6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Two brothers, both underground fighters, become involved in a personal feud that spills into the ring.
Starring: Nathan Grubbs, Marc Senter, Pell James, Bryan Batt, Megan HenningAction | 100% |
Martial arts | 96% |
Drama | 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
English SDH
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Brawler is director Chris Sivertson's follow-up to the much-reviled 2007 Lindsay Lohan vehicle I Know Who Killed Me, and if you weren't told otherwise, you'd wouldn't know the two films came from the same hand. The Lohan vehicle was a slick, studio-released creep-fest (or, at least, it tried to be), and while it's gained a cult status in the years since release, it was generally mocked for its overwrought atmosphere and ludicrous plot. Brawler has the look, though not the pace, of a Cassavetes film: rough, naturalistic, peopled with characters who express themselves more by behavior than by language, even when they're talking a lot. The difference is that Sivertson's characters don't explore themselves and each other in long, intense scenes of emotional unwrapping. They can't sit still long enough for such endeavors, because their very nature makes them too impatient. They live for excitement, whether from adrenaline, cocaine or general misbehavior. Brawler purports to be based on true events, but the "truth" in this case is a story about battling brothers that star Nathan Grubbs heard from his father and told to his friend Marc Senter, a previous Sivertson collaborator. They brought the story to the director, who was sufficiently inspired to start writing the script, using New Orleans as a setting, because that's where the tale originated: in an illegal underground fight scene controlled by organized crime and followed with a passion by fans who bet huge sums on their favorites. Grubbs was an experienced boxer, and Senter had a black belt in karate, but both of them needed extensive additional training to play the two leads in a mixed martial arts arena quite unlike any in the legitimate world.
I have been unable to confirm the shooting format of Brawler. The cinematographer, Zoran Popovic, shot another film entitled Shiver the same year on the Red system. While the Red is capable of enormous flexibility in post-production, especially in the hands of skilled technicians in a digital intermediate suite, Brawler's visual texture looks more like that of film origination (even 16mm film in some of the softer shots). Whatever its origins, the Image on XLrator Media's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is clear and detailed. Even in darker spaces where the image detail fades with the darkness, it's apparent that the threshold where detail begins to vanish has been deliberately chosen. Brawler favors a desaturated palette, especially in evening and night scenes, and it's obviously intended to convey the down 'n' dirty world of the Fontaine brothers' shadowy fighting pursuits. Even during the day, however, colors are muted, so much so that an occasionally strong color stands out, e.g., the green garden of older brother Charlie's "real" home. There are few scenes with deep black, but one of them is a fancy dress party, where Charlie secures the brothers an evening of "legitimate" catering work, and younger brother Bobby misbehaves. Take Bobby out of the murky world of illegal boxing and into a place with a dress code, and his reverse snobbery kicks into high gear. The Blu-ray appears to have been sourced from digital files from the DI, which eliminates any issues of high frequency filtering or digital sharpening. At 84 minutes with virtually no extras, compression artifacts were not an issue.
The film's DTS-HD MA 5.1 track uses the surrounds for ambiance, with an occasional strong effect in the rear for a special impact. One memorable example is a knock at the door that initiates a critical sequence (you'll know it when it comes). The lossless track also does full justice to the New Orleans/Cajun soundtrack by Tim Rutili, with original songs written and performed by Howlin Rain and Armand St. Martin, among others. The music never lets you forget where you are.
The only extra is the film's trailer (HD, 1080p; 2.35:1; 2:14). At startup the disc plays trailers (in 1080p) for Assassin's Bullet, Blood Money, Age of the Dragons and Greystone Park. These can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.
Boxing and battling brothers are not an unfamiliar combination in the movies. Most recently, David O. Russell's The Fighter told the true story of the battling Ward brothers and their extended family, in which the women proved to be even tougher than the men. Brawler is distinguished by its simplicity and the narrowness of its focus. Women are almost secondary in this tale's fraternal conflict, which has the primal force of Cain and Abel. Recommended.
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