Redline Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		1.5

Redline Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 29, 2023

As those who frequent various online platforms and/or social media apps may know, there's a whole "subgenre" of "reels" or "stories" or whatever you want to call them of crazy drivers piloting so-called "drift cars" shimmying and swaying almost like a veritable stunt performer. Kind of hilariously given some of the backstage drama that played out both during the shoot and later publicity tours for Redline, which included the destruction of an Enzo owned by producer and co-writer Daniel Sadek, none other than Enzo Ferrari credited the creation of "drifting" to Italian racing legend Tazio Nuvolari, but one way or the other, aside and apart from any "coincidences" like this, chances are those who have monetized their online and/or social media accounts may have well made more money from people watching "drifting" videos than Redline was able to eke out at the box office. This is a film with lots of deluxe cars (several of which are destroyed during the story), and lots of gorgeous women, but really not much else to recommend it.

For a film that has a less than engaging screenplay, there is a lot going on in Redline, not that any of it matters much in the long run. Natasha Martin (Nadia Bjorlin) is a knockout female mechanic who of course really wants to be a rock star. Natasha is supposedly nursing trauma from the death of her NASCAR star dad in a horrifying accident, but that doesn't keep her from driving race cars at insane speeds. Her facility in the racing world brings her to the attention of music mogul Infamous* (Eddie Griffin). Meanwhile (there's a lot of meanwhile in this overstuffed casserole), a returning vet named Carlo (Nathan Phillips) has his own family trauma to contend with, with his brother Jason (Jesse Johnson) possibly involved with criminal activity.

These and several other characters (almost all of whom are "introduced" with on screen identifiers and some voiceover descriptions, which suffices for "character development" in an effort like this) end up in Las Vegas for a series of racing with an outsized "book". It's all completely ridiculous, but the racing scenes are handled with some flair, and the cars (and women) are easy on the eyes.

*Whoever supplied the subtitles for this disc might want to remember that "rapper" is spelled with two p's.

Redline Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Redline is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of the MVD Marquee Collection, an imprint of MVD Visual, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. Despite being produced well into the 21st century and with a kind of lo-fi indie ambience that might have suggested a digital capture, this effort was shot on film, and this transfer preserves a rather healthy and organic appearance throughout. The palette is really nicely suffused for the most part, though for some reason the last half to a third of the film looks just a bit desaturated at times. Detail levels are typically precise and nice looking, with occasional exceptions for the glut of stylistic bells and whistles employed, which include everything from moments like that seen in screenshot 4 to all sorts of "old school" effects like wipes and split screen.

Redline Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

I was frankly kind of surprised to see MVD has included only a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 track on this disc, since the soundtrack is arguably one of the stronger elements of this production, with lots of "vrooming", peeling out, and nice panning effects during races, not to mention a source cue laden score. While the Dolby Digital track offers good immersion and decent fidelity, I'm sure some audiophiles will share my assumption that lossless audio would have at the least provided more energy to the midrange and especially low end. My score reflects my opinion that Blu-ray discs should always offer at least one lossless audio track. Optional English subtitles are available.

Redline Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Under the Hood: The Making of Redline (SD; 11:48) is a standard issue EPK, though it does have some fun looks at scenes being shot.


• Redline at the LA Auto Show (SD; 3:34) is a brief promotional piece.


• Trailers include Redline (SD; 2:26), along with trailers for other releases from MVD.

Redline Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'm absolutely sure some read my opening paragraph's announcement that his film has lots of deluxe cars and lots of gorgeous women and responded with a hearty, "Well, what else do you really need?", and for those of that ilk, Redline should suffice quite handily. Technical merits are fine (video) to arguably a bit disappointing (lossy audio), for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.