Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

Detective Knight: Independence Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 24, 2023

It's always sad to see an icon like Bruce Willis have a long and impressive career go out with a veritable whimper rather than a resounding bang, but if there's less than wonderful news to be had vis a vis this third and final film in the Detective Knight trilogy, it's that this outing at once again gives the venerable actor not much more than a glorified cameo, something that seemed to increasingly be his stock in trade in his later years, perhaps for now understandable reasons. It's perhaps salient to note that Lionsgate didn't even bother sending a review copy of Detective Knight: Rogue, the first film in the series, and review copies of both this final panel in the triptych and its immediate predecessor Detective Knight: Redemption were delivered well after merchant availability, which may suggest that even those marketing the films are aware they may not exactly stand up to the best in Willis' filmography.

From what I've been able to glean, Detective Knight: Redemption more or less picked up strands of the story doled out in Detective Knight: Rogue, and this third film once again offers at least echoes of plot points that were part of the second film. I mentioned in our Detective Knight: Redemption Blu-ray review how co-writer and director Edward John Drake was obviously riffing on the long lived debate as to whether Die Hard is "a Christmas movie" or not, and some may feel like this film riffs on any number of elements from other outings, with Knight (Bruce Willis) trying to track down a young man named Dezi (Jack Kilmer), who has seen his basically honorable dreams go up in smoke and who resorts to pretending to be a police officer to wreak all sorts of havoc. There's lip service given to some of Knight's personal and professional relationships, but perhaps due to the exigencies of Willis' ultimate diagnosis, this actually focuses more on the supposed supporting characters than it does on Detective Knight, and this is in some ways more of a showcase for Jack Kilmer than any other cast member.

Detective Knight: Independence Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Detective Knight: Independence is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The closing credits roll helpfully state this was captured with Arri Alexa cameras, and I'm assuming this had a 2K DI. This is another generally very nicely detailed looking presentation, though it comes with a number of stylistic bells and whistles attached, including lots of The Thomas Crown Affair-esque split screen effects and a rather swarthy layer of digital grain that is especially noticeable in some of the more dimly lit interior scenes. The palette pops quite appealingly in the exterior scenes. Some of the split screen material can look almost out of focus at times, perhaps by choice. There is some stock footage utilized in dribs and drabs that is in manifestly more rough shape than the bulk of this presentation.

Detective Knight: Independence Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Much like the second film in the series, Detective Knight: Independence gets the most bang for its DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 buck in its action sequences, and this film arguably is more consistently action oriented than the second film, which helps to promote a more immersive listening experience over all. There are a number of relatively graphic shooting scenes, which reverberate with appropriate gusto, and a lot of the outdoor material has nicely placed ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

Detective Knight: Independence Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Detective Knight: Inspiration for the Final Knight (HD; 3:53) is a brief EPK with candid footage and interviews.


• Drawing Inspiration: Independence (HD; 22:36) is a companion piece to a similar featurette found on Detective Knight: Redemption, with Drake providing a commentary of sorts with a digital Sharpie highlighting various parts of individual frames as he analyzes certain shots.

Additionally a digital copy is included and packaging features a slipcover.

Note: I encountered what may be an odd authoring error. After the last, longer supplement played, the disc returned to the art behind the Main Menu, but there were no menu options there. Pressing enter on my remote did nothing, so I had to reboot the disc to get the menu options again.

Detective Knight: Independence Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Detective Knight: Independence is a step up from Detective Knight: Redemption, but I'd argue that's mostly due to Dezi's story and Kilmer's portrayal of him. The rest of this film kind of plays like a sad elegy, but technical merits are solid for those who may be considering making a purchase.