Trancers Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		2.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Trancers Blu-ray Movie Review

Cool.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 25, 2014

Full Moon has this low budget thing figured out. Trancers is practically a best-case scenario result for an Action/Science Fiction film of a budget that reportedly came in around $400,000, according to its IMDB page. Director and Full Moon founder Charles Band gets a ton of mileage out of a complex plot made relatively simple thanks to good writing and solid acting, supported by basic actions and special effects that get the job done without breaking the bank. It represents the quintessential smaller scale 1980s Sci-Fi picture, emphasizing mood and characterization while balancing the story out through action that's admittedly a little slow (literally and figuratively) but that nevertheless carries the film when core exposition, inter-character dynamics, and general housekeeping alone can't push the plot forward. Audiences looking for a mammoth Michael Bay movie, or even something on the scale of the original Terminator -- with which this film shares a core idea -- might be disappointed, but viewers who can appreciate a movie that does all the little things right, even when it could have taken the easy way out, should fall in love with Trancers and, frankly, a whole lot more in the Band/Full Moon canon.

Deth at work.

Future cop Jack Deth (Tim Thomerson) believes he's finally finished with the man responsible for murdering his wife, Whistler (Michael Stefani), a man with a remarkable power to turn any weak-minded individual into a "trancer," a zombie-like creature with an appetite for blood at Whistler's behest. After a late-night run-in with a trancer at a diner, Jack turns in his badge and turns to his favorite hobby, looting the long-submerged city of Los Angeles. However, he's summoned to meet with the High Council of the Western Territories where he learns a dangerous truth: Whistler has travelled back in time to kill the ancestors of all the remaining Council members. Jack is sent back by way of a serum that allows him the opportunity to inhabit the body of one of his ancestors, in this case "Phil," an L.A.-based journalist who's dating a young lady named Leena (Helen Hunt). It's not long before Jack, in Phil's body, finds himself in the thick of things, protecting Leena and battling trancers controlled by Whistler's ancestor, a "Detective Weisling," all the while searching for the ancestor of the last surviving Council member, a has-been ex-baseball player named Hap Ashby (Biff Manard).

Trancers certainly finds answers to some of its questions -- plot details, character construction, location appearance, story devices -- from other sources, yet the film manages to, mostly, maintain an aura of originality even as hints of The Terminator, Blade Runner, almost any noir Detective film from decades past, and even James Bond enter into the fray. Where Trancers works on its own merits is what it does with all of the assembled pieces, fully original and clearly borrowed alike. A dark, brooding, noir-inspired future setting; a small and not particularly vibrant or detailed but convincing modern day battleground; and believably real characters are the dynamics that make the film what it is. Yet it's perhaps the creative, original details that really set it apart from other lower-budget fair. Time travel by way of mentally and spiritually inhabiting the body of an ancestor? Genius. A new take on hypnotism and zombies? Cool. Trancers is proof-positive of the power of determination in creating a motion picture. Certainly it will speak to genre fans and audiences that can appreciate the little things it does right on its own small scale, but the film truly represents good, balanced filmmaking for relatively few dollars.

Tim Thomerson falls effortlessly into character, capturing the essence of a scarred -- literally and figuratively -- detective with the same sort of dark interior and battered exterior that are so prevalent in noir and undoubtedly the reason why the character finds himself attracted to old Cop programs on the 1980s television. What's great about the character and the performance is that he melts right into the world around him, be that world some dark, dreary future landscape still recovering from calamity and infested with these "trancers" or in (then) modern-day Los Angeles, surrounded by people he doesn't know but a place with which he's familiar, even if that familiarity is only with the shell of what will one day remain of it. Thomerson's capture of the character's brooding interior but brawny and sometimes brainy exterior is a real asset; he understands the character, the world, the demands, the challenges, and everything that's at stake, but he doesn't turn Deth into a superhero. Instead, he makes him a capable man on a mission with a knack for putting his assets to their best use at the right moment and working his way through both timeframes, helped by his passion for navigating the underwater world of the ruined future L.A. (and leading to one of the best lines in the film in which he states that's he's "swam" through an area of L.A. before, much to the surprise of sidekick Leena). Helen Hunt is good as the girl caught in the middle of a war she knows nothing about, from a time that, for her, has never existed and that she will never see. There's nothing magical about the screen chemistry they share, but it's nevertheless a solid pairing and two good performances that help drive the movie to low-budget excellence.

Trancers Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Trancers arrives on Blu-ray as a blast from the past but with a transfer of acceptable modern-day qualities. Though the 1080p, 1.78:1-framed transfer is a bit gritty and worn -- there are hints of noise and wear throughout the film, including scratches, pops, and speckles -- it looks rather good in total. The early darker future segments can go somewhat soft on definition but still maintain a good, film-like clarity and basic attention to detail. Back in time, the image holds up very well. While details will never be mistaken for reality, the image shows an even, consistent crispness and clarity. Faces, clothes, and worn-down city accents are nicely defined, aided by an even and pleasing layer of film grain. Colors, likewise, never explode off the screen but do prove serviceably even throughout, again looking a little more run-down and dreary in the darker future landscape but proving a bit more lively in the (then) present when seen on city signage and green vegetation. Black levels never go pale but do look a touch too absorbing of surrounding information, particularly during a dark interior sequence in chapter eight. Flesh tones never push too far one way or the other from natural. The transfer certainly isn't perfect, but there's no denying that, overall, Trancers looks great on Blu-ray.

Trancers Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Trancers features a pair of English language audio options: Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 presentations (no subtitles are included). To say that the tracks -- either one -- will leave listeners wanting would be an understatement. The original stereo elements appear intact even with the 5.1 track; there's virtually no surround information, and there is likewise very little drift beyond the center. The track is never at all aggressive, playing music with a rather limited scope and volume that will leave listeners scrambling to turn up the sound several notches beyond normal reference levels. Sound effects are mushy and indistinct, whether punches, crashes, or future gun laser blasts. Needless to say, ambient effects are severely limited. Dialogue, however, is delivered clearly and consistently from the front-center channel.

Trancers Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Trancers contains a nice little assortment of bonus content, headlined by an audio commentary track.

• Audio Commentary: Charles Band and Tim Thomserson deliver an entertaining, lively track in which they share anecdotes from the shoot and discuss the visual effects, technical details of the shoot, cast and performances, the film's tone, wardrobe, music, and much more, including a brief discussion of the Blu-ray transfer process (check out the track beginning at the 55:30 mark). This is a colorful, detailed, and informative track that fans should enjoy a great deal.
• Documentary (1080p, 14:27): A quality retrospective piece with an assortment of cast and crew -- including Director Charles Band, Writers Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo, and Actor Tim Thomerson -- who cover the film's origins, changes from initial idea to final product, the picture's tone and style, cast and performances, shooting locales, production values and visuals, the film's release, and more.
• Still Gallery (1080p, 1:37): A slideshow of film-related images.
• Rare Interviews (1080p, 1:59): Tim Thomerson, Megan Ward, and Helen Hunt briefly chat about the film in a retro interview. In the final seconds, Tim Thomerson returns from a sit-down recorded in July 2013 discussing Trancers: City of Lost Angels.
• Trancers: City of Lost Angels (480i, windowbox, English Dolby Digital 2.0, 24:39): A short film that bridges the gap between Trancers and Trancers II.
• Full Moon Trailers (1080p/480i, title dependent): Trophy Heads, Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong, Unlucky Charms, Ooga Booga, Reel Evil,, Puppet Master, Puppet Master 2, and Puppet Master 3.

Trancers Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Trancers is a cool little Sci-Fi film that certainly can't stand with the big boys in terms of either special effects or scope, but its filmmakers know its limitations yet push the boundaries only as far as they will stretch, no more. It might be "quaint" today -- particularly in terms of its effectively limited visual effects and noticeably small scale -- but this remains a well-written, nicely paced, smartly acted, and keenly directed film that withstands the test of time on the merits that make it work. It's a pleasure to have Trancers on Blu-ray, even if the end product isn't perfect. Video is rather good and marred only by lower quality film stock and a little age wear. There's not much to the audio, but then again there never was. The supplements are satisfying and include a short film and commentary. Highly recommended, and here's hoping future Trancers installments make their way to Blu-ray.