6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Set in a dystopian future, 2017, ex-army officer John Henry Brennick and his wife Karen are attempting to cross the US-Canada border to Vancouver to have a second child. Strict one-child policies forbid a second pregnancy, but the couple believe they are justified because their first child died at birth. Brennick is caught and sentenced to 31 years in a private maximum security prison run by the "MenTel Corporation". To maintain discipline all inmates are implanted with "Intestinators" which induce severe pain or death, for serious infractions, as a form of physical control and mental conditioning. The prison is co-run by Director Poe, who oversees Zed-10, a computer that monitors day-to-day activities and represents MenTel. The prison itself is located over a deep pit that can only be crossed by a retractable bridge, while the prisoners are kept in overcrowded cells secured by laser walls.
Starring: Christopher Lambert, Kurtwood Smith, Loryn Locklin, Clifton Collins Jr., Jeffrey CombsThriller | Insignificant |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Crime does not pay.
Imagine a future in which China's current one-child policy becomes American law, and failure to comply is dealt with harshly and swiftly. Imagine a
dystopian
police state future that makes the TSA look amateurish and the trouncing of personal liberties and constitutional rights commonplace.
Fortress tells the tale of a couple imprisoned for the instinctual act of breeding a child and breaking a law put in place to save a fragile planet
suffering from overpopulation. It's based on the sort of Orwellian stuff that could be pulled straight from the conspiracy tabloid or webpage headlines
and, at
least while it remains in the fictional realm in the Western world, the premise makes for a pretty good foundation for a futuristic Action/Drama hybrid
flick.
Unfortunately, Fortress never does ascend beyond cinema mediocrity. Nothing about the film stands out as particularly noteworthy, but
nothing about it screams "awful," either. It's a fine example of general, forgettable cinema, a shame, really, considering the possibilities for something
more than a movie that hedges its bets on low-end computer graphics, props and sets that barely hold together, and characters that encompass the
entire range of genre stereotype.
Aaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!
Fortress limps onto Blu-ray with a fairly bland high definition presentation. Echo Bridge's 1.78:1 transfer doesn't impress to start and it never really offers anything of note throughout. At best, details are serviceable; the higher resolution allows for increased stability and clarity on larger screens, but forget seeing much in the way of very fine textures or minute little clothing or facial details. The upped resolution does allow for the lower end props and set pieces to show their roughness, but otherwise most tight, intricate details are virtually nonexistent here. Colors are faded and hardly vibrant; the movie is dull by design, but the palette never really has a chance to shine, at least not until the end when even bright, sun-washed colors prove merely adequate. Blacks are heavily washed out throughout. Light grain does linger over many scenes, but the transfer does show some general wear and tear along the way. Light banding and sloppy color transitions are uncommon but present. This is by no means a horrendous transfer, but Fortress has certainly seen better days.
Fortress' DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack is no sonic marvel, but it gets the job done easily and admirably enough. Where the track lacks range it more than makes up for in effort. There's no shortage of wide front-end elements or distinctively placed sounds. Music enjoys fair clarity and a quality stage presence. Vehicles maneuver from side-to-side in the early going, and various general sounds within the prison walls are handled well enough. There's never much of an organic sonic atmosphere within the film, however; it's very sterile and offers little beyond music, general action sound effects, and dialogue. The spoken word does come through cleanly and without any sort of intelligibility or clarity issues. This is a nuts-and-bolts action track that delivers gunfire and other action-oriented effects modestly but effectively. It's not a memorable listen, but Echo Bridge's modest soundtrack stretches itself as far as it can go and gets audiences through the film with no major problems of note.
This Blu-ray release of Fortress contains no supplemental content. The menu features only options for "Play" and "Scene Select."
Fortress toys with some good ideas but never makes use of any of them for reasons other than advancing towards the next action scene. The story is ripe for a deeper psychological study but instead settles for bland action carried out by stereotyped characters with no arc other than "escape." Movies like Logan's Run and The Island are much more capable of exploring darker dystopian themes while still generating plenty of action, more, in fact, than even Fortress musters. Add in shoddy-looking props and sets, a largely thoughtless script, and indifferent acting, and Fortress settles comfortably into cinema mediocrity. Echo Bridge's Blu-ray release of Fortress delivers merely adequate video and audio. No supplements are included. Considering a purchase doesn't cost a whole lot more than a cup of Starbucks coffee, it's worth adding to the collection.
2013
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1982
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2017
Limited Editon
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1994
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2020
2012
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Unrated
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Collector's Edition
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2019