7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Turo is trying to overcome his fears by leading the most unknown heavy metal band in Finland, Impaled Rektum, to the hottest metal festival of Norway. The journey includes heavy metal, grave robbing, Viking heaven and an armed conflict between Finland and Norway.
Starring: Rune Temte, Johannes Holopainen, Kai Lehtinen, Torstein Bjørklund, Max OvaskaForeign | 100% |
Music | 1% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.38:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Finnish: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Finnish: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
While there is the occasional corpse being disinterred from its grave and the slightly more frequent emphasis on the dissection of reindeer carcasses in Heavy Trip, this off the wall Finnish comedy would hardly seem to be the typical kind of offering to be released under the imprimatur of Doppelgänger Films, not to mention Bloody Disgusting, whose production masthead is also featured as things start up. In what almost might be thought of as a Scandinavian cousin of This Is Spinal Tap, albeit maybe with one of those The Early Years addenda in its title, Heavy Trip forsakes the mockumentary format to provide a more traditional narrative detailing the adventures of a bunch of Finnish guys who have been practicing their own version of death metal for over a decade in the basement of one of the members (of course), but who have yet to actually play a real gig. The band's lead "singer" (if primal screaming, grunting and growling can be classified as "singing") is a kind of sweet natured longhaired dude named Turo Moilanen (Johannes Holopainen) who is probably the assumed default focal character due at least in part to the fact that his narration is heard at various points. Turo endures the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune not just in regard to being the regular butt of jokes by more "traditional" (i.e., short haired and ostensibly more "masculine") males in the region, but also by dint of the fact that Turo is consigned to a janitorial job at the local mental institution. Turo's bandmates in an initially unnamed aggregation are guitarist Lotvonen (Samuli Jaskio), whose family runs the local reindeer slaughterhouse, drummer Jynkky (Antti Heikkinen), who has had an unfortunate habit of dying (and being brought back to life), and bassist Pasi (Max Ovaska), who is the putative "brains" of the outfit.
Heavy Trip is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Doppelgänger Releases and Bloody Disgusting with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.38:1. I haven't been able to dredge up any authoritative online data on the technical side of things, and the IMDb only lists an extremely helpful (?) "DCP" as a datapoint. One way or the other, this is a very appealing transfer that offers generally great clarity and a really appealing and often quite distinctive looking palette. While some interior scenes can look just slighty hazy, I'm assuming at least partly by design, fine details typically remain secure on everything from fabrics on costumes to those aforementioned reindeer carcasses. A couple of the interior asylum scenes along with a few other interior scenes can have slightly milky looking blacks. The film benefits from some jaw dropping vistas as the guys embark on their road trip, and some of the outside material in particular boasts nice suffusion and excellent fine detail levels.
Heavy Trip features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 audio in the original Finnish. The surround track offers expectedly substantial low end when the newly minted Impaled Rektum marauds through one of their songs, but there's also some really good engagement of the side and rear channels in non-musical scenes as well. The road trip aspect of the film offers some good if intermittent opportunities for immersive ambient environmental effects. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout this very enjoyable track. Optional English subtitles are available.
Every so often a completely unexpected pleasure shows up in my review queue, and Heavy Trip certainly qualifies in that regard. This is both sweet and hilarious in about equal measure, and if the destination is pretty much a foregone conclusion, getting there is often a lot of fun. Technical merits are generally solid and the supplementary package very enjoyable. Highly recommended.
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