BB gun—and load him into their van, where he offers them a deal: if they let him go free, he'll tell them the location of Mario Antonio (Enrico DiFede), a mob-connected thug whose capture would net them a cool $100,000. It's morally questionable, sure, but this seems like a no-brainer. Mario is holed up in a massage parlor/brothel—of course, and yes, the thong- wearing goods are on display—and after some gunshots and martial arts action, they take him into custody. There's only one problem. Mario's boss, Hal Lambino (Joe Rafia)—a mafioso with a penchant for Tai Chi—is determined to make sure his underling doesn't talk to the cops. He offers the bounty hunters $1 million for Mario's immediate return, but the ethical dilemma is even iffier this time. If they turn Mario over to Hal, he'll almost certainly be executed, while they'll be a million bucks richer. If they turn him over to the cops, they're out the money and Hal will probably still find a way to kill the guy.
The first problem with Bounty Hunters is that it can't commit to a tone. On one side, the material lends itself to a campy, over-the-top, grindhouse-ish approach, and the film does indulge that tendency, trotting out nearly-naked prostitutes, spewing goofy one-liners, and reveling in its kung-fu fighting-meets-law enforcement premise. On the other, it squanders its "so-bad-it's-good" cult potential by simultaneously trying too hard to be serious, to make us feel the weight of the characters' moral decisions and—more generally—make us care. We don't care, really, and the moral decisions aren't that weighty to begin with. The increasing monetary rewards are just MacGuffins to keep the bail enforcement agents in motion, and when the plot of a movie is driven by a MacGuffin—Hitchcock's term for an otherwise pointless object or aim that keeps the story moving—the movement itself better damn well be interesting. In Bounty Hunters, it's not. At all.
If we get right down to it, the movie is basically 79 minutes of Trish Stratus fan-service. The closeup montage of her changing out of her bounty hunting gear and into her schoolgirl stripper uniform. The lingering views of her curves. The panting, moaning girl-fights. Longtime Stratus followers might find this alluring—might being the operative word—but wider audiences will most likely be bored and underwhelmed.
Bounty Hunters Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
Arriving on Blu-ray with a 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation, Bounty Hunters looks okay for what it is—an ultra low- budget action movie. Shot digitally with the more-than-capable Red One camera, the film's somewhat flat, uninteresting image is further proof that careful lighting is just as, if not more important than sharp lenses and a high-resolution sensor. Still, aside from poor artistry, there's not much technically wrong with the picture here. Clarity is generally strong, with fine facial and clothing detail visible in closeups, and though I did notice some strange intentional blurring in a few scenes—see the edges of the frame during the strip club locker room sequence—there are no issues with DNR, edge enhancement, or other types of filtering. Source noise is present in small amounts, but I didn't spot any blatant compression issues or problems with aliasing/moire. While the cheap-o lighting does give the movie that low-production-value look—it's basically one step above a porno—the image at least has a decent sense of density and color consistency. As long as you know what you're getting into here, picture quality-wise, there are no major distractions.
Bounty Hunters Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
The disc has four sound options in the set-up menu—the default lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo fold-down, and a French Dolby Digital 2.0 dub. Providing you're not French and you have a capable home theater system, the default mix is the way to go. Like the picture quality, the audio is functional and distraction- free, but short of impressive or noteworthy. Dialogue, most importantly, is clear and easy to understand from the front speakers, while the rear channels are used for occasional effects, light ambience—falling rain, strip club clamor, etc.—and the film's aggressively bland, if full-bodied, action-rock score. No problems here. The disc also includes optional English subtitles, which appear in tiny yellow drop-shadowed lettering.
Bounty Hunters Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
- Audio Commentaries: The disc includes two commentaries, a too-bubbly conversation with Trish Stratus and Andrea James Lui, and a more nuts-and-bolts-style track with director Patrick McBrearty and producer Chad Archibald.
- Interview with Trish Stratus (SD, 5:02): Stratus talks a bit about her role and why she chose to take it.
- Epic Fight: Behind the Scenes (SD, 3:28): An on-set look at the filming of one of the fight scenes between Stratus and Andrea James Lui.
- Trish on "The Score" (SD, 17:18): Stratus appears on a wrestling-themed TV program to promote the film.
- Trish at ActionFest 2011 (SD, 00:33): A quick clip of Trish saying hello to the camera as motocross bikes leap through the air behind her.
- Trailer (HD, 1:38)
Bounty Hunters Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
Unless you're an undiscriminating collector of awful ultra-low-budget action films, a WWE enthusiast, or a Trish Stratus fan looking for some fan-service, I'd advise you to skip Bounty Hunters, which has a weak story, routine action, and little to offer general movie audiences. It's like a dumber, artless Domino. For those still interested, at least know that MPI's Blu-ray release is decent, with good video/audio quality—considering the resources the movie was made with—and a respectable collection of bonus features.
