6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 3.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.3 |
With a ticking bomb locked to his neck, a young freerunner races against the clock and all types of baddies to get from one end of the city to the other to save himself and his girlfriend.
Starring: Sean Faris, Danny Dyer, Tamer Hassan, Ryan Doyle (II), Rebecca Da CostaAction | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
All bets in, the race is on.
Freerunner is basically the Action movie version of You Got Served: Beat the World, or in a more general sense, the Action
movie take on the growing sport of "Parkour," a sport which, basically, challenges skilled athletes to maneuver through complex city environments
without stopping, leaping over and across obstacles rather than moving around them. It's one of the fastest-moving sports around, and it's therefore a
natural for high-adrenaline film. Tie it in with some manufactured excitement -- say something like, oh, runners forced compete with bombs strapped
around their necks, a time limit, and competitors who will do anything to save their own heads and win some prize money -- and voila, a movie is born.
Freerunner isn't exactly a good movie to be sure, but it's a serviceably entertaining jolt of energy that's as predictable as the sunrise
but just different enough to separate itself from the redundant low-budget Action movie crowd.
On the run.
Freerunner trots onto Blu-ray with a very nice looking 1080p Blu-ray transfer. The film was shot on 16mm, which gives it a somewhat rough, grainy, and slightly dull façade, while maintaining great clarity, wonderful detailing, and a positive film-like texture. Slightly faded as it may appear, colors are still very well balanced. There's a nice mixture of bland gray, white, and black urban jungle elements and brighter clothing and splashes of more vibrant hues. Fine detail is very good, on faces, clothes, and the aforementioned concrete and brick environments that are so prominent throughout. Grain yields a very pleasant film-like texture. Black levels are generally rock-solid with no perceptible crush, but there are a few instances where they look somewhat too bright and gray. Flesh tones retain a good, natural tint throughout. The image is generally free of print damage, but there's an easily-identifiable brown vertical line that appears for a few seconds, preceding a sex scene in chapter five. There's also a couple of brief bouts of aliasing, but the image appears otherwise free of any distracting bugaboos. All told, this is a fine looking transfer from Image Entertainment.
Freerunner's DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack is a good one. This is a very high octane, very precise, very endearing and entertaining listen. Excellent clarity and strength are the key elements in the film's opening Rock tune and, indeed, in the picture's music throughout. It's sort of reminiscent of something that might be heard in a Warren Miller video, which comes as no surprise given that the films share a passion for rather extreme sports. The track is satisfying in other areas of interest, too. A lounge singer's performance as heard in chapter four is very good, spacious and inviting, effectively placing the listener at one of the tables. A party/dance sequence in the same chapter is also highly immersive, delivering a hefty low end and quality surround support. The track's action scenes are crisp and well-defined. Explosions and gunshots yield adequate power. General spacing is fine, and the track often does a fair job of creating a general, realistic city ambience. Rounded out by steady and center-focused dialogue, Image Entertainment's lossless track is a winner.
Freerunner's Blu-ray release comes with a handful of extras, several of them rather lengthy.
Freerunner isn't going to change the landscape of Action/Sport movie hybrids, but it's a fair enough little movie that works because of its high energy and fun factor. The movie definitely takes a turn for the worse in several stretches in its second and third acts when things go absurdly over-the-top in the whole "private reality TV" element, but the basic run around the city material is done well enough. The performances are unspectacular but generally even, the music is kicking, and the direction and editing are decent enough. Is it worth a watch? On a slow day, why not. Image Entertainment's Blu-ray release of Freerunners features strong 1080p video, an energized lossless soundtrack, and a few extras. Definitely worth a rental.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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