South of Heaven Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

South of Heaven Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Randy Miller III December 20, 2021

Aharon Keshales' South of Heaven brings more to the table than "Jason Sudeikis in a dramatic thriller", as this sturdy little production carries a few interesting tricks up its sleeve. The former Saturday Night Live writer and actor headlines as James "Jimmy Ray", recently freed after a stint for armed robbery and his impassioned plea to the parole board. Jimmy's sudden change of heart and motivation? To finally wed childhood sweetheart Annie (Evangeline Lilly), who's been given her own sentence: lung cancer and maybe one year to live. He's bound and determined to treat Annie like a queen during the last months of her life... but under the watchful eye of parole officer Schmidt (Shea Whigham), who ultimately blackmails Jimmy for his own gain, the ex-convict's second chance proves to be short-lived.

Truth be told, South of Heaven doesn't exactly light up the screen during most of its deliberately-paced (read: kinda slow) running time. The film's first leg is mostly content with showing us Jimmy and Annie's idyllic life with each other; one shaped and driven by its tragically short window, where the two have no time for basic quarrels. In short, they're sweethearts planning a simple wedding, which makes the lingering interference of Schmidt -- South of Heaven's closest thing to a straight-up villain -- feel all the more unwelcome. At his insistence, Jimmy is tasked with picking up a cash drop from several men employed by local gang boss Whit Price (Mike Colter), which ends badly and is exacerbated when Jimmy attempts to cover up a nighttime accident involving a motorcyclist. Soon, he's right back where he was before: Annie's trust has been broken, and it's not long before Whit's men end up on their doorstep.

It's a little clichéd in spots and could've used more judicious editing, but South of Heaven easily meets or beats the expectations of what looks like a Netflix original film at first glance. Its structure is sound, most of the characters are nicely layered, it's got loads of heart, and the sporadic action scenes (including an impressive two-minute unbroken shot during the thrilling final showdown) are effectively tense. Performances are similarly strong: though Sudeikis' opening monologue could've used another take, he quickly settles in to the role of Jimmy and imbues the film with a refreshingly optimistic tone against tragic circumstances. Evangeline Lilly and Mike Colter aren't far behind: their multi-faceted characters breathe life into South of Heaven 's otherwise conventional path, and smaller supporting characters (including Thaddeus J. Mixson as Price's bratty son, Tommy) steal a few scenes during their all-too-brief screen time. Only Shea Whigham is out of place here: he feels like a store-brand version of Woody Harrelson's character in No Country for Old Men, and it doesn't help that Schmidt is easily the least nuanced character in the film.

South of Heaven survives this minor setback and a few others, easily coasting by on its fundamental strengths -- which also include its workmanlike cinematography and original score -- while also not totally lighting up the scoreboard as some kind of hidden masterpiece. It's just a good, effective little thriller that makes a meal out of limited ingredients; nothing more, nothing less. RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray package offers a decent amount of support, including a mostly solid A/V presentation and two light behind-the-scenes extras; it's similarly not an S-tier effort or anything, but South of Heaven will hopefully reach a wider audience on word-of-mouth and a blind buy-worthy price tag.

South of Heaven Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Aside from a few nagging drawbacks -- mostly in the form of light banding, posterization, and occasional black crush during darker scenes -- RLJ's 1080p transfer of South of Heaven serves up a largely attractive image on this dual-layered disc. Colors mostly run muted but show excellent saturation with no bleeding, fine detail is respectably good, and well-lit exteriors impress with nice attention to detail in all but more the complex sequences. I'm not sure of the film's digital pedigree but, while a full 4K transfer -- upscale or not -- may have alleviated some of the more obvious compression-related issues, South of Heaven still looks surprisingly good at times that gets the job done. But in all honesty... for a dual-layered disc that sports a relatively high bit rate, there's room for improvement here.

South of Heaven Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Balancing its serene stretches with peppered moments of increasing terror, South of Heaven's DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix is a capably-rendered track that serves its source material nicely from start to finish. Dialogue largely remains front and center, supporting by with background effects that frequently spill into the rears, while the original score by David Fleming (whose body of work includes musical contributions to films as diverse as Divergent, Blue Planet II, Wonder Woman 1984, and this year's Dune) ebbs and flows around the characters and varied locations. It's an effective effort, all things considered, and one that breaks no new sonic ground but, as the cliché goes, "does the job nicely".

Optional English (SDH) and Spanish subtitles are offered during the main feature only.

South of Heaven Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with attractive cover artwork, a matching matte-finish slipcover, and a promotional insert. The lightweight bonus features are minimal but appreciated.

• Meet the Cast (6:10) - This short promotional featurette briefly covers the story's early development and production and features comments by director Aharon Keshales, producer Chadd Harbold, and actors Evangeline Lilly, Mike Colter, Shea Whigham, Thaddeus J. Mixson, and Jeremy Bobb (as "Frank", Jimmy's friend).

• The Making of "South of Heaven" (5:16) - Rather than a much more expanded featurette, this piece simply plays like the second half of the previous one with additional comments by Jason Sudeikis, cinematographer Matt Michell, and returning participants, who all give a slightly broader overview of the production process.

South of Heaven Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Aharon Keshales' South of Heaven has five writing credits (including the director himself, who co-wrote the original story and screenplay) which, along with its cast of recognizable faces, usually spells "bargain bin material". But this is a surprisingly tight little thriller that, a few minor speed bumps aside, remains compelling with memorable characters and a comfortably relaxed pace that maintains interest, as reinforced by our own Brian Orndorf in his theatrical review. South of Heaven is the perfect definition of a good blind buy, so it's good that RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray carries a decent A/V presentation, a few extras and, most importantly, a reasonable price tag. Recommended.