6.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
A detective recruits his Uber driver into an unexpected night of adventure.
Starring: Dave Bautista, Kumail Nanjiani, Mira Sorvino, Natalie Morales, Iko UwaisComedy | 100% |
Action | 95% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 kbps)
English SDH, French SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Maybe some of you have what might be called your own “Uber adventures”, since with many of these ride sharing or “taxi” like apps, you can sometimes not know what you’re getting into (in more ways than one) until it’s too late. My wife and I just returned from an excursion in Europe, and we were kind of surprised to discover in at least a couple of cities that there is actually either very little or in some cases no longer any kind of municipal cab service, and that Uber is in fact the only way to figuratively “hitch a ride”. (Lyft doesn’t seem to have made much if any of an impact in Europe, from what I could see, anyway.) Stuber takes place within the confines of the United States, and in fact within the confines (such as they are) of Los Angeles, but one of the kind of cheeky subtexts of the film is that its the driver, not the passenger, who's in for a bit of a surprise in terms of the so-called ride sharing. This is a putative "high concept" film that will still strike many viewers as essentially derivative, revisiting such well remembered efforts as Midnight Run or maybe even in a way something like Planes, Trains & Automobiles, in terms of two mismatched people forced to take a road trip with each other. Stuber coasts quite a considerable way on the combined charisma of headliners Kumail Nanjiani and Dave Bautista, and the supporting cast has some enjoyable turns, too, but the film never really develops into the comedy juggernaut that some might be expecting, given the talents involved.
Stuber is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists Arri Alexas Minis as having been used for the shoot, but IMDb doesn't list the resolution of the DI, which I'm assuming was finished at 2K (if anyone knows differently and can point me to authoritative data in that regard, as always, let me know via Private Message and I'll post an update to this review). This is an appealingly sharp and well detailed looking presentation almost all of the time, despite some expectedly smoggy vistas of Los Angeles and a few interior scenes where lighting regimens aren't especially strong. While the palette looks natural for the most part, there's a weird kind of yellowish tint that I noticed on occasion. That said, the palette here really isn't meant to "pop" in any significant way, and as such vivid hues can tend to be isolated to occasional elements like pieces of clothing various characters wear. There are a couple of late scenes that play out in darkness and bad weather, and those have minor deficits in shadow detail, notably toward the edges of the frame. As is usually the case with Fox Blu- rays, I noticed no issues with regard to compression anomalies.
Stuber features an enjoyable DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix that gets things off to a blistering start with a big fight (and later shootout) sequence involving Vic and his partner, who are trying to bring Tedjo to justice. The driving environment provides a glut of well placed ambient environmental sounds (though in one of the film's better done bits, Stu drives an electric car, which of course makes no sound itself, something played for laughs a couple of times). There are some pretty boisterous set pieces in this film, including a huge maelstrom at the vet clinic, and LFE can be quite forceful at times. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout this problem free track.
I actually had a couple of friends share with me how much they enjoyed Stuber when they saw it during its theatrical exhibition, and it's easy to see why, really, since the story is familiar but tweaked just enough to keep it interesting. But I simply found a lot of the comedy decidedly in the meh category, and the film's sudden departures into more graphically violent territory just didn't mesh all that well with whatever comedy was being aimed for. Nanjiani and Bautista make for an amiable enough duo to spend time with, and fans of these performers or of other members of the supporting cast will probably find this an agreeable enough time killer. Technical merits are solid for those considering a purchase.
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