Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

White Sands Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 11, 2019

Spectacular Southwestern scenery is the backdrop for Director Roger Donaldson's (Cocktail, Cadillac Man) White Sands, a by-the-book Thriller that's in every way competently assembled but unable to distinguish itself from its peers. The film rarely breaks from convention, which includes set-up, the discovery phase, and the hectic climax that refuses to settle down and allow the viewer to catch up. Writer Daniel Pyne, who previously wrote for Miami Vice and the feature film Doc Hollywood and would go on to pen the screenplay for the critically acclaimed Any Given Sunday, introduces a number of details throughout the film and particularly at its end. It's difficult to follow and, frankly, difficult to care. The film exists in mediocrity and thrives on its takes on convention, yielding a predictably unpredictable series-of-events film that seems more concerned with building rather than resolving its narrative tentacles and multifaceted, yet still somehow generic, characters.

Ray Dolezal (Willem Dafoe) is a small town New Mexico sheriff who immerses himself in a rare mystery to cross his path. When he investigates a dead body and finds half million dollars at its side, he digs into the case and assumes the man's identity in an effort to understand what happened to him, and why. Soon, Dolezal, posing as a man named Bob Spencer, finds himself mixed up in a high-stakes, high-dollar negotiation for black market arms alongside an unsavory, ill-tempered sort named Gorman Lennox (Mickey Rourke) and a sultry financier named Lane Bodine (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) who grows fond of his undercover persona. Dolezal is also approached by FBI agent Greg Meeker (Samuel L. Jackson) who informs him that Spencer was one of their own. Pulled in several directions, constantly in danger, and posing as a dead man he knows little about, Dolezal finds himself with more on his plate than he bargained for.

The film's opening minutes are its best. Dafoe's Ray Dolezal investigates the scene of the crime and discovers the cash, searches the dead man's hotel room, and charges his coroner, effectively played by a sweaty and slimy M. Emmet Walsh who wants to skim some cash off the top of the find, with digging through the man's innards in hopes of finding a piece of fast food burger wrap that he suspects the victim swallowed in a moment of desperation. But the film begins to tangle thereafter and never unravels to much satisfaction. Ray finds himself caught up with any number of unsavory types on both sides of the law, in more than a few dicey situations, and face-to-face with several morally bankrupt individuals. Donaldson struggles to both keep it all together and reveal its secrets with any kind of satisfaction. The script piles on without giving the characters or the audience a chance to take in and sort out the pieces. It's almost like this was a rough first cut that throws the story together in some quasi-coherent narrative but is accidentally absent a few critical moments in its second and third acts.

The movie is spiritedly performed, anyway, with Dafoe sinking into character, even if his motivations are never quite fully realized. He's a natural fit in uniform, a little less so when playing the part of an undercover criminal, but he handles leading duties with enough weight and depth to carry the part and the movie. The picture is filled with name actors in support roles who get enough out of their characters, but the performances are hamstrung by a script that leaves things a little too cumbersome to allow the actors to absorb and define the material rather than simply recite it, as they do here. Donaldson takes advantage of his locations when he can, but the film is largely a character-driven piece and the director is largely content to allow his actors to do the work outside of a few grand, sweeping scenes that momentarily divert attention away from a story that is nearly as barren as the title locale.

White Sands Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

White Sands arrives on MOD (Manufactured on Demand) Blu-ray with a well-rounded 1080p transfer. The image appears true to its source, maintaining a light grain structure and suitable textural qualities. The picture is a little flat on the whole and lacking the sort of intimate, pristine definition of the finest sources and transfers, but viewers can expect to find quality textural clarity across the usual assortment of elements, including faces, clothes, and environments. There is some inherent softness in places, even near center-frame, but for the most part close-ups and many wider environments and vistas reveal adequate textural finesse. Colors can be similarly described, offering good foundational depth and detail but not particularly jumping off the screen. If anything the image appears ever so slightly faded. Skin tones and black levels are fine. The odd print speckle appears but no other source or encode flaws, minor or egregious, are apparent.

White Sands Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

White Sands' DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack establishes a quality listening experience from the outset. The film opens with some airy music with a distinct and balanced low end in support. It's well spaced with an organic surround component that sets early expectations that the track fulfills throughout. Music maintains a similar approach for the duration, finding good general definition across a wide front end, integrating surround support as a balanced component and folding in a little low end content, too. Environmental details are likewise engaging with natural positioning around the listener as the situation warrants, which includes falling rain at the 50-minute mark or rodeo crowd and public address din about 10 minutes later. A few more intensive action effects are appropriately engaged with firm volume and definition as well as stage placement, though gunfire is a little crude and dull; soulless, one might say of it. Dialogue delivery is a strength, featuring firm front-center positioning. It's well prioritized and clarity is lifelike.

White Sands Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All that's included with this Blu-ray release of White Sands is the film's theatrical trailer (480i, 1.78:1, 1:48). No DVD or digital copies are included. This release does not ship with a slipcover.

White Sands Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

White Sands crafts a capable Thriller at its baseline but cannot elevate convoluted material to anything resembling cohesion. Dafoe and an impressive roster of support stars do what they can with a jumble of a script, but the talented cast is left with little opportunity to chew on dramatic red meat. The film is both simply plotted and frustratingly unable to hold itself together, beginning strongly and devolving into a morass of plot details and character turns that Donaldson and company cannot sort out to satisfaction. It's certainly watchable, though. Sony's nearly featureless Blu-ray delivers solid enough video and audio. For fans only.