6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.8 |
A crime syndicate puts 100 of its enemies in an empty prison, provides them with weapons and tells them that the last three to survive will get $10 million.
Starring: Christopher Lambert, Ice-T, Michael Halsey, Deborah Van Valkenburgh, Tina CoteCrime | 100% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 MVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Mean Guns' premise almost sounds like a gonzo "reality" television game show combining elements of two offerings with the very word game (or a cognate) in their titles, Squid Game and The Hunger Games, with an underlying "fight to the death" conceit that in this particular case takes place within the high tech confines of a maximum security prison that hasn't had its "grand opening" yet. Director Albert Pyun is on hand here for both an on screen introduction as well as a commentary track, and if he understandably doesn't want to draw comparisons to any other (arguably much better known) films out there, he can't avoid a certain snark when discussing things like hiring "marquee" names like Ice-T and Christopher Lambert and working with their evidently uncertain schedules, while also trying to provide enough "call times" on daily sheets to satisfy investors who otherwise might wonder why, for example, Lambert, hardly a guaranteed box office superstar, was being paid several million dollars for only a few days work (and Ice-T evidently clocked in even less than that). This is all to say that with an at least somewhat derivative premise and a lo-fi shoot, it's probably not that surprising that Mean Guns never really manages to provide much more than scenes of carnage as a bunch of unwitting prisoners duke it out for a supposed multimillion dollar prize hidden somewhere in the gleaming facility.
Mean Guns is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of the MVD Rewind Collection, an imprint of MVD Visual, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. MVD doesn't provide any technical information on the back cover of this release, though kind of interestingly Albert Pyun in his introduction thanks Oliver Krekel and DigiDreams, so I'm wondering if this master may have been licensed (or perhaps this is just an older introduction ported over to this release). This is a pretty variant looking presentation one way or the other, one that I'm not sure is especially "helped" by what I assume are some of the "stylizations" Pyun seems quite proud of in his commentary. Take a gander at screenshots 8 and 9 and look how weirdly anamorphically squeezed parts of the frame can be, which I'm assuming was intentional. A lot of this transfer looks fairly processed, and the lens choices and wavering contrast don't really provide stabilizing influences. The palette has also been tweaked noticeably throughout, again I assume by design, but with fine detail in particular ebbing and flowing noticeably as a result. Grain can have a slightly mottled appearance, especially against brighter backgrounds. My score is 3.25.
Mean Guns lives up to its title with a frequently explosive LPCM 2.0 track that offers some considerable force in its onslaught of battle sound effects once the main conflict is established. A fun score by Anthony Riparelli is well rendered, and some source tunes (including kind of weirdly some mambo numbers) all sound nicely full bodied. Dialogue (such as it is) is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
Albert Pyun may frankly be damning himself with faint praise when he states repeatedly that Mean Guns is one of his best films, but even with an expectations bar lowered appropriately, this film often makes little sense, and exists mostly to string together a series of violent showdowns involving guns and hand to hand combat. Technical merits vary from improvable (video) to fine (audio), and the supplements are quite enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.
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