Vice Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		1.5

Vice Blu-ray Movie Review

Netherworld.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 18, 2015

Heck, even Michael Crichton stole from himself, so maybe it’s understandable that other, lesser writers would want to as well. Not willing to consider that a writer of Crichton’s prowess wasn’t above “recycling” ideas? Well, then, consider this: a high tech amusement park where scientific advancements allow tourists to interact with environments that would normally seem impossible suffers a gizmo breakdown, with general havoc being wreaked while those inside the park scramble to survive. Jurassic Park, right? Well, yes, but also Westworld , Crichton’s first foray into filmmaking way back in 1973. Which brings us to Vice, a largely boneheaded supposed sci-fi thriller that cribs the basic setup of Westworld and then throws in a hodgepodge of other elements from such films as Blade Runner, RoboCop and The Matrix. The result, as might be expected, is not especially organic, a perhaps appropriate ambience given the film’s basic premise of a (more or less) robot becoming self aware and trying to escape her “programming.”

In what seems like a log line morphed into a brief monologue, entrepreneur Julian Michaels (Bruce Willis) walks “into” an advertisement which features a violent bank robbery and proclaims that the amusement park Vice is a place where someone’s darkest fantasies are able to come to life, since “law and order” doesn’t exist and everything from murder to any number of sexual aggressions are not only tolerated, but encouraged. Vice is populated by so- called “residents,” cyborgs whose sole function is to live out the same 24 hour period over and over, Groundhog Day style, all for the benefit of a new horde of ticket buying customers who traipse through the place engaging in a whole range of unseemly behaviors.

Though it’s not initially made clear, two of those residents are barmaid Kelly (Ambyr Childers) and her best friend Melissa (Charlotte Kirk). The film itself “reveals” this supposedly breathtaking “twist” within just a couple minutes of these characters’ introductions, so I hardly consider my reference a “spoiler,” though I will refrain from divulging exactly how this revelation is delivered to the audience, for that incident provides one of Vice’s intermittently shocking jolts of energy. One way or the other, though, the fact that the film lays its cards on the table with regard to who’s a cyborg and who isn’t casts this film more squarely in the mold of Westworld rather than Blade Runner. There are still debates raging today as to who was or was not a “replicant” in the Ridley Scott film.

In a plot point that is probably unintentionally reminiscent of yet another older, better film, Vice traffics in something akin to Dark City’s setup when it’s revealed that each of the cyborgs is “reset” after a day’s fantasy, even if many of them experienced violence and tragedy. Their “memories” are wiped, and they’re back in action the next day, no worse for the wear (at least after a bit of repair, in a scene that does evoke Westworld.) Unfortunately for Julian Michaels and his coterie of high tech wizards, something goes wrong during Kelly’s reset, and she becomes self aware in a way she never was before, ultimately breaking free of Vice and moving out into the “real world” to try to determine who she is and what’s going on.

Initially playing out against that scenario, but of course ultimately dovetailing with it, is another angle involving a vigilante cop named Roy (Thomas Jane) who, unlike Kelly, is actually trying to get into Vice, albeit in order to tear the thing down. Michaels’ evident control of the powers that be (a subtextual plot implication which is never really fully developed) means that cops aren’t really allowed inside the fantasyland, though Roy manages to infiltrate in the hopes of catching a bad guy early in the film. To no one’s surprise, the paths of Kelly and Roy ultimately overlap, though Kelly has a few detours along the way, interacting with her “creator” Evan (Bryan Greenberg), as she engages in her own brand of DNA research.

Despite its relentlessly derivative plot and predictability, there are hints of at least a passable time killer on hand in Vice, but those hints are largely scuttled with brainless screenplay mechanics that forsake actually interesting diversions in favor of not very well staged shoot outs. (This film is filled with some of the most hopelessly inept “snipers” in film history—the firepower they aim at Kelly throughout this film without ever even coming close to her is truly amazing.) Some elements, like Roy’s throwaway line about habitues of Vice bringing their “bad habits” out into the real world seem to have potential at least for some real resonance, what with contemporary debates over violence in video games and even films sparking some of the mass shooting horrors we’ve had to witness over the past several years. But Vice doesn’t want anything like that on its not so pretty little mind. It's content to steal from its betters and to fire a gun, probably wildly off target, when all else fails.

Vice Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Vice is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. I'm going to launch a Kickstarter campaign to provide a box of 64 Crayola crayons to every burgeoning film director and/or cinematographer in Hollywood, just to prove to these folks that there are colors other than cobalt blue or dusty yellow with which they can grade their films. But once again for what seems like the umpteenth time, those are by and large the two tones on display in Vice, with blue being the clear, virtually omnipresent "winner" (as is clearly seen in many of the screenshots accompanying this review). While this slathering on of artificial hues supposedly gives a film mood, the blue especially defeats detail and fine detail in all but close-up shots, giving this already fairly flat presentation more of a glossy video look. When colors are not tweaked to within an inch of their lives, the palette looks generously natural and detail is quite commendable (see screenshot 2). There are a number of gimmicky bells and whistles applied to various shots, including robotic "POV" shots that are heavily "interlaced" looking (on purpose). The film is generally sharp and clear looking, though the heavily blue sequences struggle mightily to provide much in the way of shadow detail. There are (perhaps remarkably) no issues with compression artifacts, and the image remains comfortably stable throughout the presentation.

Vice Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Vice's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix has moments of exceptional bombast, including the hyperbolic shootout that caps the film, but it's often a rather unambitious surround mix given the film's potential for high tech effects and the like. Dialogue is presented very cleanly, but is not overly directional, and while Michael's operations headquarters does have the requisite sounds of a computer laden "paradise," there's nothing overarching that really suggests impressive aural space or even discrete channel placement. Fidelity is strong, though, and dynamic range very wide in this problem free track.

Vice Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary with Director Brian A. Miller and Actors Ambyr Childers and Bryan Greenberg. This is a pretty chatty but occasionally informative commentary. Miller tends to take the lead, discussing things like his shooting protocols, while the actors fill in some anecdotal vignettes.


• Behind the Scenes of Vice (1080p; 12:47) is an EPK with interviews.


• Interviews with Cast and Crew include:

  Director Brian A. Miller (1080p; 3:32)

  Thomas Jane (1080p; 5:35)

  Ambyr Childers (1080p; 3:01)

  Bryan Greenberg (1080p; 5:42)

  Johnathan Schaech (1080p; 3:50)

  Writer Andre Fabrizio (1080p; 5:07)

  Writer Jeremy Passmore (1080p; 5:06)



• Vice Trailer (1080p; 2:33)

Vice Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Vice marauds through a virtual laundry list of cinematic referents and forebears, and like a lot of Johnny Come Latelys, doesn't ever remotely match the effectiveness of its antecedents. When the toothpick shoved into Thomas Jane's mouth delivers one of the least wooden performances in the film, you know you're in trouble. The smarminess of this film's depictions of sexual predation may actually make it alluring to some, but this is a sad, derivative lo-fi outing that is illogical and uninteresting in about equal measure. Technical merits are generally strong for those considering a purchase.