6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Four heavily armed hitmen and two unusual teenagers go to war over $500,000 of stolen cash.
Starring: Ray Wise, Dana Ashbrook, Derek Mears, Ryan Hartwig, Fabianne ThereseThriller | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.41:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Loud and messy.
If The Aggression Scale had taken the advice from Die Hard -- "next time you have the chance to kill someone, don't
hesitate" -- there wouldn't be much of a movie. The bad guys would win, or those first few times the good guys got a jump on them, they would be
quick to pull the trigger and win.
End of story, end of movie. But The Aggression Scale doubles down and, because of a few hesitations, presents audiences with an incredibly
tense, fast-paced, and
excessively violent look at the Home Invasion genre presented with a twist. The aggressors must face off not against a house full of everyday
innocents -- yet even here they are on the surface a newly-minted makeshift family -- who must find their inner animals to survive, but against a
teenage boy whose
natural aggression instincts are off the charts. He knows
survival, tactics, first aid, and how to craft improvised weapons and use his environment to his advantage. Anywhere else he'd be labeled a "nut
case,"
but put him in the right situation -- this situation -- and suddenly the quiet, anger-packed, unrelenting mental case becomes a hero. Four
bad
guys with shotguns and handguns? Blood everywhere? An impossible situation? For him, it's just the next challenge along his rough and
violence-riddled life path.
Aggressive.
The Aggression Scale sparkles on Blu-ray. The digital photography looks a hair glossy and a touch flat, but that's the source's nature. It generally excels, though, and the medium's limitations are all but erased once audiences get an idea of the level of detailing and color balance available throughout Anchor Bay's latest transfer. This image is incredibly crisp and very well defined. It's perfectly sharp and detailed from front to back, whether up-close elements or background trees that remain clear and crisp right down to the individual leaf. Those close-ups, however, are the highlight. Complex facial textures, perfectly-defined clothes, amazingly realistic accents inside and out of the house will satisfy even the most demanding videophile. Colors are many, bright, and true. Green grasses, the bright yellow moving truck, blood red, and any number of aggressive shades appear accurate and balanced from start to finish. Black levels are flawless, and flesh tones natural. A trace of aliasing and a hint of banding might be caught by eagle-eyed viewers, but for the most part The Aggression Scale lingers somewhere up near 100.
The Aggression Scale debuts on Blu-ray with a high quality Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack. The negatives are relatively few. Bass tends to fall apart and rattle at the very bottom and gunfire lacks a truly authoritative punch, but otherwise this one satisfies in every other area. Music plays sharply and with fine energy and good spacing. Clarity might be just short of perfection, but the presentation should satisfy. Ambience is impressive no matter the sort; whether the rattly interior of a loaded-down moving van driving on back country roads or light exterior atmospherics around the house, the track nicely immerses listeners into the film's few environments. A few intense directional effects create a wider sense of space. Those gunshots aren't puny, but they lack a heavier, more realistic thud, whether indoors or out. Dialogue is smooth, even, and played crisply through the center channel. Altogether, this is a solid, well-built track that serves the movie well.
All that's included is The Making of 'The Aggression Scale' (480p, 14:49), a featurette that looks at the film's plot, style, characterization, the qualities cast and crew brought to the film, the process of shooting various scenes, and more. The piece is comprised of raw on-set footage, interview snippets, and clips from the film.
The Aggression Scale is a surprisingly robust, well-made, and highly entertaining violent take on Home Alone. It reshapes the Home Invasion picture and creates a remarkably unique lead character, a crazed and frightening and quiet teenage boy who shows no mercy and displays incredible skill on the field of battle. The movie's pacing is incredible. There's never a dull moment, the action is off-the-charts gruesome, and the performances are excellent. Director Steven C. Miller's picture is one of the surprises of the year. It's taught, enthralling, and relentless. This is one of the top Action films of 2012. Anchor Bay's Blu-ray release of The Aggression Scale is disappointingly short on extras, but the picture and sound qualities are great. Highly recommend.
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