6 | / 10 |
Users | 3.2 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.7 |
The son of a renowned sniper decides to track down the sniper who ambushed his squad when they were sent to rescue a white planter in the Congo.
Starring: Billy Zane, Chad Michael Collins, Annabel Wright, Patrick Lyster, Richard SammelAction | 100% |
Thriller | 73% |
War | 17% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English, English SDH, French, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
BD-Live
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
You can't fight something you don't understand.
Some movies simply defy the review process. Sniper: Reloaded is one of them. How to review a movie that's really nothing more than a
few
action scenes held together by a fairly standard revenge plot? Also consider that it's a direct-to-video movie, the fourth in a series that began way
back in 1993. The original -- starring Tom Berenger and Billy Zane -- spawned two sequels starring Berenger, and now in 2011 Sniper is
back,
this time without Berenger but returning Billy Zane back into the fold. How many series that have long since gone the direct-to-video route can
boast that
kind of
congruity? The Sniper franchise must be doing something right to keep its actors coming back -- or at least paying its actors
enough -- and earn enough money to make
three
follow-ups viable, bankable pictures. Brief history lesson aside, the question remains: how to review a movie that's so basic in scope and so absent of
any
perceptible ambition to stand apart from the crowd? Sniper: Reloaded is about as passably flat as movies get; there's not a particularly new
or
good story, the action is very basic but effective, and the acting is acceptable for a fourth-generation movie that's part of a franchise that's never
really
been much of anything to begin with. By this point, "Sniper" must be labeled as a brand name in the Action movie universe, and it's no
surprise, then, that
Reloaded is really just an assembly line picture that will satisfy the craving for combat action and sniper-dueling suspense. That's exactly
what most any Action movie fan would expect, and that's exactly what Action movie fans get.
I see you.
Sniper: Reloaded delivers a frustratingly inconsistent 1080p, 1.85:1-framed transfer that, granted, oftentimes looks quite good but far too often encounters a bump in the road -- and once or twice drops off a cliff -- that lessens the overall quality of the presentation. The image features a fairly heavy grain structure, but it's also home to random white speckles and even one or two stray vertical lines, unusual for a brand-new picture. Detail is sometimes strong -- evident in faces and military uniform close-ups -- but also occasionally fuzzy, once or twice appearing downright smeary in a few distance shots. Black levels usually appears a tad bit too dark, but the color palette is otherwise stable and accurate, primarily favoring shades of green and tan. The image is also consistently flat. Fortunately, banding, blocking, and edge enhancement appear to have been kept to a bare minimum. Sniper: Reloaded usually looks good, but it should have excelled beyond this.
Sniper: Reloaded features an Action movie-standard DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Gunfire is the name of the game with this one, and every shot -- whether the hard and heavy cracks from the single-fire bolt-action sniper rifles to full-auto bursts, the soundstage comes alive with the raw power and audible excitement of shots spilling from one speaker and impacting objects in the next. Rounds regularly zip all over the listening area, and action scenes are nicely complimented by general audible chaos, which includes the sound of objects and people being destroyed, screaming, and the like. Even spent shell casings clanking off a metallic bin where several Marines hide from a sniper is quite impressive, with the shots screaming from the center speaker and the casings hitting hard off to the side. Other sound effects and music play with a full, satisfying presence, both making full use of the entire soundstage and playing with a crispness and accuracy that's hard to beat. Rounded out by superior dialogue reproduction, Sniper: Reloaded easily hits the mark in terms of its audio presentation.
Sniper: Reloaded features only BD-Live connectivity and trailers for additional Sony titles.
Sniper: Reloaded is a fairly bland Action movie that really doesn't need much of a review, if it calls for one at all. This is the definition of a picture that's mostly self-explanatory and guaranteed to deliver a baseline sort of direct-to-video Action movie-watching experience; that it doesn't descend into ultra-cheap Asylum territory (unlikely with a major studio behind it) or somehow ascend to a greatness beyond the norm for a fourth-generation Action movie (also unlikely) are about the only two things potential viewers might want to know about it, at least in a broad sense. Rest assured, Sniper: Reloaded is just fine, a movie that plays exactly as most probably envision, and that's as a fair, mostly well-made, decently acted Action picture with just enough of a plot to keep viewers watching in between action scenes. Sony's Blu-ray release of Sniper: Reloaded features decent video and audio but no supplements. Series and genre fans will be best served by giving this one a rental.
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