Red Stone Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

Red Stone Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 17, 2024

Derek Presley's "Red Stone" (2021) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinedigm. There are no bonus features on the release. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Boon

The location is a small town somewhere in Texas. But this town could have been in Louisiana, Oklahoma, or Arkansas, or any other place in the South where the local sheriff’s out of control gambling addiction has made him a partner of the biggest criminal there who should have been his biggest foe. The South has a lot of characters like the latter. They control the local drug business and the local prostitution business. If they are close to the border, they make money from trafficking illegal immigrants, too. The most ambitious among these characters work with the cartels on the other side of the border and push their product way up North. They have big-time lawyers and shady bankers on their payroll, sometimes even prominent local politicians with expensive lifestyles.

When Motley’s (Dash Melrose) older brother, Danny (Dominic Scott Kay), steals a giant red ruby from Jed Haywood (Michael Cudlitz), who has taken over the town because Sheriff Quincy (Jason Douglas) has lost a ton of money in the local casino, which he runs through an intermediary, Texas suddenly becomes too small of a place to hide. While listening to Danny explaining how he has screwed up and watching him drive his truck toward the border, Motley suddenly realizes that they are making a desperate run to stay alive. Then, just a few minutes later, Haywood’s men appear in a bigger truck and force Danny to follow them back to their boss’ lair. Before they can see that he is not alone, Danny tells Motley to hide under the big blanket in the back of the truck.

Hutch (Billy Blair), Haywood’s right-hand man, kills Danny while finishing his cigarette. Shortly after, at a junkyard, where Danny’s truck is supposed to be destroyed, Hutch is shocked to see Motley emerging from it and disappearing into the nearby forest. When Hutch delivers the bad news that there is a witness on the loose to Haywood, the latter phones Boon (Neal McDonough), a professional hitman, friend, and former associate, who happens to be in town to organize a funeral for his brother and his family because they have perished in a car accident and downgrade his sick mother's accommodation in a local nursing home. At first, Boon hesitates to help his friend and former boss, but when he is reminded that he owes a lot to him, changes his mind. While Boon hunts down Motley, who begins improvising to stay alive, an undercover FBI agent (Mike Dopud) appears in the area looking for Danny.

Directed by Derek Presley, Red Stone is a heavily atmospheric neo-noir thriller that replicates very well a lot of what made the likes of Kill Me Again and White Sands special several decades earlier. For example, it introduces strong characters and produces noirish action with an unmistakable adult quality that make it look stylish yet very realistic. It discovers beauty in minimalistic visuals, much like Kill Me Again and White Sands as well. However, because Red Stone is a very recent film, it is a lot easier to compare to the Australian outback noir films, which are populated with very similar characters and deliver the same type of action but create an atmosphere with slightly different qualities. Plenty of the footage in Mystery Road and The Dry, for instance, easily can be incorporated into Red Stone.

The camera dedicates an equal amount of time to Danny and Boon, so while the hunt for the former is underway, the viewer can observe the drama from different angles. However, it is not too long before the two characters are brought together.

The entire cast is very good, sharing an identical understanding of how to make the drama as intense as possible without hurting its authenticity. Blair is particularly effective as the cold-hearted Southern executioner who sees killing only as a job.

In 2022, Presley directed Boon in which McDonough again plays a loner forced to kill, though this time he clashes with bad characters who know how to take out an opponent, too.

Red Stone Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.46:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Red Stone arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Cinedigm.

While it is true that the majority of recent films tend to look very good on Blu-ray, I was rather surprised how great Red Stone looked on my system. It does help that it is wonderfully shot, but I thought that the indoor material looked as impressive as the outdoor panoramic material, which is not easy because there are plenty of unique darker nuances and shadows. Also, I thought that the decision to make the outdoor footage look warm was very effective, as it gives the film a stylish yet organic contemporary appearance. Image stability is outstanding. I did not encounter any encoding anomalies to report in our review. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Red Stone Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

I assume that Red Stone has an all-digital soundtrack that was replicated by the 5.1 track. Clarity, sharpness, and balance were excellent. Dynamic intensity was very good too, though the film does not have any large shootouts or content with plenty of diverse music. I did not encounter any anomalies to report in our review.

Red Stone Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no special features to be found on this release.

Red Stone Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If Derek Presley focuses on directing neo-noir thrillers like Red Stone and continues to improve his style, in a few years he will be impossible to ignore whenever the new generation of American auteurs is addressed. I think that Presley is as good as Ivan Sen, whose outback noir thrillers Mystery Road and Goldstone earned him quite a reputation in his native Australia and abroad. This recent Blu-ray release from Cinedigm offers an excellent technical presentation of Red Stone, but does not have any bonus features. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.