Stuck Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Stuck Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Sir Terrence December 7, 2008

Stuck is a grim, sad, gory, violent and emotionally packed thriller, which makes you squirm in your chair, grimace at the gore, and nervously laugh to release some tension. It is not an easy movie to watch, and I wanted to turn away so many times, but the movie is so compelling that it keeps you from taking your eyes off of the screen. I cannot even begin to describe how masterful Stephen Rea (Tom) is at conveying the disparity of his situation, as this poor man couldn’t get a break from anyone, including Brandi. His determination to get out of the windshield and garage was so palpable it gave me goose bumps. On the other side of the coin Mena Suvari (Brandi) was equally masterful in conveying the confusion, hopelessness and determination not to let Tom out of the garage so he can ruin her life. The whole battle slowly built up this uncomfortable tension, which after a while just drove me nuts. However, it kept drawing me in, no matter how gory and gross it got. Both characters were in a desperate situation, but each reacted so differently that it gave another layering of interest that keeps you captivated. Stuart Gordon has done a great job of balancing both characters situation. He keeps both extremely relevant, and not focusing directly too much on one character thereby lessening the other. This is good stuff, and so involving you will not be able to pull yourself away.

Based loosely on an actual event in which Chante Mallard, a woman in Ft. Worth Texas, believed to be driving while drunk hit Gregory Biggs, a homeless man who became lodged in her windshield. She drove home, locked the car in the garage, and allowed Briggs to die. She was convicted of murder and evidence tampering, and sentenced to fifty years in prison. Now the movie does not quite end this way, but I would say it was far better than the real life ending.

After partying and taking drugs and a night club one night, Brandi (Mena Suvari) makes her drive home. She is not paying much attention to what she is doing; she is talking on her cell, and basically in a drug fog. As she turns her head and not paying attention to a pedestrian named Tom, she plows right into him, and he becomes lodged in her windshield, with a wiper lodged in his abdomen. Brandi becomes completely freaked out at what is happening, and blames Tom for walking out in front of her moving car. However Brandi continues to drive home and parks her car in the garage as if nothing even happened.

Now things are really going south as she realizes that she has almost killed a man, and that was going to complicate things at work. She is up for a promotion because she has been doing great work, and now that promotion is in danger, as well as her entire future. As a result of the incident she is tardy and absent a lot, which pretty much kills her chances for the promotion. Tom tries to escape, but is rebuffed by Brandi, not wanting this to get out in public. The complicated interaction between Tom’s determination to escape, and Brandi’s desperation to keep him from doing so, makes for an interesting if not morbid interplay between them.

Stuck Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Stuck crashes into the Bluray format with a solid, if not unremarkable 1080p/AVC encode framed at a 1:78:1(1:85:1 theatrically) aspect ratio that is pretty visually consistent throughout the entire film. The source appears very clean, with no film related issues whatsoever. Detail and small detail is visually excellent, with natural colors that are not oversaturated, but have a slightly washed out look. This movie should be watched in a dark room, as it is very dark throughout most of the film. Black levels are inky and consistent; contrast is spot on, with just a few issues of slightly blown levels. There is a fair sense of depth into the background, and quite frankly I have not seen this much blood look so clean. Grain and noise are kept under control at all times. Shadow detail is quite good, and I only saw a few cases of edge enhancement, but quite frankly I searched for it, it did not jump out at me. This is nothing here visually that will impress, it just a solid transfer with few or no faults.

Stuck Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio flavors on Stuck, an English 5.1 Dts-HD Master Audio lossless track, and a lossy Dolby Digital encoded at a 640kbps data rate. Stuck is not big on surround usage, but there are a few scenes that use the sound field palette pretty effectively. The nightclub scene had very active surrounds with music, and walla in all of the channels along with dialog firmly in the center channel. Much like the video, there is nothing that will wow you in this soundtrack. It is all about the characters, the situation, and the interaction, so dialog is always clear and clean. This soundtrack has the potential for so much more, but too much would have taken away from the story and characters, which is undesirable. The audio much like the video is solid if not unremarkable.

Stuck Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There is quite a bit of extra material here that actually does provide useful information regarding the film's genesis, to its end.

Commentary featuring Stuart Gordon, John Strysik, and Men Suvari

Featurette: Ripped from the Headlines (17 minutes) delves deeper into the "real life" story of the actual event which took place in Ft. Worth Texas.

Featurette: The Gory Details (9 Minutes) goes into the makeup and special effects that were involved in Stephen Rea transformation over the course of the movie

Featurette: Driving Forces (8 minutes) features interviews with Gordon and Strysik, as they share their views on the story, and the production.

Interviews and Footage from the AFI Dallas International Film Festival (24 minutes)

All extras are presented in standard definition 480p video.

Stuck Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Stuck is not going to show your 720p or 1080p panel off with dazzling images, and your subwoofer will not shimmy around on the floor with its soundtrack. However you are treated with 85 minutes of emotionally suspenseful action that is sure to keep your attention. This is not for the faint at heart as it is pretty gory, and I would recommend sending the little tots to bed before viewing this film unless you make immediate appointments to see Dr. Phil. This movie is highly recommended, but I suggest you rent it first. It may not be worthy of additional viewings for some folks, but for me, I am going to watch it again.