The Bricklayer Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.5

The Bricklayer Blu-ray Movie Review

Shadow of mortar.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III June 2, 2024

Based on the 2010 novel by Paul Lindsay, Renny Harlin's The Bricklayer is another entry in the "indestructible middle-aged action hero" genre and, due to its blue-collar double meaning, will unavoidably be compared to this year's The Beekeeper. Both focus on men who have retired to a life of general solitude before outside forces prod them back into action, and both are driven more by kinetic action than any kind of a sensible story. And though it might piss off die-hard Jason Statham fans, this film actually feels like the better of the two... but not by a very wide margin.

Our man of action is Steve Vail (Aaron Eckhart), an ex-government agent who now makes his living as a bricklayer with a lifelong passion for jazz music. His "old friends", namely CIA director O'Malley (Tim Blake Nelson, uncharacteristically sleepwalking through the role), call Steve back into the field after three American journalists are murdered within mere weeks of each other. Due to the journalists' shared status as being critical of U.S. intelligence, the agency is potentially being framed for their deaths so the situation must be handled with extreme care. Experienced field agent Kate Bannon (Nina Dobrev) discovers the man responsible may be former asset Victor Radek (Clifton Collins Jr.), Steve's old handler and friend, and as such he's somewhat reluctantly paired with Kate after initially declining their offer.

What follows is a lukewarm paint-by-numbers thriller plot that follows two reluctant partners attempting to unravel a tense international incident; one that includes sweet high-tech support from Steve's old pal Patricio (Oliver Trevena), a wildcard in like-minded CIA contact and former lover Tye Delson (Ilfenesh Hadera), and the usual turbulence that might occur when a take-no-prisoners former operative is paired with someone who's initially a slave to rules and regulations. As the end of the day, this is far from bulletproof entertainment: The Bricklayer has that faint odor of a direct-to-video feature (although it arguably doesn't look quite as cheap as The Beekeeper despite having only half the budget), the performances are largely mixed, and there's even a goddamn typo on a sensitive government document that's shown several times. What kinda-sorta keeps The Bricklayer just above water are its hard-hitting action scenes and a bit of welcome international appeal, as much of it takes place (and was filmed) in Thessaloniki, Greece, with decent location footage and other layers of visual interest adding a little spice. As a whole it's still not worth a hearty recommendation, but anyone looking for relatively uncomplicated action fare will find at least some enjoyment value here.

For an even less enthusiastic take on The Bricklayer, please see Brian Orndorf's theatrical review.

A quick Internet search tells me at least two Steve Vail novels exist... but given The Bricklayer's terribly low box office performance, we won't be getting a sequel. And I certainly wouldn't call this a comeback film for director Renny Harlin, but the action scenes are mostly well done and this isn't surprising given a resume that includes Die Hard 2 (the second worst in the franchise, in my opinion), Cliffhanger, Deep Blue Sea, and the underrated The Long Kiss Goodnight. In the meantime, though, it'll have to prove its worth on home video with this Blu-ray edition from Vertical Entertainment, which serves up a solid A/V presentation but otherwise doesn't add much support for the main feature.

The Bricklayer Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Vertical Entertainment's 1080p transfer of The Bricklayer reaches modest and even occasionally impressive heights, allowing viewers to soak in the film's decent Grecian location footage and colorfully dynamic cross-lighting. It's a solid-looking film that plays well enough on small to mid-sized displays where fine detail, textures, and overall polish are all at or above average levels for a decently-budgeted studio production. And while the modest single-layered (25GB) disc should provide enough real estate for 110 minutes of total content, I nonetheless was able to spot several minor but noticeable instances of banding, black crush, and posterization, most of which occurred in the darkest scenes or those featuring subtle gradients. Still, within format expectations these shortcomings aren't too glaring, and on most modest setups you probably won't even notice anything that you're not actively looking for. For that reason, The Bricklayer at least earns passing marks, but I'd have loved to see it on 4K UHD without having to import a copy for $50.

The Bricklayer Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Not surprisingly, its sporadic heavyweight action sequences give The Bricklayer the majority of its sonic power, with occasionally thunderous punches and gunshots adding a great deal of heft to what's otherwise an unwavering kind of mid-tempo atmosphere. (And yes, as a whole these sweetened effects clearly border on "overcooked", but for some reason they didn't stick out for the wrong reasons here.) Other stylistic touches, such as a thunderous bit of low end near the 81-minute mark, likewise make their presence known while playing nicely with the expectedly clear dialogue, well-mixed front channel effects, and the original score by Walter Mair. All told, The Bricklayer serves up an almost consistently active atmosphere with a few clever touches along the way, and in certain respects its sound design can and does add to overall enjoyment levels. A fine mix that could have only been improved with Atmos support.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included, as well as a downmixed lossless 2.0 track.

The Bricklayer Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with poster-themed cover artwork and no inserts of any kind. Somewhat shockingly, absolutely no bonus features are on board either... not even a trailer.

The Bricklayer Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Renny Harlin has only made two profitable films since 2006's god-awful The Covenant (the most recent was 2016's Skiptrace), and The Bricklayer is another one in the "lose" column. It has a few bright spots and Aaron Eckhart at least pulls his own weight in the lead role... so this one's not a total loss, but there's clearly something missing here. Vertical Entertainment's Blu-ray at least offers decent video merits and great audio, but the unfortunate lack of bonus features (combined with the main feature's weakness, of course) makes this more of a curiosity at the very most.