Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Mine Blu-ray Movie Review

I can't believe it's not that Fabio.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 29, 2017

If you can get past what is a ludicrously incredible setup and what turns out to have needlessly soap operatic moments down the line, Mine is an at least intermittently interesting viewing experience, and one which provides Armie Hammer with a role where he’s onscreen, often singlehandedly, for virtually the entire running length of the film. Written and directed by Fabio Guaglione and Fabio Resinaro, who bill themselves as “Fabio & Fabio”, Mine begins with a viscerally disturbing sequence the finds sniper Mike Stevens (Armie Hammer) with an alleged terrorist in his rifle scope sights as Mike crouches on a cliffside in some unnamed North African country, though the identification isn’t secure and once it becomes apparent the target is actually in the middle of the desert for a secret wedding ceremony, Mike hesitates to take the guy out, despite the repeated insistence of “send it” (i.e., pull the trigger) by his best buddy and scout Tommy Madison (Tom Cullen). Of course, Mike’s hesitation does two things: first, it establishes that the character has a moral conscience, not wanting to kill a guy at this particular event, and second and probably more importantly, it ends up stranding Mike and Tommy in the desert once things go haywire and the terrorist’s henchmen notice the good guys on the cliff. And right here is the first moment requiring a rather major suspension of disbelief: in the Fabios’ rather unlikely screenplay, Mike and Tommy have evidently just materialized on this plateau without any support within shouting distance. That means once they’re discovered by the bad guys, they have to take off—on foot, all while calling for help, which is not an immediate prospect. Now, I’m no expert, but I’ve watched a lot of Homeland, and this is not the way I imagine Special Forces working to remove threats (and, yes, the foregoing is said with tongue planted firmly in cheek). Even this implausible conceit is doubled down upon when a kind of desert version of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’s iconic leap off of a precipice leaves Tommy’s wrist bound GPS unit smashed and not working. And then there’s the violent haboob the guys have to withstand, just for good measure. By the time Mike and Tommy stumble into a desert mine field, the film is already perilously unbelievable, though it’s to the Fabios’ credit that these opening scenes bristle with an excitement that the rest of the film only occasionally manages to muster.

The visceral intensity of the film’s opening undoubtedly continues for the first few moments of the discovery of the minefield, especially when Tommy steps on a mine, leading to some very disturbing imagery which the Fabios do not shirk from displaying (repeatedly). When Mike moves to help his buddy, he hears the gut wrenching sound that he’s stepped on a mine (if he lifts his foot, he's a dead man), and that then provides the central conceit of the film: Mike is stuck, literally, though in the film’s way too obvious approach, that’s one of those “meaningful” cinematic metaphors for a character trying to come to terms with a traumatic past, one which hasn’t allowed him to “move on”.

And it’s here that Mine probably not so surprisingly gets stuck itself. There’s an interesting concept here, as well as the (subliminally at least) compelling idea of a guy in a vast expanse who nonetheless feels trapped, but once the Fabios up the conceit level even more by having a rescue team be days off (again—this is not how Special Forces operate), the film starts to wallow in an increasing magical realism, one tied to Mike’s unraveling psychological state as he’s forced to stand and/or kneel in place, waiting for deliverance.

How much of what then ensues is “real” and how much imaginary is never really adequately explained, though some characters, like a passing Berber (Clint Dyer), seem to actually be there, despite the fact that he, along with a child, evidently have no problem avoiding mines to get up close and personal with Mike. Other elements, like a late scene with Mike’s martinet father (Geoff Bell) are obviously fantasy, though the Fabios’ presentational style never really varies, perhaps intentionally blending Mike’s dream state with the environment surrounding him.

Unfortunately, the more Mine, well, mines Mike’s inner turmoil, the more clichéd and perhaps even distressingly laughable it becomes. This is a character with way more baggage than he should be attempting to carry through a desert (and, yes, that’s a joke), baggage that ends up becoming increasingly melodramatic as the film careens toward an improbable kinda sorta happy ending. Hammer is commanding in a role that requires him to be onscreen virtually every moment, often seemingly in stasis, but the cinematic territory surrounding him is (perhaps appropriately) pretty barren.

Mine Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mine is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. While technical data is once again scarce to come by, some of the making of featurettes on this disc briefly show Arri cameras, and this has the typically sleek and generally well detailed look of capture by Alexa. The film is made up of long segments in an environment devoid of virtually any real identifiable elements other than white sands and often pale skies, and as such the palette is often near monochromatic. The Fabios do tend to like extreme close-ups, and those offer excellent fine detail, especially with regard to Mike's increasingly weathered face. Some flashback material has been graded, as even some of the desert scenes seem to have been. There are intermittent signs of banding, especially in some of the brighter desert moments where the camera pans across varying brightnesses.

Mine Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mine features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which is quite subtle due to the lack of "wow" sonics, but which still provides near constant immersion in terms of minimal but still fairly ubiquitous ambient environmental sounds. There are one or two brief moments of LFE, but overall this is a rather quiet film, one which tends to play out within the confines of Mike's inner world, and as such showy sonics are rarely if ever in evidence. Fidelity is fine and prioritization is well handled, perhaps because there's very little competition for whatever dialogue is being uttered at any given moment.

Mine Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes

  Power Positive Thinking (1080p; 1:55)

  
  

  Commitment (1080p; 2:22)

  
  

  Confrontation (1080p; 10:23)

  
  

  Quicksand (1080p; 1:36)

• Making Of

  Mineboards: From Page to Frame (1080p; 4:45)

  
  

  The Other Side of the Dune: Mine VFX Breakdown (1080p; 5:01)

  
  

  The Making of with Armie Hammer (1080p; 13:09)

• Trailer (1080p; 2:04)

As usual with Well Go USA releases, the supplements have been authored to follow one another automatically. Trailers for other Well Go USA releases have been authored to follow these supplements automatically as well.

Mine Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mine doesn't always work, and it in fact increasingly strains credulity to the breaking point, but Hammer is excellent and the general concept is really rather riveting. The film tends to wallow a bit too much in overly soap operatic elements, but Hammer fans may want to check this out since it offers the actor near constant screen time. Technical merits are generally excellent for those considering a purchase.