6.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
A diplomatic official is captured and imprisoned while touring a war zone, so a team of elite female commandos is assembled to infiltrate a women's prison for a daring rescue.
Starring: Zoë Bell, Vivica A. Fox, Brigitte Nielsen, Cynthia Rothrock, Nicole BilderbackAdventure | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Don't worry, Sly. The Expendables hasn't met its match. The Asylum's take on the popular Action franchise turns the gender tables in Mercenaries, a film about a handful of female prisoners, all of whom are highly skilled in some combat role or another, who set out to save the President's daughter from ruthless terrorists. OK, so the plot is as ridiculous as it is simple, and it's just as much a take on the old Snake Plissken formula as it is Lionsgate's profitable, testosterone-overloaded franchise. Comparisons to other films aside...wait...what else can one do with Asylum titles but compare them to other films? As for those comparisons, there is no comparison. This is low-grade filmmaking not at its worst, but pretty far down there to be sure. The picture scrapes together a halfway decent cast but fails to capture the imagination, get the blood flowing, or otherwise excite any of the senses, except, perhaps, the sense of déjà vu, that feeling that this plot and this style have been done elsewhere, and better, before. That makes it pretty standard fare for The Asylum, an easy choice for studio fans and an obvious pass for those who like their movies with a little more creativity and polish.
There's no magazine in the gun. Come on, Asylum. This is the kind of easily preventable nonsense that really hurts your movies well above and beyond the usual macro suspects.
Mercenaries features a fairly standard-issue Asylum 1080p transfer. The picture, sourced from a digital shoot, takes on a slightly flat and glossy but nevertheless nicely detailed appearance, revealing suitably complex facial and clothing textures with ease. Supportive details, such as background information and scuff and plastic lines on guns, look rather good, too. Image clarity is strong, and there's never a truly dull or fuzzy moment, save for some shots containing lower-grade visual effects. Colors are satisfyingly bold and accurate. The palette isn't too terribly varied or dazzling, but what's here looks fine. Flesh tones satisfy in presentation, and black levels never favor crush or unnatural brightness. Light banding, very minor blockiness, a few spikes in noise, and a few washed-out skies are all that really hold this one back. In short, this is another good-to-great effort from The Asylum.
Mercenaries arrives on Blu-ray with a satisfying DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Audio is big and widely spaced. Music, when it's full-blast and not minor beats underneath dialogue added for faux drama, enjoys a robustness befitting the film. It's wide across the front and heavy in the rears, perhaps a hair too aggressive and a touch absent in pinpoint clarity, but it gets the job done for an Action film soundtrack. The track features several strong directional effects. An RPG projectile zips through the stage. Gunfire erupts from several corners of the listening area with solid pop and presentation. Some strong, rattly bass rumbles near the end. All variety of action effects are potent and aggressive, a nice compliment to a movie that needs to find some juice somewhere outside its visuals and story. Dialogue reproduction is solid, firmly grounded in the center and enjoying natural presence and clarity.
Mercenaries contains the usual brief array of Asylum supplements.
Mercenaries is an obvious knock-off of the superior Expendables franchise that does most everything halfheartedly. And where The Asylum is concerned, "half" is pretty high. The lack of scope and scale, the lackluster script, the languid gunplay, and the semi-disinterested performances all contribute to a dull, albeit passably dull, movie that might pass itself off just well enough as background noise but it never merits a full-attention watch. The Asylum's Blu-ray release of Mercenaries features solid enough video and audio. Supplements are limited to the typical Asylum making-of and gag reel. Worth a rental for die-hard action movie fanatics.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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