5.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Thieves attempt a massive heist against the U.S. Treasury as a Category 5 hurricane approaches one of its Mint facilities.
Starring: Toby Kebbell, Maggie Grace, Ryan Kwanten, Ralph Ineson, Melissa BolonaAction | 100% |
Thriller | 24% |
Heist | 8% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
UV digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
It can be kind of fun at times to imagine so-called “pitch meetings” for various high concept films, and by “high concept” I mean (as I’ve joked repeatedly before) that whoever came up with the idea could conceivably have been very high at the time. Take The Hurricane Heist (“please”, as I’m sure some Borscht Belt lovers may be mouthing), for example: one could easily visualize an excited creative type telling a studio honcho that caper films were all the rage nowadays, but how much “better” things could be if the caper were woven into a storyline that featured elements similar to such putative blockbusters as, say, The Perfect Storm or (perhaps more saliently) Twister . That’s really all there is to The Hurricane Heist, and while there is a lot of sound and fury populating this film, it in fact largely signifies nothing, as the film simply ticks off an expected litany of set pieces while attempting somewhat feebly to make the characters into something more than mere types. Those set pieces begin from the get go (you expected anything else?) with a flashback to the horrors of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 and how they traumatized two little boys named Breeze (not kidding) and Willie Rutledge. The film predictably segues forward to the “current day” when a tropical storm named Tammy is already descending on the Gulf Coast. Will (Toby Kebbell) has grown into a seemingly well adjusted meteorologist who is tooling around in a high tech vehicle that looks like something out of Mad Max: Fury Road in order to place drones to monitor storm activity. Meanwhile two Treasury Agents named Casey Corbyn (Maggie Grace) and Connor Perkins (Ralph Ineson) are stuck in their semi in a huge traffic jam caused by local Sheriff Jimmy Dixon (Ben Cross) insisting on an evacuation order for residents of the area.
The Hurricane Heist is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb lists a variety of Arri Alexa products used to digitally capture the imagery, but neglects to state whether this was finished at a 2K or 4K DI. One way or the other, given the film's almost relentless grading toward grays, slates and cool blues, detail levels are continually impressive throughout this presentation. There are a few nice (relatively) bright pops of color early in the film before the main storm hits, but even here the look seems intentionally desaturated, sometimes to near black and white levels. Once the storm hits, the film is regularly bathed in darkness (or at least dimness), something that might imply diminution of detail levels, but aside from understandable elements like a lack of shadow detail in the darkest moments, I was continually impressed with the amount of fine detail that "peeked" through even despite the overall shrouded ambience. The CGI is rather good, all things considered, though a few isolated hokey effects like the "cloud death skull" that appears in the opening vignette or the "reverse bungee jump" are almost comical. Once several of the main characters are covered with grit and blood from various encounters with either the storm or each other, fine detail on faces really pops impressively in a number of close-ups.
From the very first (pre imagery) rumble of thunder and other storm sounds, The Hurricane Heist regularly engages the Atmos channels of its blistering Dolby Atmos track. The sound mix here is a whirlwind in and of itself, with huge sweeps of sonic data wafting overhead and some of the most forceful LFE I've personally experienced in any action adventure movie. The sheer ubiquity of wind and storm effects keeps immersion at near constant levels, replaced only by the "thrum" of some of the interior scenes where the robbery is supposedly taking place. Dialogue is also very well rendered and smartly directional, but it's the storm sound effects that really set this mix apart and which deliver some of the most exciting sonics I've heard recently.
There's simply no denying that The Hurricane Heist is a big, noisy and pretty darned stupid movie, but it doesn't really pretend to be anything otherwise, at least not very seriously (passing lip service to so-called "character development" on the part of the brothers and Casey notwithstanding). The film itself is probably an unabashed mess, but its technical presentation is really impressive, so those who don't mind big, noisy and pretty darned stupid outings that still manage to exploit the limits of their home theater may want to check this one out. As tangential as it may be, the interview with Cohen really kind of delighted me, and I suspect other film fans may find it similarly engaging.
2018
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