6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A Los Angeles dock worker becomes a boxer but his crooked manager is involved in various rackets and he's working for the mob.
Starring: Fred Williamson, Bernie Hamilton, Vonetta McGee, William Smith (I), Charles LampkinCrime | Insignificant |
Drama | 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 Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
If Pam Grier owned the title of Queen of Blaxploitation, Fred Williamson was at least one of the finalists for the King spot, with a series of popular films which saw the erstwhile football marauder taking on all sorts of nefarious criminal elements, with Williamson typically punching, kicking and chopping his way to ultimate victory. Williamson’s “reign” began with 1972’s Hammer, a film whose title traded on Williamson’s gridiron moniker and which capitalized on Williamson’s already well documented proclivities of throwing punches, karate chops and other modes of attack. Hammer is a kind of odd Blaxploitation entry in at least a couple of ways, with a boxing element which draws on hoary tropes well outside of typical Blaxploitation elements, tropes which are in fact more reminiscent of noir (or at least noir-esque) outings like 1949’s Champion. Williamson’s character B.J. (otherwise known as Hammer) starts the film as a dock worker, but in an opening melee dispatches a nasty cohort with so much force that he’s fired (in just one of the film’s kind of illogical developments, since the white co-worker was being a racist jerk and most if not all of the workers are black). That loss of employment ultimately leads to Hammer pursuing a professional boxing career, but unfortunately the would be pummeler falls in with the wrong crowd and finds his matches controlled by mobsters who (of course) ultimately want Hammer to “take a fall” in order to rake in substantial bucks. A couple of silly subplots, including a kidnapping and hostage taking of Hammer’s girlfriend, play into a predictable but surprisingly enjoyable early seventies’ Blaxploitation offering.
Hammer is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. This falls very much in line with the recent glut of Blaxploitation fare released by Olive (Coffy, Foxy Brown), with elements that show their age at times, including fairly typical amounts of dirt, minus density and small scratches. Colors have faded slightly here toward the brown end of things, but probably not quite as much as was seen in Coffy. Blues are still quite respectable (see the bright skies in screenshot 1 for a good example), while reds and even yellows can look just a tad skewed. Fine detail is quite good in close-ups (see screenshot 4), but this can be a fairly soft looking transfer at times, independent of the use of diffusion filters (as in screenshot 16). Clarity is very good throughout the presentation, with the exception of a few moments which look like they may have been sourced off of a secondary element, with an attendant uptick in both grain and fuzziness. Grain is very evident throughout the presentation, struggling a few times to resolve organically in some of the darker moments.
Hammer features a boisterous lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track which provides surprisingly full bodied support for the bass heavy score by Solomon Burke. The audio effects and foley effects editor as well as whoever did the ADR were not especially artful, and so those who pay attention to such things will notice no lip movements during the opening tête-à-tête "dialogue" scene (above the boxing ring) or, later, synchronization issues between fists meeting flesh and the actual sounds thereof. These anomalies aside, dialogue, effects and score are rendered faithfully, with very good fidelity and at least sporadically decent dynamic range. There are no issues of any kind to warrant concern on this problem free track.
There are no supplements of any kind on this Blu-ray disc.
If Coffy's director Jack Hill had helmed Hammer, it might have had a bit more coherence and staging effectiveness. The film is repeatedly hobbled by some unfortunate framing and fight choreography choices which only tend to highlight how artificial everything is. Williamson is appealingly casual throughout the film, but probably didn't give Laurence Olivier any night sweats at the time. Most of the fun of this picture comes from the really colorful supporting cast. Hammer is predictable, but for lovers of Blaxploitation fare at least, there's probably enough to warrant checking it out. Technical merits are generally very good (video) to excellent (audio) for those considering a purchase.
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