Horizon Line Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Horizon Line Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 24, 2021

There's the fear of flying, and then there's the fear of having to take that yoke and pilot a crippled aircraft with no real skill, little feel for direction, rapidly leaking fuel, and quickly diminishing hopes all working against the odds of survival. That's the story behind the good-not-great Horizon Line, Director Mikael Marcimain's film about a young couple forced to take control and fly for their lives when the unimaginable happens midflight. The film slogs through a rather boring opening act only to reward viewers with a tight and tense and robust middle and end that pits frail man against both failing machine and fierce nature, putting the couple in an inescapable and increasingly desperate fight for survival.

Sara (Allison Williams) leaves her boyfriend Jackson (Alexander Dreymon) at a resort bar. The relationship is over, but a year later the two reconnect when they meet up again as Sara preps to attend her friend’s wedding. Their reconnection results in a return to passion. Their rendezvous leaves Sara late for a ferry to the wedding, leaving her no choice but to turn to an old friend, Wyman (Keith David), to fly her and Jackson to the ceremony. Wyman, once Sara’s flight instructor (she was “a natural” back then but only flew for a few lessons), urges her to get back behind the yoke, but she refuses. But she’ll have to test her rudimentary flight skills and push herself to her limits when, less than an hour into the flight, Wyman suffers a near instant fatal heart attack. A steep dive results when the body falls onto the yoke. Sara barely saves the plane from a sure fatal crash into the ocean, but the damage is done: the plane is barely holding together. With cracked instruments, blood on the console, the GPS system broken, the autopilot malfunctioning, the fuel lines leaking, the flight over the ocean with no landmarks of which to speak, and little hope as a serious weather system approaches, their only hope is to remain calm and do whatever it takes to keep the plane in the air long enough to find help or die trying.

The film builds a necessary backstory for its characters to heighten the tension to come, showing Sara and Jackson on their final date before reuniting by chance a year later. This is basic stuff and there’s little in the opening act that’s really made with enough characterization satisfaction to draw the audience in and truly concern them with these characters’ happiness or wellbeing. Williams and Dreymon aren’t exactly on fire for this opening act, but once they find themselves under pressure the characters quickly ingratiate themselves to the audience, perfectly blending obvious fear – sometimes internalized, sometimes evident in words and action – with the adrenaline fueled focus on the task at hand.

Conversely, there is some legitimate tension as the story takes shape up in the air. Their plight is truly frightening and the film capitalizes on the various problems and terrors to practically full dramatic impact. Leaking fuel lines and dwindling fuel lead to some unthinkable heroics and brushes with death. Busted gauges and unreliable communications leave them flying all but blind. Fierce weather and endless ocean promise only death in the air and on the surface. It is fortunate that Sara has at least a modicum of flight experience. She’s not a pilot, but she’s not completely lost behind the yoke, either. More, Sara and Jackson are largely cool under pressure. They think fast and have a crude, at least, understanding of aviation mechanics and even have a few tricks up their sleeve, like building makeshift compass out of a magnetized needle floating in liquid. And when all else fails, they turn to guile and gumption and base human instinct, which serves them well. But as the fuel gauge drops towards zero, as additional systems begin to fail, as their nerves further fray, it seems only a matter of time before the plane will fall into the watery oblivion, leaving them little hope to survive.

Horizon Line Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Horizon Line's 1080p transfer is fairly stout, unremarkable as it may be in 2021 but yielding a good, steady, well performing foundational picture. Color temperatures push decidedly warm in the opening act, reflecting the hot sun and amplifying natural green density and blue water. Skin tones are a bit on the hot side, too. As the action shifts to the plane cabin there's a slight reduction in temperature but contrast is still cranked up a little for effect. Vistas out into blue ocean waters sparkle and some light coloring inside the plane, like some blood, contrasts nicely enough with the beige seats and other spartan interior touches. Skin tones are a bit more stabilized here as well. True black is rarely needed in the film but essential black depth is fine. Details are solid if not slightly unremarkable. There's good basic definition and intricacy to faces, clothes, the instrument gauges along the cockpit, and the like. The image's excellent clarity allows for well defined oceans even at great distance as the camera pushes beyond the plane's tiny interior spaces. There is some light noise to contend with, though, but primarily in the opening act and in the first few moments in particular. In short: there's nothing really that stands out here but there's also nothing that poses any real problem or obstacle for a watch.

Horizon Line Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Horizon Line's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack leaves a little bit to be desired. The problems are twofold: first, there's not a lot of well defined force or vigor. The most intense scenes -- like the chaos during the dive when the plane makes its quick descent once Wyman has suffered his heart attack -- certainly offer plenty of surround elements and decent detail, but there's not a great feel of force behind the sequence. It's a rather flat signature that just doesn't have the muscle behind it to make the scene more engagingly intense and invasively dynamic. The other issue is prioritization, which stems from issue one. Certainly there's no expectation of clear dialogue when characters are shouting against the wind, but those same chaotic scenes just never sound very much in balance. Surround activity comes frequently and with good definition, but the track never finds perfect balance to all its elements. Fortunately musical clarity, particularly in less demanding scenes, is fine, and dialogue is clear and center positioned, whether the characters are chatting pre-flight in the opening act or as they communicate through the plane's headsets. The track is OK-ish but seems to have much room for improvement to fullness and depth.

Horizon Line Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Horizon Line contains one supplement, a collection of Deleted Scenes (1080p): Have a Drink (1:14), It Worked (3:39), and Help Us (1:01). No DVD copy is included with purchase but Universal has included a voucher for an iTunes digital copy. This release also ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

Horizon Line Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Don't be discouraged by a nondescript opening act. Horizon Line turns out to be a pretty solid Thriller through-and-through. Williams and Dreymon find their legs once the story takes flight (literally and figuratively) and the script throws challenge after challenge at them, leaving them to set aside any number of fears and doubts and fight to survive when all hope seems lost. The movie is fast paced, intense, and rewarding. Universal's presentation on the Blu-ray format is absent extras beyond a trio of deleted scenes. Video is solid enough. Audio could be a bit better. Recommended.