5.6 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 1.5 | |
Overall | 1.5 |
A man's life on his farm is interrupted when a cop and a pair of dangerous criminals show up.
Starring: Chad Michael Murray, Bruce Willis, Swen Temmel, Michael Sirow, Kate KatzmanThriller | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English SDH, Portuguese, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 1.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 1.5 |
Hopefully Lionsgate has a supply of airbrushed photos of Bruce Willis on hand that they can keep recycling on the seemingly endless supply of VOD- esque productions the actor keeps choosing to do for the studio. In that regard, the very title of Survive the Game might be a suitable description of Willis' career strategy, since he seems to have forsaken any attempt at challenging roles in favor of what has been a relentless parade of supporting roles he was probably able to wrap in a day or two, pick up his (probably sizable) paycheck, and retreat to whatever lair he waits in to receive his next marching orders (that's said with tongue planted firmly in cheek, of course). Survive the Game is a tired, unexciting and derivative piece, which makes it pretty much completely in keeping with a litany of previous Lionsgate releases which tend to prominently feature Willis on the cover, but which then tend to only offer him in the relative background of the tale.
Survive the Game is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Unsurprisingly, the IMDb has no technical information on this, and the closing credits offered none of the usual suspect logos in terms of how the imagery was captured. As I tend to do with these bargain basement offerings, I'm assuming the DI was finished at 2K. The palette here is kind of evocatively skewed toward yellows and greens, which gives an almost appropriately tropical feeling to what were evidently Puerto Rico locations. Detail levels can be decently strong a lot of the time, but the presentation suffers from things like shoddy compositing (look at screenshot 9 for just one example), and there are a couple of other odd anomalies like sudden fuzziness that show up from time to time.
Survive the Game features an intermittently boisterous DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. The opening sequence which offers both a shootout and a car chase display some of the film's showiest effects, but the location work which includes a lot of outdoor material is populated with decent ambient environmental sounds. There's the usual glut of source cues that provide a bit of propulsive energy in the mid and lower ranges. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
Kind of hilariously, it was just a bit over a year ago that I was reviewing Survive the Night, another generic release from Lionsgate starring Chad Michael Murray and Bruce Willis. That might lead some to believe this is some kind of sequel, and considering the fact that this offers yet another rote story and Willis in "check pickup" mode (with the side benefit of a little vacation in Puerto Rico), maybe it is. Even technical merits are a little shoddy on this one, for those who may be considering making a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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