Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Eliminators Blu-ray Movie Review

Bullhammer!

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 8, 2016

Eliminators is a nuts-and-bolts direct-to-video Action flick that's as basic as the day is long: a father out to save his daughter and a hitman out to get him. It doesn't get more simple than that in movieland. But it works. Against all convention and common sense, Eliminators scrapes by as a decent enough time killer. It's one of those honest movies that plays with no pretenses. It doesn't want to be a life-changing experience, open its audience's eyes, or even rework tried-and-true formula. It sticks to its guns and delivers a satisfying watch-and-forget movie. It's sort of like a shot of whiskey. There's some better, some worse, and various ways to dress it up. Eliminators is just straight-up Jack, time tested and reliable. It gets the job done for a modest budget and a satisfying experience. No frills, no fluffs, just the DTV Action movie as it should be.

Talk about "wrong place, wrong time." Literally. Thomas (Scott Adkins) is a security guard working a dead-end job to raise his daughter Carly (Lily Ann Stubbs) by himself in the wake of his wife's death. One night, several armed and masked thugs enter his home. He's beaten and his daughter is pulled from bed, one of the men holding a knife to her throat and another a revolver to Thomas' temple. They demand he turn over the drugs. Of course, he doesn't know what they're talking about. They finally puzzle out that the intruders have invaded the wrong home, but the damage has been done. Thomas has seen them, heard them, and he'll have to die for their mistake. He gets the upper hand, kills them all, and saves his daughter. But he's wounded and awakens in the hospital, handcuffed to the bed. He's accused of murdering the men who entered his home. It's a high profile case which catches the attention of a man (James Cosmo) who holds a grudge against Thomas. He hires the most skilled hitman in Europe, Bishop (WWE Superstar Wade Barrett), to eliminate Thomas by whatever means necessary.

The film takes its time exploring the deeper motivations running characters and the story. It's immediately a simple story of "protective father vs. hard-edged assassin," and to enjoy the movie at its most fundamental level, that's all that's really needed. As the story develops, so too does the primary driving factor behind, which like everything else in the movie is hardly earth-shaking stuff but offers enough motivation to give the story just a little more edge to its name. Beyond that, though, it's a cut-and-dry flick, a true example of textbook, midline moviemaking. Unoriginal story, simple characters, basic cinematography and score, effective but generic action sequences. It's about on par with some of the other recent DTV Action movies to feature WWE wrestlers in lead roles (Countdown with Dolph Ziggler, 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown with Dean Ambrose): fair execution, an honest plot, and easily meeting but not exceeding any and all expectations for the genre.

Beyond its lean, no-fuss approach, it's the performances that hold the movie up a little above par. No, none of the work in the film is award-worthy, at least not as far as the major awards and categories are concerned, but both Scott Adkins and Wade Barrett perform admirably, straightforward, largely, but carrying themselves and their characters satisfactorily well. While depth is near zero, both men, and Adkins in particular, dig deep enough into the well-established material, embrace the core characteristics, and play to the simple strengths. Both men look good handling a gun and handling themselves in a fistfight. Adkins' loving, fatherly approach meshes well with his hard-edged methods employed in saving his life and his daughter's, too. Barrett acquits himself nicely and, like most of his fellow wrestlers-turned-actors (which they are in the first place), he delivers a solid performance that accentuates the man more than the muscle. He's more than a terminator but less than a fully developed character. He finds that middle ground between methodical/mechanical and human being very well, certainly favoring the former but not entirely forgetting the latter.

Eliminators Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Eliminators features a fine, yet fairly basic, 1080p transfer. The digitally photographed movie presents details with commendable complexity. Adkins' persistent five o'clock shadow appears tangibly sandpaper-y, while other facial features, thicker hairs and beards, clothing lines, and general environmental textures hold up nicely and showcase enough intimacy, and with enough clarity, to please. The color platte is the definition of "neutral." Red blood (whether trickles or splashes), environmental highlights, and various clothing colors feature a good sense of lifelike vibrancy. Black levels, fairly critical to the film with its many nighttime exterior and lower light interior locations, hold deep enough. Flesh tones appear accurate. Source noise, as expected, is present but minor. No other debilitating artifacts are evident. This is a rock-solid presentation from Universal.

Eliminators Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Eliminators' DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is reflective of the film's somewhat bread-and-butter production. It's fine, not particularly exciting or memorable but technically sound and capable. Music is heaviest along the front, with the opening titles presenting with no discernible back channel presence and much of the musical elements refusing to drift into the rears. Surrounds capture a little bit of action here and there, but the track is mostly front-heavy. Gunfire and action-chaos are adequate, whether deeper shotgun blasts or a suppressed pistol. That pistol has a nice moment in the final act when a couple of shots spring out from the side with nice, easily distinguishable location. Dialogue is well defined and nicely prioritized with good, basic front-center positioning.

Eliminators Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Eliminators contains two featurettes. A UV/iTunes digital copy voucher is included with purchase.

• Hand-to-Hand Bishop (1080i, 6:06): This piece explores fight scene preparations and execution, as well as character qualities and shooting locations.
• Bishop for Hire (1080i, 3:22): A closer look at Wade Barrett's character and the wrestler's performance thereof.

Eliminators Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Eliminators isn't the next great Action film, but it's a rock-solid DTV flick that knows its place, plays to its modest strengths, and makes no allusions of wanting to be anything more. The movie is largely routine, but in a good way, never coloring outside the lines and finishing with a nicely attractive example of the wares its genre has to offer. Supported by a couple of good lead performances, there's enough to like about the movie to warrant a watch. Universal's Blu-ray gets the job done. Supplements are scant, but video and audio are fine. Recommended.