Wire Room Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

Wire Room Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 9, 2022

This is now the second film from Lionsgate and Grindstone that I've reviewed recently that finds Kevin Dillon planted almost permanently in front of a computer monitor for the duration of the story. The last entry was the lamentable Hot Seat, which paired Dillon with Mel Gibson, and now there's this outing, which finds Dillon paired with Bruce Willis. To take a page from the theme song of a sitcom starring Willis' female lead in Moonlighting, Cybill Shepherd, sitting in front of a screen and getting paid for it is "nice work if you can get it". Unfortunately, the real work here may be on the part of the viewer, who will have to slog through yet another completely predictable "thriller" enterprise with a ridiculous premise.

If Mel Gibson is still reeling from his own self-created "baggage", Willis is of course a different situation entirely, which makes his appearance here both valued but also kind of undeniably sad. He's consigned to just a few short scenes, perhaps out of necessity given the recent revelations about his mental acuity and verbal processing difficulties. Dillon is a "wire room" (i.e., approved government surveillance) agent named Justin Rosa, and Willis of course portrays his crusty superior, Mueller (and I have to say hearing Dillon draw out "Mueller" on a couple of line readings almost unavoidably reminded me of a certain Matthew Broderick high school escapade). The wire room is keeping track of a gun runner named Eddie (Oliver Trevena), but when a bunch of other "gun runners", or at least guys with guns, show up at Eddie's place, Justin, who or course has been left on his own in the wire room, must blow the government's cover in order to help Eddie, which will further the fed's attempts to corral a cartel.

It's all patently absurd from the get go, not really helped by somnambulant performances and action that tends to play out on screens that are being watched. Of course a larger conspiracy is eventually uncovered, guns are fired, heroes appear to be mortally wounded but aren't, and then the closing credits roll.

Wire Room Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Wire Room is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.00:1. This is another generally competent digital capture that I'm assuming had a 2K DI, though this effort has some low level noise that is clearly visible throughout the presentation, something that's perhaps a bit unexpected since, while kind of shadowy at times, things are rarely if ever totally dark. A prevalence of "thriller blue" permeates both the production design and certain grading choices (see screenshot 9), but in more normal looking moments, the palette pops reasonably well and detail levels remain intact. While there's once again some noticeable banding on the Lionsgate masthead, there aren't any real problems with regard to that in the feature itself. My score is 3.75.

Wire Room Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Wire Room features a reasonably immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, at least given this production's "straight to video" feel. A lot of the "action" is delivered vicariously, at least intermittently, courtesy of the many video monitors the "wire room" employs, and as such, surround activity tends to come in fits and starts, when the presentation segues to the "actual" action, rather than it being delivered via closed circuit television. The film opens with a shootout (of course), which then leads to the bulk of the story told in flashback, which itself then leads back to the shootout (of course). Much of the film is comprised of telephone on headpiece conversations, with surround activity limited to background ambient environmental effects. Dialogue (such as it is) is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English, French, Spanish and Portuguese subtitles are available.

Wire Room Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 2:04)

Additionally, a digital copy is included and packaging features a slipcover.

Wire Room Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

When Bruce Willis' forced retirement was announced, it was stated that there were still several films he had completed shooting which were in various stages of post production. One hopes that at least one of these efforts will give Willis more to do than this kind of sad enterprise. Technical merits are kind of middling but certainly competent, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.