5 | / 10 |
Users | 2.8 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.7 |
For Tes and her two cohorts Kara and Tara, the job sounded simple enough: intercept a double-cross drug shipment for their crime boss Mel at an isolated diner. But when an unstoppable chain of events unfolds, everyone soon realizes no one is who they seem and the job may be something other than eliminating the competition. What started as simple instructions has now turned into a deadly cat-and-mouse game - with large guns pointed at everyone.
Starring: Malin Akerman, Nikki Reed, Deborah Ann Woll, Reila Aphrodite, Forest WhitakerThriller | 100% |
Action | 72% |
Crime | 66% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 1.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Trust doesn’t exist in this world.
Drugs and money. And double crosses. All of these sorts of movies come back to drugs and money and double crosses and, if the audience is lucky,
triple crosses, broken allegiances, misguided beliefs, and plans that go down the drain faster than a .44 magnum round can plaster the wall
with someone's brain matter. Or does that make the audience unlucky? Catch .44 is the latest wannabe hip and happening
quirky Crime Thriller from the mind of somebody who's seen all of the Tarantino movies at least ten times apiece, which of course means this person
(or persons) is qualified to go out and make a movie in the same style and make a movie with the same potential for success. In the immortal
words of Bruce Willis, "Sorry Hans, wrong guess! Would you like to go for Double Jeopardy where the scores can really change?" Catch .44
is like laying it all on the line in a double-or-nothing gamble and praying that recycling a patented style that only one or two directors have really
been able to make work will somehow magically yield a great movie, because, hey, the whole nonlinear, kinda-sorta grind house, 1970s inspired,
and
hiply scored styling and fast-talking and smooth-operating characters worked for Quentin, so they should work all the time. Or not. Catch
.44
really wants to get up there on the summit where movies like Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Death Proof exist, but like Po, it pretty much runs out of gas before even beginning the ascent.
Girls and Glocks.
Catch .44's glossy 1080p Blu-ray transfer is serviceable, occasionally very good but never spectacular. General definition can be a little shaky; the image yields its fair share of soft and smeary textures, but generally it captures fine details nicely enough. Faces are usually somewhat complex, while everyday elements like a brick façade look rightly rough. It's clear enough to reveal some very fine little touches, like scratches on the bluing of a shotgun barrel and the rust on an old diner fan, though detailing usually falls somewhere between "strong" and "average." The glossy HD video source is of no help in lending a life and texture to the movie. Light banding and absorbing blacks are common. Colors are fair, whether in the modestly-lit diner or in some of the brighter interior and exterior daytime scenes. This is a decent transfer that serves the movie well enough, but top-tier material it is not.
Catch .44's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack is quite good. Music is front dominant but it does enjoy a fair surround support element. Music plays with great energy, features excellent spacing across the front, and yields very good clarity. Light ambience inside the diner is natural. Music plays quietly off to the side, and a pleasant collection of busy kitchen sound effects nicely permeate the entire listening area. The track finds a quality low end in music and effects; it's a little rattly at times and not consistently tight, but it gets the job done. Gunfire is strong and convincing. Dialogue plays as expected, crisply and accurately through the center channel. The track is good, but hardly memorable. It gets just about everything right; it's too bad it's not part of a better movie.
Catch .44 contains only an audio commentary track with Writer/Director Aaron Harvey and Editor Richard Byard.
Catch .44 is derivative moviemaking through and through; it reels in a few name actors but fails to nab anything else of substance. The entire thing is like a bad dream mashup of Tarantino movies gone wrong. Forest Whitaker at least provides a highlight but Bruce Willis literally looks like he rolled out of bed and onto the set after a night of hard partying; has it really come down to this for the Die Hard legend? The girls look pretty, but they don't add any substance to the movie as they attempt to channel the likes of the Steve Buscemi and Tim Roth characters from the Tarantino films of yore. The entire thing is a borderline disaster. It's dull, unimaginative, and not even very good as an accidental parody of superior mid-90s fare. Catch .44 might not be the crown jewel in Anchor Bay's Blu-ray catalogue, but at least the studio has once again delivered good video and audio presentations for the film's Blu-ray release. Worth a rental for the curious.
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