Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

The Standoff at Sparrow Creek Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Randy Miller III February 21, 2019

Although he dreamed of becoming a writer/director since the third grade, Henry Dunham began as the former a few years ago. It wasn't a tough decision to make after winning the 2015 Script Pipeline Screenwriting Competition for his screenplay Militia, later renamed The Incident at Sparrow Creek Lumber and finally, The Standoff at Sparrow Creek. Dunham's script was completed in about 18 months with countless drafts along the way but, as he admitted in a 2018 interview, "the spine of the story always stayed the same". As luck would have it, Dunham would eventually direct The Standoff at Sparrow Creek as his feature film debut, with all that endless script refinement on display from start to finish. The end product is a lean and mean production that was obviously treated with a lot of care and, though still rough around the edges in a few ways, it's a respectable effort for someone so new to the business.

Featuring an ensemble cast of newer faces and familiar ones known for supporting roles, The Standoff at Sparrow Creek divides most of its screen time fairly evenly among its seven key characters. And there's no reason it shouldn't: like The Usual Suspects, Reservoir Dogs, The Thing, and a handful of other close-knit, character-driven thrillers, suspense is generated by one rotten apple who has yet to reveal himself. These seven men -- Gannon (James Badge Dale), Keating (Robert Aramayo), Morris (Happy Anderson), Ford (Chris Mulkey), Noah (Brian Geraghty), Hubbel (Gene Jones), and Beckmann (Patrick Fischler) -- are militia members convened in their lumber warehouse headquarters after an unknown gunman opens fire at a local policeman's funeral. Soon enough, it's all but confirmed that the shooter is one of them when an AR-15, grenades, and body armor are missing from storage. No one steps forward.

That initial revelation is one of The Standoff at Sparrow Creek's best moments, but the characters are what keep things interesting. The de facto leading man, James Badge Dale's Gannon, is a former police officer who seems to be one of the militia's newest members and thus a perfect "way in" for early plot exposition. His experience also makes him the best interrogator for several primary suspects within the group, including the burly and confrontational Morris (Happy Anderson) and quiet but extremely intelligent Keating (Robert Aramayo). Others, like Beckmann (Patrick Fischler), assume a more solitary role: he monitors police scanners and communicates with other militias, some of which clue him in to the possibility of a much more widespread anti-police movement. As the tension mounts and several admissions of guilt -- whether true or not -- are revealed in succession, The Standoff at Sparrow Creek maintains a solid level of suspense and intrigue. Although essentially a dialogue-driven series of interrogations, exposition, and red herrings with a violent climax, the whole often adds up to more than the sum of its parts.

The film's other secret weapon -- or potential downfall, depending on your perspective -- is the literal pitch-black cinematography by Jackson Hunt, who's known more for directing music videos and likewise makes his feature film debut here. Although covered in more detail below (in the "Video" section, naturally), let's just say that The Standoff at Sparrow Creek is an ambitiously dark picture that helps maintain its foreboding, suspenseful atmosphere but often sacrifices accessibility in the process. To put it mildly, new viewers might have trouble keeping things straight: even with only seven primary characters, it's often a little tough to follow because of the extremely low lighting. Other elements threaten to derail the film as well, including a handful of cliched character types -- borderline-mute genius Keating being the most obvious -- and the film's ending, which feels like a bit of a *ahem* cop-out. Even so, those attracted to slow-burning thrillers could certainly do a lot worse and, if nothing else, The Standoff at Sparrow Creek is at least good enough to make Dunham a writer/director to keep your eye on.

This film debuted last September at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, which makes RLJ Entertainment's new Blu-ray package a pretty quick turnaround release. It features a decent A/V presentation -- considering the tricky source material, at least -- and only the bare minimum of bonus features, but is currently on pre-order for just over the price of a movie ticket or medium popcorn. Still perhaps not the most rock-solid blind buy in recent memory, but those intrigued by its theatrical trailer should at least consider checking this one out in the near future.

The Standoff at Sparrow Creek Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Every once in a while, a Blu-ray comes along that makes you second-guess your TV calibration, and The Standoff at Sparrow Creek is one of them. This 1080p transfer is framed at the approximate original aspect ratio of 2.40:1, and boy is it dark. Quite possibly, this is one of the darkest-looking films I've ever seen. With the exception of at least one scene lit from above by a sea of fluorescent lights (seen above), almost every other moment in The Standoff at Sparrow Creek is bathed in darkness with maybe one or two emergency lights in the background. Main and supporting characters are, for the most part, lit from behind with obscured facial features and other details. At times, this makes it a little tough to keep track of overlapping conversations or even make sense of certain character relationships, especially during the first 30 minutes or so when we're just digging in to the main story as it gradually unfolds.

RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray doesn't appear to suffer from any obvious defects, meaning that any visual shortcomings are likely baked in to the original source material. Shadow detail is extremely limited at times, with many large portions of the picture awash in a flat sea of black or dark gray. Well-lit areas look just fine with strong amounts of texture and accurate skin tones (which obviously veer towards the warm side, due to the style of lights used), while mild amounts of digital noise and only a few moments of obvious crush could be spotted along the way. Simply put, this is a solid presentation of uniquely difficult visual elements -- and some that may be frustrating to new viewers -- but, in its own way, all that endless black suits the story well enough. For anyone who's seen the film's terrific theatrical trailer (not included on this Blu-ray, sadly), it offers a fairly accurate representation of what to expect.

About the screen captures: For aesthetic reasons, I attempted to grab images that showed the most detail, but it's also important to know that they don't necessarily represent what this film looks like as a whole. The first fifteen captures are about as "pretty" as The Standoff at Sparrow Creek gets, while the last five images show things at their darkest. These two groups are separated by a still from the Blu-ray's main menu.

The Standoff at Sparrow Creek Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Not surprisingly, The Standoff at Sparrow Creek's audio presentation is a lot more straightforward. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix goes a long way towards establishing a great deal of tension and atmosphere "on the cheap", from the early and foreboding sounds of distant gunfire to the echoing corridors and smaller cramped rooms of the warehouse in which 95% of this film takes place. Dialogue usually occupies the center channel but occasionally spills out into the left/right and rear depending on character placement, which can help with keeping track of who's talking due to the film's uncompromising, dark visuals. Low frequency effects are used sparingly but at opportune moments, often providing an extra layer of tension during key sequences that only add to the film's overall ability to do a lot with a little. Still, this is very much a quiet film for the most part...so don't expect an "annoy your neighbors" demo disc, just a subtly effective one. Overall, it's a well above-average presentation for a film of this type and pedigree, as The Standoff at Sparrow Creek sounds deceptively like a film with five times its production budget.

Optional English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles are including during the main feature only. They're smaller than most but still perfectly legible, and placed just within the 2.40:1 frame.

The Standoff at Sparrow Creek Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of The Standoff at Sparrow Creek (10:45, 1080p) - This short featurette includes comments from writer/director Henry Dunham and actors James Badge Dale ("Gannon"), Robert Aramayo ("Keating"), Happy Anderson ("Morris"), Chris Mulkey ("Ford"), Brian Geraghty ("Noah"), Gene Jones ("Hubbel"), and Patrick Fischler ("Beckmann"). It's a pretty standard piece with topics of discussion that include character overviews and working with the first-time director, as well a few glimpses of set construction and several clips from the film.

Note: The press release for this title also advertised a photo gallery, but that extra was nowhere to be found.

The Standoff at Sparrow Creek Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Henry Dunham's The Standoff at Sparrow Creek is a respectable debut for the young writer/director, and it makes the most of a limited location and budget by maximizing suspense and atmosphere in clever ways. While it probably would have been easier to follow if a few more lights were turned on, the extremely dim interiors are captivating in their own right and, like the sparse but effective sound design, force first-time viewers to pay full attention to what's going on. RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray offers a strong A/V presentation with the bare minimum of extras, and this is one case where a cast/crew audio commentary would have added a lot of value. For these reasons, The Standoff at Sparrow Creek is will worth a once-over but I'm not sure if the limited replay value warrants a blind buy.