Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Stand Off Blu-ray Movie Review

The (Bad) Luck of the Irish

Reviewed by Michael Reuben March 17, 2013

Stand Off was released to theaters under the title Whole Lotta Sole, which is the name of the Belfast fish market that gets robbed midway through the film by a bumbling thief named Jimbo. The semi-bad pun of the original title more accurately conveyed the tone of the movie, which is laced throughout with a dark, profane humor that is uniquely Irish. In a similar vein, the revised cover art for the U.S. Blu-ray release puts a machine gun in the hands of star Brendan Fraser that his character never picks up and gives him the stance and demeanor of a gangster. His character in the film is exactly the opposite. The film would be better served by a marketing campaign that plays up the pitch black comedy that it really is.

Stand Off was directed and co-written by Belfast native Terry George, who is certainly no stranger to serious subjects. He was nominated for Oscars for his screenplays for In the Name of the Father (co-written with Jim Sheridan) and Hotel Rwanda (which he also directed) and won for his live-action short, The Shore, which dealt with a friendship riven by "the troubles" in Northern Ireland. His cop show on CBS, The District, was a hard-nosed look at the challenges of policing the American capital, where the crime rate was soaring. But it was only a matter of time before George succumbed to the Irish yarnspinner's innate urge to weave an antic tale of "can you top this?" insanity, and you keep listening (or, in this case, watching) just to find out how it all turns out. Why should Martin McDonagh (In Bruges) have all the fun?

It was no doubt George's reputation as a filmmaker, plus the quality of the script he wrote with Thomas Gallagher, that allowed him to assemble such an impressive ensemble cast for an independent project. The original poster for Whole Lotta Sole showed more of them than the new Stand Off image. In addition to that reliable stalwart of Irish cinema, Colm Meaney (Chief O'Brien to Star Trek fans), and Fraser as the American fish out of water, the cast includes Martin McCann, whose effective impersonation of U2's frontman was critical to Killing Bono; former model Yaya DaCosta (The Kids Are All Right and TRON: Legacy); and as the ferocious gangster of whom everyone is terrified, reliable Scottish bulldog David O'Hara, who was part of Jack Nicholson's gang in The Departed and one of the deadly assassins in Wanted.

A farcical opening scene set in Boston, which I won't spoil, explains why the American Joe Maguire (Fraser) finds it necessary to depart for a visit to Belfast, where he takes temporary charge of his cousin's antique shop while his cousin is away somewhere. It's a running joke that no one seems to know exactly where. As an outsider, Joe is naturally drawn to the beautiful Sophie (DaCosta), an Ethiopian emigre, who lives and works in the neighborhood, but their conversations are routinely interrupted when Joe catches sight of Jimbo Regan (McCann) lurking about. At the sight of Joe, Jimbo always turns and runs, and Joe always chases after him. The reasons on both sides are mysterious, involving miscues of which neither is fully aware.

Meanwhile, Joe is learning the hard way about all the things his cousin didn't tell him. A group of Irish gypsies, whose speech is only slightly less impenetrable than the patois that Brad Pitt adopted in Snatch, keep trying to sell him a sofa, no matter how many times he says no. A gangster named Douglas "Mad Dog" Flynn (O'Hara) puts a lighter on the counter and asks for his "envelope", but Joe knows nothing about it.

Joe may be the only man in town who doesn't know Mad Dog. A hardened veteran of "the troubles", Mad Dog is a stone cold killer who thinks nothing of taking a blow torch to a man suspended from the ceiling (and that isn't a figure of speech). Among the many people in his debt is Jimbo, from whom Mad Dog demands something even more precious than money (no, I won't say what). In desperate straits, Jimbo decides to rob the local fish market, where, his friend Sox (Conor MacNeill) assures him, they have loads of cash after every Friday. Since both Jimbo and Sox might as well have "bumbler" tattooed across their foreheads, it comes as no surprise when the robbery is botched, but Jimbo does get away with a brown satchel containing something valuable (no, I won't say what).

By a series of misunderstandings and coincidences, Jimbo ends up barricaded in the antique store with Joe and others, but the police, headed by Det. Inspector Weller (Meaney), think that Joe committed the robbery and surround the place. Then the federal SAS appear, because, you know, it's Northern Ireland. The Irish gypsies have joined the crowd pushing at the barricade for reasons too complicated to explain, and Weller's son, Randy (Michael Legge), who is also on the force, has come with them, because his assignment is community liaison.

And Mad Dog? The brown satchel was his. He wants it back. Barring that, he wants it destroyed, and he'll incinerate a city block, every spectator at the barricades and half the police force if that's what it takes. Not all of the armaments stockpiled during "the troubles" were destroyed, even though both sides promised they were. As night falls and Det. Weller attempts to bring the situation to a peaceful conclusion, Mad Dog has other plans.

Stand Off Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Definitive information about Stand Off's shooting format was not available. IMDb claims that the film was captured with a Panasonic Genesis HD camera, but Deluxe London is credited for developing the negative. Regardless of the capture process, post-production was completed on a digital intermediate, and the result, as reflected on the 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray released by Ketchup Entertainment and ARC Entertainment is a clear, detailed and noiseless image, with well-differentiated black levels and good shadow detail.

The color palette chosen by director George and his cinematographer, Des Whelan, should provide a welcome change to the many internet posters currently protesting the trend in mainstream Hollywood films toward contrasting shades of teal and orange. No such bias appears in Stand Off. Earth tones dominate the interiors, notably ochre inside Maguire's shop, an intimidating sickly green for the back room where Mad Dog does his serious business and amber lighting for the inside of his public establishment. The streets of Belfast and the Whole Lotta Sole fish market have the natural colors of an overcast day, until night falls and they look like streets usually do under emergency floodlights. Belfast doesn't look like an American city, and Stand Off doesn't look like an American movie.

At a trim 89 minutes, with no extras other than a trailer, the film has compressed easily onto a BD-25, while maintaining a respectable bitrate just under 27 Mbps.

Stand Off Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Despite the fierce array of armament on display, Stand Off's DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack has little opportunity to display its audio prowess with the sound of weapons fire. When guns do discharge in this comedy of errors, the event is usually brief and unintentional. The latter part of the film does feature an event with a more, shall we say, intense sonic signature (further specifics would be unfair to first-time viewers), and the soundtrack does it full justice. Otherwise, the track does a nice job of distinguishing the various Belfast environments where the film takes place, whether it's the normal street scene outside Maguire's shop, the gypsy encampment by the shore, the "buskers" concert that Joe and Sophie attend, Mad Dog's headquarters, the hubbub of the Whole Lotta Sole market or the increasingly tense police barricades after Jimbo locks himself inside Maguire's. The musical score, which is both jaunty and soulful in a vein that is distinctively Irish, is by Foy Vance.

The film's dialogue is clearly presented, but it's a stew of different accents. Turn on English subtitles as needed.

Stand Off Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Other than a trailer (1080p; 1.85:1; 1:22), no extras are included. At startup, the disc plays trailers for Assassin's Bullet, For Greater Glory, Mafia and Red Dog, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available once the disc loads.

Stand Off Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

George has said of Stand Off: "I did want to show that I could do comedy. That I have a softer side, and I like, I actually prefer, people walking out of the cinema with a laugh and a smile, rather than feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders." Nothing better confirms George's purpose than the quick inserts that play at the start of the end credits, in which the main characters take a kind of "curtain call", and some of them break the fourth wall to wave at the audience. It's the equivalent of a garrulous storyteller climbing down from his bar stool after spinning a wild tale and confessing: "Leastways, that's how I heard it. Maybe it happened differently." Then he's out the door before you can say another word. Terry George brings that winking raconteur's spirit to every moment of Stand Off, right down to the dark secret that Det. Weller's son confesses at the very end, leaving the tough cop speechless. Highly recommended.