Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Retroactive Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov April 21, 2019

Louis Morneau's "Retroactive" (1997) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The only bonus feature on the disc is a collection of vintage trailers. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Longhorn country

The only serious flaw that I can find in this film is James Belushi’s obvious struggle to sound like an authentic Texas nutter. The accent quite simply isn’t there, but he keeps improvising in the most ridiculous of ways, and it is hard to believe that someone did not stop him while the film was being made.

In an isolated research facility somewhere in the heart of Texas a young scientist (Frank Whaley) films himself while working on a groundbreaking experiment. With the help of a giant machine, he successfully goes back in time and then alters the progression of events that have already occurred in the present. Meanwhile, hostage negotiator Karen (Kylie Travis) is passing through the area but has a silly accident that wrecks her car. Luckily for her, Frank (James Belushi) and Rayanne (Shannon Whirry) pull over and offer to give her a ride to a nearby motel. However, on the way to the motel Frank cracks a couple of nasty ‘jokes’ and when Rayenne fails to appreciate the ‘humor’ Karen realizes that they aren’t the happiest couple in Texas. Then further down the road, when Frank pulls over at a gas station to sell some stolen computer chips to the shady owner (M. Emmet Walsh), she becomes convinced that he is also a seriously dangerous nutter. But before Karen can figure out the safest strategy to ditch him, he goes berserk and kills Rayenne, thus leaving her with no other option but to run straight into the desert. Overwhelmed by fear for her life, Karen reaches the research facility and the scientist lets her in. Then the two decide to use his machine to send Karen back in time and prevent Frank from murdering his wife and have him arrested with the stolen chips. At first it seems like the plan might work, but when Karen lands in the past and attempts to stop Frank more people die and she ends up running for her life again. In a desperate move to neutralize Frank, the scientist agrees to assist Karen and go back in time with her, but to do so he would have to force the machine to do work that might collapse it.

I first saw Louis Morneau’s film Retroactive on HBO, which had a massive promotional campaign for it. (I could be mistaken, but I think that the film had a very short nationwide theatrical run prior to its official premiere on HBO). Why is this important? Because its style and tone are actually perfect for late-night TV, and because it is pretty clear to me that Morneau and the cast were going for precisely the kind of B-grade stylish but loose entertainment that late-night TV audiences would have expected. I certainly did, and I wasn’t disappointed.

The plot takes a familiar concept about time travel that all sorts of different action films have played with before it, from Biggles: Adventures in Time to Timecop. What gives Retroactive a unique identity is the heavy layer of neo-noir atmosphere which makes all of the desert action look great. The sci-fi element is the glue that provides the logical structure for the action, but in the grand scheme of things it actually isn’t vital. Once the main conflicts are established, the route to the inevitable resolution becomes crystal clear.

But there are plenty of bumps along the way that produce a good number of surprises. From time to time there are even some brilliant moments that remind of the Coen brothers’ work, and when Walsh pulls out his gun and the clueless cop pops up holding a dirty magazine it actually feels like it is one of their early projects. The energy and the nasty humor are spot on.

The film is set in West Texas, but Morneau and his crew shot it around a couple of small towns in California. The locations are outstanding and while Frank is on the loose it sure does look like he is in Longhorn country.

Retroactive Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in aspect ratio of 2.36:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Louis Morneau's Retroactive arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kioo Lorber.

The release is sourced from an older master. From time to time it looks just a tiny bit softer than I would have liked, but detail is still quite nice, with many close-ups actually looking quite good. I think that with some specific encoding optimizations the end result would have been very satisfying. The areas of the presentation where the limitations of the master show the most are usually the ones where there are plenty of shadow nuances. Here delineation should be better; there is black crush that a fresh remaster would very easily eliminate. Colors are stable and the prominent yellow/orange font that is present during the desert footage is indeed part of the original cinematography (the film also looked this way when I saw it on HBO). However, a fresh remaster will expand and straighten existing nuances; the primaries will benefit as well. Image stability is excellent. Finally, there are no large cuts, damage marks, or other distracting anomalies to report. (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).

Retroactive Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The lossless track is solid, but the old DVD release of Retroactive had a 5.1 audio track. I wonder why a lossless 5.1 track was not provided for the Blu-ray because the film has plenty of high-octane action that would have benefited from it. The 2.0 track still delivers a good dose of dynamic activity and is free of age-related imperfections.

Retroactive Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - an original trailer for Retroactive. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Trailers - a collection of trailers for other James Belushi films that have been released on Blu-ray by Kino Lorber.

• Cover - reversible cover with vintage poster art.

Retroactive Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Retroactive has a lot of the neo-noir atmosphere and edgy fun that exist in the early work of the Coen brothers, but the old vintage trailers that its producers cut actually tried to sell it as a wild sci-fi thriller. There is a sci-fi element of its plot that provides the logical structure for the high-octane action, but I think that the trailers were quite misleading. Either way, Retroactive is a solid genre film that might even be worthy of the overused 'classic' label. Kino Lorber's recent Blu-ray release is sourced from an old but decent master. RECOMMENDED.