5.3 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Two teens battle their way through a religious apocalypse on a mission to defeat the Antichrist.
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, John Francis Daley, Ken Jeong, Rob CorddryComedy | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
As a denizen of the Pacific Northwest, a region of the United States that regularly tops polls by residents claiming to be “spiritual but not religious”, I can attest that if and/or when the Rapture comes (depending on your personal level of belief), the rainy climes as well as the personal predilections of the inhabitants of Oregon and Washington are probably going to make both the disappearance of the righteous as well as the appearance of the Antichrist harder to see. The slacker ethos that permeates this part of the country (when I moved to Portland years ago as an earnest 20 year old, one of the first things a neighbor told me was how easy it was to “coast” here, and he wasn’t referencing our nearness to the Pacific) is generally on display throughout Rapture-Palooza, rather improbably one of two apocalyptic comedies starring Craig Robinson that appeared in 2013. This Is the End featured Robinson playing a self- deprecating version of himself while Rapture-Palooza has him cavorting around as The Beast, that much feared embodiment of pure evil, and so it’s perhaps understandable that the somehow innately lovable actor does better in the first film than this one. But the entire ambience of Rapture-Palooza reeks of filmmaking by the seat of one’s pants, with a script by erstwhile Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure scribe Chris Matheson that has seemingly been shunted aside in favor of improvisational quips by a coterie of accomplished comedians who appear in the film. The result is admittedly fitfully funny in dribs and drabs, but there’s also a haphazard quality to much of Rapture-Palooza that suggests that perhaps a bit more rigor and structure could have helped this depiction of the ultimate in chaos theory.
Rapture-Palooza is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This digitally shot feature has been pretty aggressively color graded in post to depict a washed out, dying Earth, but the good news is fine detail is comprised little if at all by these decision. While flesh tones are awfully anemic quite a bit of the time (and we're not even talking the zombie portrayed by Thomas Lennon), with backgrounds reduced to almost monochromatic slate gray and beige tones, the image itself is rather crisp, with some nice renderings of texture in the sets and costumes. The intentional color timing has some odd side effects at times, casting a kind of blue or violet pall over the proceedings that tends to work against strong contrast, but overall this is a nicely sharp and surprisingly well detailed looking high definition presentation.
Rapture-Palooza's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is rather well done, with some vigorous low end at several key moments (like the introduction of The Beast, set to a thumping rap beat). Immersion is well above average for this kind of comedy, with lots of nice panning effects as various plagues afflict the populace, and some more subtle foley effects added at certain moments (a late running gag of Lindsey repeatedly shooting The Beast with all manner of different guns has an assortment of bullet sounds accompanying her gunfire). Dialogue is cleanly presented, and Robinson's "crooning" as The Beast also comes through very well. Dynamic range is extremely wide for a comedy.
Rapture-Palooza reminded me of a lot of younger stand up comedians I've seen who seem to think that merely dropping a string of f-bombs magically creates humor. Part of this sensibility may in fact be due to the fact that quite a few of the cast members are ( or at least were) younger stand up comedians at one point, and the film's director Paul Middleditch seems to have been content to have just let them all loose to do what they willed, with little thought of cohesion or consistency. What ends up happening, then, are scattered bits that are at least amusing if not laugh out loud funny, interspersed with long, draggy moments where you have a bunch of manic comics mugging in overdrive to try to make something happen. Where's a careening meteor when you really need one?
2019
2017
2015
1995
2012
2020
2011
2016
2002
2019
1999
2004
Cataclysmic Edition Unrated
2008
2016
2012
2011
Extended Cut
2012
2012
2009
Unrated
2015