Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Toy Soldiers Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 5, 2018

Toy Soldiers is pure fantasy and many a young man's dream: the opportunity to be a hero against the odds, to beat bad guys at their own game, to save the day and the lives of countless friends and acquaintances. Daniel Petrie Jr., who is probably best known for writing the 80s quasi-classic Beverly Hills Cop, directs a script he wrote in conjunction with David Koepp (who has written a number of high-grossing hits like Jurassic Park and Mission: Impossible) and crafts a surprisingly enjoyable and well-rounded picture that is not strictly an Action film. Though externally straightforward and simpleminded, there are carefully layered components that build a story around believable heroes assembled from a scrap heap of rebellious rich kids who have a penchant for skipping class and making trouble but are absolutely the kind of guys anyone would welcome into their proverbial foxholes. The film may lack surprise in its final destination, but the journey is quite the fun ride as the story builds from the inside out, finding the heart and soul of its lead characters before placing them in harm's way.

The Regis School for Boys is home to a number of kids from well-to-do families, but it's also a dumping ground for those with behavioral problems for whom other schools have no patience. Dean Edward Parker (Louis Gossett Jr.) is not easy on his students, but he understands them. That's why his most prolific troublemakers -- Billy (Sean Astin), Joey (Wil Wheaton), Jonathan (Keith Coogan), Ricardo (George Perez), and Hank (T.E. Russell) -- respect him. One day, a group of heavily armed terrorists, led by Luis Cali (Andrew Divoff), assault and take over the school. Their mission is to hold the students hostage and use them as leverage to force the release of Cali's father from prison. Many of the boys come from wealthy families and are the sons of some of the most powerful people in the world. But even if the terrorists hold the guns (and Cali holds a remote detonator on his wrist that, with the push of a button, can destroy the entire school) the students hold the upper hand. They intimately know the lay of the land and slowly, but surely, hatch a plan to get vital information to the military that is being held at bay beyond the school's borders. The plan is risky; the students are counted every hour, on the hour, and should one of them not be present for the count, five will be executed. As time ticks away and the situation grows ever more critical, Billy and his friends have no choice but to undertake high-risk maneuvers to save themselves, their friends, and the school.

Toy Soldiers doesn't adhere to Action formula. The boys revolt and rebel in their own way, without the use of a gun. They don't turn into John McClane, and the one time one of the boys does get his hands on a gun, it doesn't turn out well. They use guile, their intimate knowledge of the lay of the land, and their brash, rebellious nature to outwit the terrorists. It's a welcome turn from the typical shoot-'em-up Action film mentality that pits heroes against armed villains. Billy is the ringleader. He's well versed in subterfuge, skirting the rules, and getting away with it. Rebellion is in his blood, and the film builds him as a hero who can believably get the better of the terrorists by manipulating the world around him to his advantage. Roadblocks, of course, stand in his way, and the film builds much of its tension through a sequence when Billy makes a carefully planned mad dash to deliver important materials to the military, only to be held up by regulation and suspicion, putting his friends' lives on the line back at the school. His escape comes thanks to, or is at least aided by, the unspoken respect he and Dean Parker have for one another, a relationship that is carefully and believably built in the film's first act when they are at odds over Billy's rule breaking and Parker's insistence on keeping him at the school rather than kicking him out, recognizing his leadership qualities and the value of his unruly nature not so much to the school, but to himself.

Even with a lack of constant action, the film works through its incessant build of and maneuvering through tension amongst the boys and the dangers they face should anything of their planning go awry. The film manages to engage the audience in a middle stretch that is all about planning, about putting together an operation, constructing a means of undercutting the terrorists at their strongest point, which may also be their most vulnerable. Highlight moments include a scene when a student is missing from count and five are selected for execution and, later, when Billy attempts to make a critical switch-a-roo that could save the entire school from disaster. The film's flow is interrupted by a couple of side moments that don't really go anywhere, such as when parents meet to discuss the takeover and wind up divided along class lines or when the New Jersey mafia becomes intimately involved in the story, which is necessary to execute a critical moment in the film but regrettably never goes anywhere afterward.

Toy Soldiers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Toy Soldiers looks very good on Blu-ray. With precious few exceptions, Sony has been on a roll with its new line of pressed MOD (Manufactured on Demand) discs. The presentation is filmic, maintaining a healthy grain structure that some may find slightly dense, particularly in lower light, but brighter exteriors are generally gorgeously firm and grain appears finely complimentary. Details are fairly sharp and clear, with Regis exteriors coming alive with wonderful definition apparent on the school's handsome brick buildings and the vegetation that grows around campus. Warm wood doors in the dorms, odds and ends in densely decorated rooms, and core character clothing and facial features are also highlights, particularly in close-up but also stable in large-scale shots, such as overviews within the dining hall or the school's quad area. Colors are fairly good, with a beautiful, deep red on a helicopter contrasting very nicely against a bright blue sky in the film's opening sequence in Colombia. The pastels in the parade of 90s fashions are spirited and diverse. Natural greens are stable. Contrast could stand to be increased a bit on the whole, but colors fair rather well in total. Black levels are appropriately deep and flesh tones are fine. No significant encode artifacts are visible, and only the very occasional print flaws are apparent. Fans waiting a long time for this Blu-ray (including this reviewer) will not be disappointed.

Toy Soldiers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Toy Soldiers offers only a two-channel DTS-HD Master Audio lossless soundtrack. The lack of additional channels -- surround and subwoofer -- leave the film wanting for a little more fullness and fulfillment from the film's music and action scenes. The track is certainly capable as configured, with music a highlight that plays with good, wide spacing and perfectly good instrumental clarity. Gunfire lacks absolute depth but is more than serviceable, particularly the heavy belt-fed machine gun that blasts away at a police car in the early minutes of the takeover. The subsequent explosion is likewise missing depth but not effort. The track dabbles in a few effects beyond gunfire, such as a buzzing remote controlled drone the boys use as a distraction. The sound maneuvers through the front soundstage area with an effortless smoothness and commendable clarity. There are several other good one-off sounds like a beeping smoke detector midway through the film (yet another distraction) or rowdy prison din in chapter nine. Dialogue is clear, well prioritized, and images naturally to the center, so effectively it's a surprise that there is no dedicated center channel handling it.

Toy Soldiers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Toy Soldiers contains only the film's theatrical trailer (1080p, 1:55). No DVD or digital copies are included. The release does not ship with a slipcover.

Toy Soldiers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Toy Soldiers is one of the more unsung Action films from the 1990s and an example of how the genre can work without an incessant barrage of bullets its defining attribute. It's fun, fairly smart, and surprisingly well made. It's pure fantasy yet grounded in a bit more realism than most. It's also one of this reviewer's all-time favorite guilty pleasures. Sony's Blu-ray release of Toy Soldiers disappointingly lacks substantive supplemental content, but the 1080p video is very good and the two-channel lossless audio satisfies. Highly recommended.