The Lair Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

The Lair Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Randy Miller III December 21, 2022

Neil Marshall continues his Descent into mediocrity with The Lair, a cheap knock-off of Alien, Rambo, and even the Resident Evil video game franchise (specifically, parts 4 and 5). That's not bad company to be in, but this low-budget actioner doesn't have the good sense to keep its tone light or even self-aware -- everybody's playing their roles ultra-seriously and, as a result, it's a movie you'll laugh more at than with. Co-writer/star Charlotte Kirk, Marshall's fiancée and also part of his last film, 2020's The Reckoning, plays the main role of Royal Air Force pilot Lt. Kate Sinclair as a store-brand Kate Beckinsale doing her best Ellen Ripley impression, and she might not even be the worst thing about it. That honor goes to its lackluster script and an almost complete lack of originality, as you'll need to suspend a whole lot of disbelief -- and the urge to roll your eyes -- to genuinely enjoy yourself. But hey, there's stuff like this!

The story, such as it is, follows Lt. Sinclair after she and her partner are shot down in Afghanistan by insurgents. He doesn't survive long but her bad-assery is through the roof as she takes out everyone with a combination of skill, luck, and nepotism. Escaping into what appears to be an abandoned Russian bunker, Sinclair happens upon a secret facility with possible human-like remains preserved in glass tanks. Narrowly escaping certain death again at the hands of her pursuers -- as well as one of the re-animated beings, who kinda look like Venom in a cheaper costume -- she's soon back up to the surface but is stopped by insurgent Kabir (Hadi Khanjanpour). They ignore their differences and make way for a nearby military outpost, where Captain Finch (Jamie Bamber) and his band of Suicide Squad-like misfits are reluctant to believe the warning... but soon change their minds after a brutal nighttime raid. Soon enough, everyone's all-in on revenge, with the squad venturing back underground to destroy the alien (?) species for good.

Perhaps I'm being a little hard on The Lair: to the film's modest credit, it maintains a fairly brisk pace and the action is pretty intense at times. I loved Resident Evil 4, dammit, and there were times that The Lair really captured that same sense of unsettling dread mixed with (unintentional) camp. Hell, if you go in with lowered expectations and squint hard enough, you might even consider it time well spent. But there's a strong stink of compromise all over this one, from its cliché-ridden script to the uniformly bad performances. Jamie Bamber is awful as temporary team leader Finch, whose oddly decorative eye patch is somehow less distracting than his completely forced Southern accent -- think Brad Pitt's drawling Italian in Inglourioius Basterds, except not played for laughs. His band of not-so-merry men (and one woman) are either mostly unmemorable or equally distracting in their minor to substantial roles, and I'm honestly surprised one of them wasn't named "Tex". As they gradually get picked off in increasingly bloody ways, one can at least appreciate some of the skilled prosthetics work... but you damn sure won't care about any of the actual characters.

Was I in the wrong mindset to watch The Lair? Probably not. I'm almost too forgiving of low-budget films and totally understand the appeal of "so bad, it's good"... and from that perspective, I've certainly seen worse. There's a palpable sense of urgency to most of this film and, lazy script and mostly boring characters aside, it leaves room for surface-level enjoyment. Yet Neil Marshall's once-strong pedigree means this should have been better, and this sour aftertaste is only amplified by the front-and-center presence of his fiancée on both sides of the camera. Kirk isn't all to blame, of course... but like the other humans who get picked off during The Lair, she's an awfully easy target.

RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray does what it can for support, offering a solid A/V presentation and a lone promotional featurette that doesn't really add much. Even at less than $15, it's a "try before you buy" title.

The Lair Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

This all-digital affair looks fine enough on Blu-ray; it's certainly not a pretty film by design, mostly dominated by underlit corridors and sun-baked exterior shots that, by "military film" law, must be heavily desaturated. Within those boundaries the 1080p transfer looks mostly clean and crisp or at least acceptable in the usual areas of fine detail, textures, and black levels, with some of The Lair's darkest moments unavoidably falling victim to mild crush and and a few stray compression artifacts. But if nothing else, this is a reasonably good-looking DIY film whose practical effects even blend in reasonably well with some of the questionable CGI due to lighting choices and compositions. Under the circumstances, it's a solid effort and this Blu-ray likely eclipses any streaming versions by a decent margin.

The Lair Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The film's DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix is likewise reasonably impressive and falls purely within expected territory for a film more or less packed with chaotic action: dialogue is front-loaded and there's more than enough room in the rear channels for atmospheric touches, whizzing bullets, squishy off- screen kills, explosions, and the sporadic original score. It all has something of a less-than-seamless "cut and paste" feeling during more than a few key moments but, again, considering The Lair's small budget it's a more than acceptable effort that's been cleanly ported to Blu-ray.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are included during the main feature only.

The Lair Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a standard keepcase with Alien-esque cover artwork, a matching slipcover, and no inserts of any kind. Bonus features are unsurprisingly slim, and what's here doesn't add much.

• The Making of The Lair (6:58) - This painfully promotional behind-the-scenes featurette includes candid on-set moments as well as comments from co-writer/director Neil Marshall, co-writer/star Charlotte Kirk, and a few members of the cast and crew. It's played completely straight and doesn't really go into any real detail, and I've rather have seen a dedicated piece on the action staging and squishy gore effects instead.

The Lair Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Neil Marshall's The Lair could have been a reasonably fun return to form for the once-great director, but instead it's just a brain-dead action film with mostly forgettable characters, poor performances, and an ultra-serious tone that doesn't seem to be in on its own joke. At least the shootouts and gore effects are pretty fun and frenetic at times... so if you enjoy "turn off your brain" entertainment, I suppose you could do worse. This still isn't exactly keeper material; even though RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray offers decent A/V merits, newcomers should try before they buy.