6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
During a routine stop at a gas station, Lorraine (Bello), a vulnerable single mom, and her 5 year-old son (Connor Hill) are overtaken by Roy (Dorff), a vicious bank robber on the run. He forces her to drive to meet up with his accomplice who still has money from the heist. Possibly facing not only her death, but her son’s, Lorraine’s fight for survival summons up an inner strength and courage that she never thought she had.
Starring: Stephen Dorff, Maria Bello, Connor Hill (I), Robert Peters (I), Gary GrubbsThriller | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Just drive.
It doesn't take a degree in rocket science -- never mind film history, scriptwriting, or anything of the sort -- to figure out how a low-end direct-to-video
Action/Thriller like Carjacked is going to play out. The movie even telegraphs the psychological transformation the lead character will undergo
by film's end, allowing for the expectedly tidy finale that's meant to make the audience feel good but that in reality is just another ho-hum sort of ultra
predictable and all-too-bland conclusion. But the movie is otherwise competently put together. It works well enough in its first two dialogue-centric
and
halfway emotionally and mentally taxing acts but stumbles in its more action-oriented third. Carjacked, then, just sort of goes along for the
ride, pun very much intended, towards general cinematic mediocrity. This is in no way novel, groundbreaking, or even memorable cinema, but it
works well enough as a ninety minute diversion built on transparency and genre cliché. It's a fine example of the "no harm, no foul" sort of
watch-and-forget time killer.
What can I do ya for officer?
Carjacked arrives on Blu-ray with a very high quality 1080p Blu-ray transfer. The digital photography shines, yielding fantastic details all throughout the movie. Facial textures are fantastic, revealing every line in Bello's face and every scruffy facial hair on Dorff's. Clothing textures are amazingly intricate and realistic -- check out the scene where Lorraine is purchasing $6 worth of gas early in the movie -- and the various odds and ends inside the car look wonderful, even if most of the action takes place at night. Colors are strong, but much of the movie favors something of a golden tinge. Whether in the darkness, under the fluorescent lights inside a convenience store, or in bright daylight, the palette is very vibrant and consistent. Blacks are fantastic, very deep and dark but not to the point of crush; they're just natural and highly satisfying. The image is a little flat, glossy, and lacking in real texture or character, all to be expected of a digital movie. It also sees light banding across backgrounds throughout the movie, which is the only real technical flaw to be found. This is a high quality presentation from Anchor Bay.
Carjacked speeds onto Blu-ray with a decent Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. It's certainly far removed from the upper echelons of lossless excellence, but for a DTV movie with fairly limited action the results are acceptable. Musical clarity and spacing seem ever-so-lacking; music never yields a truly transparent or lifelike sensation, but not to any extreme that's detrimental to the listening experience. Music does come with a fairly satisfying low end support element, not to mention light surround help. Atmospherics, on the other hand, are handled wonderfully. Whether the extremely faint humming of a fluorescent light in a convenience store or the general din of a truck stop diner, the track does a commendable job of placing the listener in the middle of the film's various non-car environments. Action scenes, which include some gunfire, automobile rollovers, fires, and the like, all enjoy a good presence; the listener will never feel totally immersed in the action, but the scenes play out with a generally satisfying level of energy and clarity. Dialogue is balanced and focused up the middle. All told, this is a fairly good soundtrack and more than adequate for a movie of this caliber.
Carjacked contains only 'Carkacjed:' Behind the Scenes (1080p, 3:19), a piece that amounts to several minutes of raw on-set footage.
Carjacked is decent little movie. It brings nothing new to its genre -- particularly once it shifts to a worn-out and infinitely predictable third act -- but features a couple of leads who breathe some life into the material give the movie a dynamic, interesting air in its first hour of play. The direction is stable and the production values are fair. It's fairly good for a direct-to-video movie, all things considered, but it's a movie most will soon forget and, if one doesn't get around to watching it, no big deal. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of Carjacked delivers fantastic video, a fair lossless soundtrack, and one supplement. Worth a rental.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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