Metal Shifters Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Metal Shifters Blu-ray Movie Review

The moral of the story: alcohol is good.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 6, 2012

You need a bigger gun.

Metal Shifters, a.k.a. Iron Invaders, comes from the good folks at SyFy, so audiences familiar with that channel's original movies pretty much know what to expect with this one. Metal Shifters represents more of the same on many levels, but it does show a slight uptick in overall quality, similar in that regard to, if not still a notch below, another of these films recently released on Blu-ray, Ice Quake, that movie the current standard by which all other SyFY films are (or should be) judged for quality and proximity to "real" filmmaking. No doubt Metal Shifters still lingers rather close to the "sloppy" side of the ledger -- it's a SyFy movie, after all, and certain forces are at work that guarantee as much -- but its characters are a wee bit better developed, its plot proves a hair more interesting, and its special effects appear a touch more lifelike than the average lower-grade SyFy presentations everyone knows and loves. But it nevertheless follows SyFy formula rather closely, even with slightly improved acting in mind and a dreadfully anticlimactic ending lessening the relative strengths of the pervious hour-plus of cheesy but fun low-grade moviemaking entertainment.

I love Prohibition!

The small mountain town of Redeemer, Idaho is suffering. Foreclosures are skyrocketing, pockets are empty, and people are leaving in droves. But one mother and daughter are coming back home. Amanda (Nicole de Boer) and her daughter Claire (Merritt Patterson) are starting over following Amanda's failed marriage. She runs into Jake (Kavan Smith), an old flame who's never been able to move his love life forward since allowing Amanda to get away. Jake and his brother Ethan (Colby Johannson) are working a construction project and are out of money; the outlook appears bleak, but then Heaven seems to answer their prayers. An object falls from the sky; it appears to be the remnants of an old Russian satellite which they sell to a local junk dealer (Donnelly Rhodes) for enough cash to keep their project going. Little do they know that the space scrap is infested with an odd organic substance that kills living tissue and animates metallic objects, both on contact. Soon, townsfolk begin turning up dead, and Earl's giant "Golem" -- made of scrap metal and infected space junk -- is responsible. Can the survivors band together to defeat this menace, or will the unexplained wreak havoc on an already depleted Idaho town?

Once the movie moves past its ridiculously bottom-scraping PS2-level special effect that opens the movie, Metal Shifters slowly morphs into a competent, above-average SyFy venture that's suitably entertaining, adequately assembled, and fairly acted. Of course, these positive qualities are all relative; Metal Shifters doesn't enjoy the same polish or purpose of even mid-tier studio theatrical pictures, but then again it's made for an audience with expectations of mindless fun, audiences in search of something superficially different yet that remains within the same basic confines that define the entirety of the SyFy catalogue. It's a fairly difficult line to walk, producing content that's comfortably worn-in but at least partially unique, competent but nevertheless cheesy and within the expected establishment that champions drivel masquerading as slightly more serious fare. Metal Shifters toes that cluster of requirements expertly. The movie looks like Transformers but has more in common with Terminator 2 than it does Michael Bay's pricey trio of blockbusters, throwing the viewer out of step just enough to keep things interesting. The movie serves no purpose other than to entertain, eschewing any semblance of deeper themes in favor of cheap action, predictable plot developments, and characters who are always half a dozen steps behind the audience. But that's the sweet spot, and SyFy has certainly mastered the art -- and yes, this is an art form -- of the inconsequential movie, discovering the perfect formula where budget, style, audience, and ratings remain largely constant, the only variable being the specifics of the plot and the faces that appear in the movie.

Even the makeup of those faces seems carefully considered for every movie. Metal Shifters follows the same formula of nearly every SyFy channel movie with its casting. In one of the lead roles is a familiar name but a name that's no longer exactly at the top of the Hollywood scene. Some recent SyFy movies, like Swamp Volcano and Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York, star the likes of Brad Dourif and Michael Ironside, respectively, each playing less a character and more a name to provide the movie a little legitimacy. Then there are the actors who are typecast in these sorts of lower-grade movies and tend not to escape from the confines of B-movie filmmaking or parts on various midlevel television series. Lastly, there's the handful of secondary and myriad of tertiary parts filled by mostly random actors who show little range or knowhow, the only requirement to land these parts, it seems, being a performance in the seventh grade play, and never mind if he or she played the lead or a rock or tree. In Metal Shifters, the "name" is Nicole DeBoer, best know for her single-season work on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine." Kavan Smith may even be a little more familiar to television and cheap movies fans, but the rest of the cast pretty much falls into the outlined criteria for second- and third-tier performers. Again, though, it's not so much the quality of the performances that count than it is the rest of the pieces adding up to SyFy standards. Metal Shifters really does encapsulate it all very well; it's a go-nowhere movie that's surprisignly entertaining despite both a rather predictable ensemble of cheap movie elements and a disappointing resolution that, if nothing else, should be a boon for liquor stores every time the movie airs.

Metal Shifters Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Metal Shifters sparkles on Blu-ray. Anchor Bay's 1080p 1.78:1-framed transfer is a superb, no-corners-cut presentation that rivals the best transfers of major films. Fine detail is steady and often breathtaking. Clothing is remarkably intricate, faces are naturally complex and well-defined, and various elements seen throughout the movie -- chipped and dented machinery at the scrapyard, scuffed wooden floors, particleboard -- look great, very natural and sturdy. The image is very clear, sharp, and with only a few effects shot appearing a touch soft. Grain is visible throughout. Colors are wonderfully balanced and endlessly natural. Green vegetation, denim, wood, flesh tones, various paint jobs -- everything is in perfect balance. Black levels, likewise, are deep and true, never too dark and certainly never too bright. Banding, blocking, and the like appear absent. This is a virtually pristine transfer in all regards.

Metal Shifters Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Metal Shifters arrives on Blu-ray with a high quality and very active Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Indeed, information is thrown all over the soundstage with regularity, but not without purpose and balance. The track makes good use of a very wide soundstage; music is spacious and crisp, playing with a natural balance and a good accompanying low end. Ambience excels and plays naturally all over the soundstage, whether birds and insects or establishing, environment-shaping sounds off to the sides and in the rears during the scrapyard scenes. Yet the track truly shines in those scenes with the "Iron Invader." Its heavy footfalls yield some hefty bass that's strong and deep, not rattly and unkempt. Several scenes feature metallic sound effects emanating from all corners of the listening area, particularly in those scenes featuring the machine coming together T-1000-style. Of course, dialogue is balanced and true, playing from the center channel. This is a fine track that greatly enhances the overall tone of the movie.

Metal Shifters Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Metal Shifters contains 'Metal Shifters:' Behind the Scenes (1080p, 15:02), a short piece featuring cast and crew discussing the plot, character development, the movie's style, practical effects, favorite scenes, the work of the actors, and the mood on the set. Also included is the Metal Shifters trailer (1080p, 1:43).

Metal Shifters Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In essence, Metal Shifters isn't quite the movie it could have been, and despite wallowing in some standard SyFy elements and disappointing with a goofy, anticlimactic ending, it still ranks amongst the best of these types of movies, which is certainly more an admonishment of the collective SyFy whole than it is an acclamation of what may be an outlier but is hopefully more representative of a baby step in the right direction where "cheesy" and "cheap" can co-exist with a more refined end product. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of Metal Shifters is a bit skimpy on extras, but the video and audio presentations are exceptional. Recommended to audiences who enjoy these sorts of movies. SyFy fare doesn't come any better than this in terms of Blu-ray presentation.