White Wall Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		2.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.0

White Wall Blu-ray Movie Review

I'm speechless...Absolutely speechless...

Reviewed by Dustin Somner June 22, 2010

Approaching a review of an ambitious low-budget production such as White Wall exposes one of the troubling aspects of the movie critic occupation. Every now and again, you stumble across a film that’s inherently awful from start to finish, but the creative minds behind it simply aren’t aware. As much as I wished I could shut the film off after the first twenty minutes, I remained glued to my seat with a scowl on my face, waiting to tear into it during my subsequent review. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of watching the endearing “making of” supplement before putting my thoughts on paper, and realized just how much effort went into the creation of a final product that simply can’t be spun in a positive manner. Having said that, I apologize in advance to anyone involved in this labor of love, since the remainder of my review will not be kind.

It's good to know phones would still work if the world came to an end.

Set in a post-apocalyptic future, the world has been ravaged by mysterious virus known as VXII. The few survivors that remained uninfected after the initial wave of destruction assembled an expansive wall around the four remaining quarantine zones, hoping to secure their future survival. Within this dreary wasteland lived 5 young orphans who were raised as warriors in a brutal internment camp. Jude Black (Michael Teh) left the camp and formed a gang known as Vespers, who gradually overtook three of the four remaining cities in the quarantine zone. Hawthorne is the only remaining sanctuary for the dwindling peaceful population, who pray for an eventual cure to the infectious virus. Within Hawthorne lives Shawn Kors (James Boss), one of the five remaining orphan warriors, who now works as a janitor for a local medical facility. One night, Shawn stumbles across the body of a fellow internment camp survivor, and begins his own investigation into the murder. Setting out with a mysterious knife fighter who offers to accompany Shawn on his quest to find those responsible for his friend’s death, the two men begin a journey of discovery that threatens the very existence of life on Earth.

In all honesty, I completely made up the last line in my synopsis as a veiled attempt to find meaning in some aspect of the storyline. White Wall is an absolute mess from start to finish, presenting characters that switch motives mid-sentence, and seemingly wander through a plotline that never once defines its purpose. As the film first opens, we’re provided a lengthy background meant to bring us up to speed on the events that led to the beginning of the storyline we’re about to witness. Unfortunately, despite the intriguing foundation the post-apocalyptic story is built on, the rest of the film completely falls to pieces. If Jude Black took over three territories in the expansive quarantine zone, where’s the rest of his gang? Furthermore, what does the annoying Tommy Lee lookalike have to do with Jude Black, and why is he so quick to team up with Shawn. These are only two minor questions that emerge in the nonsensical plotline, but they’re examples of the lack of explanation found throughout the screenplay.

Just in case the plot-holes and convoluted storyline weren’t bad enough, we’re treated to some of the worst dialog found in b-grade action history. For example, here are three lines from an early scene where Shawn visits Jude Black for dinner (edited for content):

Jude Black: “So what do you want to do tonight?”
Shawn Kors: “I don’t know, I’m pretty busy.”
Jude Black: “How about you and I go out and “vulgar act” some “obscenities” in the desert?”

The last line may not be clear thanks to my attempt at keeping this family friendly, but you hopefully have a good idea just how bad the script can be, and I assure you the delivery isn’t much better. I’d assume most of the actors in the film have little to no acting experience (considering director James Boss is the main character, I’d wager I’m not far off), but one would hope even a stranger off the street could say their lines without generating the impression they’re reading cue cards.

At this point I’m guessing you’ve set your expectations appropriately low, leaving only a single remaining category as the potential saving grace. After all, this is an action film, so you’d expect at least some manner of impressive stunt-work or fight choreography. Sadly, the dreary assessment continues. As you learn in the supplemental documentary accompanying the film, director/star James Boss studied Bruce Lee’s jeet kune do as a basis for the fight sequences in the film, while throwing his own twist in the mix by incorporating extensive knife-fighting (in a world full of guns it makes little sense, but what do I know?). The result is something decidedly unspectacular, since most of the actors have zero knowledge of martial arts. James Boss seems at least marginally adept in his training, but when fight sequences are filmed in quick cuts to lessen the impact of shoddy choreography, you’re setting expectations extremely low from the outset.

White Wall Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at a constant bitrate of 20Mbps), White Wall is one of the worst visual presentations I've seen in quite some time. To a certain extent this is a direct result of choices in the cinematography that wreak havoc on coloring and contrast. In fact, I'd venture to say the first thirty minutes of the film are the darkest I've seen on any Blu-ray release to date (including The Relic), which speaks volumes about the proficiency of the disc. Lengthy shots track down alleyways and extend through dark rooms as if something important is about to happen, but contrast is so terrible during those sequences that any shred of shadow detail is lost to a blanket of black. Part of the problem lies in the use of heavy yellow filtering that casts the entire image in unnatural sickly hues, and only adds to the dark nature of the cinematography. Of course, this also means you can forget about any hint of color richness, since every scene merely incorporates various shades of dingy yellow. Anyone who's seen recent productions such as The Road or Book of Eli know exactly what's possible when using the color spectrum to generate a post-apocalyptic setting, and White Wall falls at the opposite end of that spectrum. Coloring and contrast issues aside, the level of fine object detail offers a marginal upgrade over a standard definition offering, despite the presence of a heavy grain field during a handful of shots. Lastly, although I never noticed extensive digital anomalies in the presentation, there's a lack of consistency in darker portions of the picture, as shadows move beyond the natural outlines of accurate contrast differentiation, indicating a degree of post-production processing was likely used to the detriment of the final presentation.

White Wall Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Despite the inclusion of a lossless audio track, there's little reason to rejoice over a flawed presentation such as this. Dialog emerges solely from the front center channel, and lacks the robust nature of other elements in the track. If you're like me, you'll find yourself constantly reaching for the remote control to manually balance the dialog with the higher-volume audio effects. A perfect example of this effect can be found in the final fight sequence of the film, where the spoken lines register at nearly half the volume of the strike effects, creating a profound imbalance in the primary elements of the mix. Adding to the problematic nature of the audio presentation, White Wall delivers limited rear spatial separation, remaining front heavy through approximately 90 percent of the film's runtime. This profoundly detracts from the film's ability to immerse viewers in the onscreen activity, creating an aural barrier that consistently holds you at arm's distance.

White Wall Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Making of White Wall (1080p, Dolby Digital 2.0, 40:47 min): Broken down into various topics, this lengthy supplement consists of interviews with writer/producer Vivian Kyinn, director/actor James Boss, and producer/actress Aurelie Kyinn. The three creative minds behind the film provide a detailed history of the production timeline, while we're shown onset clips of the cast and crew in action.

Rounding out the extras, we're given a high definition trailer for White Wall.

White Wall Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Given my meat-grinder assessment of the film, I'd wager there's little left to say at this point. I feel sorry for anyone who happens to stumble onto this release as a blind purchase, and fully expect this to hit the bargain bin at most retailers within a matter of weeks.