7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A couple's lives are turned upside down when the woman is kidnapped and her boyfriend must negotiate her release.
Starring: Gilles Lellouche, Roschdy Zem, Gérard Lanvin, Elena Anaya, Mireille PerrierForeign | 100% |
Crime | 2% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English, English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
If Jean-Luc Godard hadn’t already claimed it, Breathless would’ve been the perfect title for Point Blank, a breakneck French thriller
that might very well leave you winded. It certainly gives its on-the-run characters a good workout. Chased through Paris, they jump between buildings,
book it down alleyways, and even tear frantically through a crowded police station, with only rare opportunities to stop for a breather and some
expository dialogue. At a brisk 84-minutes, Point Blank is the film equivalent of the 100-meter dash—as soon as the starter pistol goes off, it’s
a non-stop, arm-pumping sprint to the finish.
Appropriately, then, the film starts with a literal bang—a loud one—as a wounded man bursts through a door and down a fire escape, with two
assassins toting silenced pistols in fast pursuit. We have no idea who this man is—not yet, anyway—but we watch him haul-ass across a bridge and
into a tunnel, where the would-be murderers finally catch up. Right when they’re about to fire off a few rounds into his chest, a speeding motorcyclist
barrels around a curve and plows into the man, sending him flying through the air and across the pavement in one wince-worthy, road-rash-inducing
split-second. The contract killers—their work seemingly done for them—flee the scene.
Magnolia Home Entertainment has given Point Blank a strong Blu-ray treatment, with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer—framed in the film's intended 2.35:1 aspect ratio—placed on a roomy dual-layer disc. Shot on 35mm, the movie retains all of its filmic texture—no DNR or edge enhancement abuses here—and the overall look is intentionally gritty, with a fairly chunky grain pattern, even in bright daylight scenes. You will notice a handful of shots that look quite soft, but I'd chalk this up to imprecise focusing rather than a transfer or grain issue. Most of the film, however, exhibits a strong degree of clarity, with fine detail apparant in the actors' creased faces, the details of the costumes, and—especially—the individually visible salt-and- pepper whiskers that make Gérard Lanvin so wolf-like. The film's color palette is purposely muted—the desaturated color grading emphasizes the movie's stark intensity—but the tones are dense and consistent. Black levels, on the other hand, are somewhat variable; they're usually deep, but there are a few scenes where the blacks are raised to a milky gray. You'll also spot a few brief instances of moiré—on the fire escape in the first scene—and a slight increase in noise during darker sequences. No big deal, though. Point Blank is definitely a visually satisfying experience in high definition.
As usual for their import titles, Magnolia has given U.S. audiences a choice between two audio options, the film's original French mix and an English dub, both presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. The dub isn't the worst I've ever heard, but unless you've got a severe allergic reaction to subtitles, the French track is most definitely the way to go. The multi-channel mix has no trouble keeping up with the film's non-stop action, outputting a dynamic and constantly engaging soundscape. The streets of Paris are filled with ambience, subway sounds clamor, the police station is aurally hectic, and when the film gets more aggressive—shootouts, namely—the surround speakers are put to great use. All of this is supported by grounded bass and clean highs. The score is pretty typical for this kind of pulse-pounding action movie, but the music has all the depth and presence it needs. Most importantly, dialogue is always clear and easy to understand, even when the film is at its most frantic. The disc includes optional English, English SDH, and Spanish subtitles, along with the choice of English subs on titles and text only.
Point Blank—which, I should clarify, has nothing to do with the 1968 film of the same name—is an unrelentingly fast-paced crime thriller that delivers some chest-pounding on-foot chase sequences and several moments of WTF-inducing violence. It might be dramatically lacking—the film doesn't slow down enough to develop its characters—but as a pure action movie it's aces. Magnolia's Blu-ray release is top-notch too. Check it out if you're looking for a crime thriller outside the Hollywood norm. Recommended.
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