The Lightship Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

The Lightship Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 27, 2026

Jerzy Skolimowski's "The Lightship" (1985) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint Films. The only bonus feature on the release is a new audio commentary by critic Michael Brooke. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

The moving target

The Lightship requires a serious reworking to become the multi-layered, thought-provoking film it was undoubtedly meant to be. As shot, at best, it is an arty European action film that lacks a proper grasp of what makes action films exciting. It comes from the 1980s, too, when the bar for exciting action films was set pretty high.

Somewhere off the coast of Virginia, Captain Miller (Klaus Maria Brandauer) welcomes his teenage son Alex (Michal Skolimoski) aboard the U.S. Coast Guard ship LV-82. However, before the two can properly reconnect, a crew member spots a boat with three men, and Miller quickly greenlights a rescue operation. Half an hour later, the three men are successfully transferred to the ship.

After initially showing gratitude, the men from the boat, all three criminals on the run, become hostile and then take over the ship. The eldest, Calvin Caspary (Robert Duvall), carefully manages the other two, Gene (William Forsythe) and Eddie (Arliss Howard), ensuring that they do not unnecessarily complicate his so far perfect plan to stay as far away from the police as possible. However, after misinterpreting his father’s strategic passivity as cowardice, Miller’s son successfully steals a gun, creating ripple effects that force the criminals to reconsider their treatment of the ship’s crew. As tensions rise, Miller and Caspary discover that, despite coming from completely different places and heading in opposite directions, the two share similar philosophies of life.

Directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, The Lightship is a loose remake of Ladislao Vajda’s earlier film Crime on the High Seas a.k.a. Das Feuerschiff, which is practically unknown on this side of the Atlantic. Both films credit Siegfried Lenz’s novel “The Lightship” as an inspiration, but despite using a virtually identical hostage situation as the catalyst for their drama, their messaging, which is supposed to make them intriguing, is not equally effective.

At the center of both films is the popular axiom that evil flourishes when good men remain passive, and all of their drama and action are carefully managed to support its legitimacy. (A variation of this axiom is often credited to the famous English conservative political philosopher Edmund Burke). However, in Skolimowski’s film, the overlapping of the drama and action creates a rather strikingly superficial environment in which similarly superficial characters engage in a melodramatic theater, none of which belongs in a serious film. The most intense of this melodramatic theater, all of it in the final act, also becomes oddly surreal, creating the false impression that Skolimowski may have attempted to impress with an unconventional brand of European satire.

Despite the solid cast, the acting is very disappointing. Duvall struggles with a hilariously bad Southern accent and goofy manners that destroy the integrity of his supposedly seasoned criminal. Forsythe gives a bizarre performance that makes him look like a dummy who may have accidentally figured out a way out of a mental institution. Brandauer looks and sounds like a German impostor, not a veteran American captain. Howard is playing a character who can look right only in an early Roger Corman film.

The Lightship Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Lightship arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint Films.

While mostly pleasing, the visuals have a dated appearance of the kind that old masters produce. In many darker areas, for instance, fine nuances are weak, causing softness that impacts clarity and depth. Typically, delineation is good, but the larger your screen is, the easier it will be for you to identify areas where meaningful improvements will be easy to introduce. The best news is that there are no traces of any problematic digital corrections. So, despite various small fluctuations, all visuals have either a decent or good organic appearance. Color reproduction and balance are good. However, this is another area where meaningful improvements will be easy to introduce, as some supporting nuances are rather limited. Image stability is good. I noticed a few blemishes and nicks, but there are no distracting large debris, cuts, warped or torn frames to report. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).

The Lightship Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English LPCM 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

I viewed the entire film with the LPCM 2.0 track. I was very surprised how solid it is. Clarity, sharpness, and depth are never affected by any noticeable age-related imperfections. Even during the few shootouts, dynamic intensity is modest, but it is how the original soundtrack was finalized. Is there any room for meaningful improvements? In a few areas with outdoor footage, perhaps some enhancements can be introduced to make the audio slightly fuller, but the rest already sounds great.

The Lightship Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - this new audio commentary was recorded by critic Michael Brooke.

The Lightship Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

An unexpected twist in the final act, revealing that perhaps the entire hostage situation was an unprofessionally staged play to test Captain Miller, would have effectively excused a lot of the otherwise perplexingly ridiculous material that The Lightship produces. As shot to impress, The Lightship is an amusing misfire, one that could be a great companion of Caravan to Vaccares, a similarly odd cinematic adaptation of a popular Alistair MacLean novel. Imprint Films' release is sourced from an older but mostly decent organic master.