5.5 | / 10 |
Users | 3.4 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A vacationing woman meets her ideal man, leading to a swift marriage. Back at home, however, their idyllic life is upset when they discover their neighbors could be assassins who have been contracted to kill the couple.
Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Katherine Heigl, Tom Selleck, Catherine O'Hara, Katheryn WinnickComedy | 100% |
Romance | 61% |
Action | 55% |
Thriller | 23% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English, English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
BD-Live
D-Box
Social network features
Mobile features
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
It’s a truism that there isn’t an original idea to be found in Hollywood. That phenomenon evidently extends to film titles as well, as there are no fewer than eight films or television productions which carry the moniker Killers (sometimes with a definite article). Of course, that really doesn’t mean much, when you consider the actual Killer productions are everything from adaptations of Hemingway’s short story to, sadly, this lamentable 2010 enterprise which rehashes material you’ve seen before, and better, in everything from True Lies to Mr. and Mrs. Smith (the Pitt-Jolie film, not the Hitchock comedy, speaking of repeated uses of titles). You know, unwitting spouse discovers mate is actually a (choose one): a) superspy; b) assassin; c) idiot; d) all of the above. Here we get Ashton Kutcher portraying Spencer Aimes, some sort of high level operative who, when not courting his “meet cute” girlfriend and ultimately wife, Jennifer Kornfeldt (Katherine Heigl), is planting bombs, evading hit men, and doing a bit of killing himself. Killers wants to be yet another “action comedy,” a mélange of genres that in this instance never provides substantial or consistent enough laughs, while delivering some completely ridiculously illogical, if extremely loud and boisterous, action sequences. About the only bit of interest, albeit completely tangential to the film itself, is the lingering question of whether Kutcher will pull a Mr. and Mrs. Smith “Pitt” and leave Demi Moore of Katherine Heigl.
Kutcher and Heigl, this year's 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith'.
Killers benefits immensely from a visual perspective from its really stunning looking opening segment in Nice. Delivered via an AVC codec, in 1080p and a 2.40:1 aspect ratio, colors are bright, bold and extremely well saturated in this sequence and detail is amazing, sometimes to the detriment of the more "seasoned" actors. Notice, for example, how when O'Hara turns sideways in the hotel lobby you can clearly see the (lightly colored) hair growing on her cheek. Water is wonderfully detailed here, with some beautiful dappled light effects. Once the film returns stateside, the visual bounty isn't quite so overwhelming, but we still are offered a very sharp and reasonably detailed picture, though I personally found it odd how pinkish-yellow a lot of the shots were. Contrast is very good and black levels are consistent throughout the film, with both fine detail and shadow detail looking great. There are one or two extremely quick passing moments of shimmer on some of the outdoor shots, but they're negligible. Otherwise, this is a great looking transfer.
I must be getting older, because I found some of the subwoofer pumping in Killers' impressively robust lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix almost too much of a good thing. This is a fun and often extremely immersive soundtrack, which segues very nicely from quieter dialogue moments (which in and of themselves also provide a wealth of more subtle ambient surround activity) to the completely over the top action sequences, where explosions, machine gun fire and squealing tires surround the listener in a panoply of aural activity. Dynamic range is especially iimpressive in this track, which contains everything from O'Hara whispering insults about Heigl's ex-boyfriend, to seemingly half the suburb where Kutcher and Heigl end up going up in a variety of flames and gunfire. LFE really works overtime on this track, including some pumped up dance music early in the film that actually produced some air pressure changes in my home theater environment with every hit of the bass drum. Dialogue is crisp and clear and subtly directional, and both underscore and foley effects are well mixed into the soundfield.
Killers has an assortment of fairly standard extras supplementing the main feature:
Perhaps it's simply a case of this territory having been covered too many times previously, or an overall lack of ingenuity in its execution (no pun intended), but too much of Killers wanders aimlessly, delivering neither laughs nor suspense. Heigl and Kutcher make a very appealing lead couple, and the supporting cast is aces, and there's nothing so horrible here that you'll feel like you've wasted your money if you rent this. But it really could have, and should have, been a lot better.
2010
Extended Cut + Theatrical
2012
Holiday Gift Set
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1958