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Released by: Magnolia Films
Released on: December 6, 2011.
Director: Fred Cavaye
Cast: Roschdy Zem, Gilles Lellouche, Elena Anaya
Year: 2010
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The Movie:
Fred Cavaye's 2010 film Point Blank hits the ground running, literally, as it opens with a chase scene where a man (Roschdy Zem) is tailed by two gun totting dudes into a tunnel where, just before they can pull the trigger, he's hit by a motorcycle. The man wakes up in the hospital where a male nurse named Samuel (Gilles Lellouche) saves him from someone impersonating a doctor and obviously trying to kill him. Happy about his 'rescue' Samuel heads home and tells his pregnant wife, Nadia (Elena Anaya), all about the day's events before being promptly beaten over the head by an unseen assailant. Samuel wakes up, a cell phone ringing and his wife gone. He answers the phone and is told that if he doesn't get the man he just saved out of the hospital in three hours, his wife will be killed.
So Samuel does just that - he heads into the hospital and sneaks the man out of there, knocking out a cop and evading more cops along the way - but soon finds himself involved in a complicated mess that reaches from Paris' criminal underworld all the way up the chain to some high ranking police officials. With Nadia's life on the line and time quickly running out, Samuel and the man, whose name turns out to be Hugo, form an alliance and decide to set things right.
Incredibly well paced, Point Blank may look and sound like a generic straight to video action movie based on its cover art and American title but don't let that fool you into thinking it is. This movie is fast, mean, clever and really well made making great use of the Parisian locations, taking us on a journey through the underground and into various abandoned buildings and warehouses, giving us a look at the grittier side of the French capital. The plot twists and turns and keeps you guessing but never has to resort to gimmicks or the like, instead it crafts interesting characters and puts them in interesting situations - as such, we definitely want to see how all of this plays out and the suspense turns out to be pretty intense at times.
As far as the action scenes go, they're done on a very realistic scale. Cavaye omits massive scale shoot-outs and bullet ballet and instead relies on more down to earth and believable tactics. This grounds the film in the real world and if we have to suspend our disbelief for a scene in which our two begrudging heroes sneak their way into a police station unnoticed (something that probably wouldn't happen undetected these days), we can forgive the movie for that. On top of that, the film has got some great cinematography and a score that never goes over the top but instead compliments the action perfectly. Wrap this up with some believable and emotionally involving performances and you wind up with a kick ass action movie that really just gets things right.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The 1080p 2.35.1 AVC encoded transfer on this Blu-ray release is very good indeed, if not always perfect. Detail level is strong in pretty much every scene with the darker nighttime and indoor scenes exhibiting strong shadow detail and more lighter daytime and interior shots showing off even more texture and subtle nuances in the picture. Black levels are deep and strong without ever breaking up but skin tones look just a little bit orange for some reason. Color reproduction is dead on, though keep in mind that this film leans towards darker imagery so you won't get that candy-coated 'pop' that some HD transfers offer, particularly once the settings switch to the abandoned buildings. Contrast looks a little warmer than maybe it needed to be in some scenes, but there's no doubt that this was a stylistic choice on the part of the filmmakers and not a flaw on the Blu-ray disc. There are no noticeable problems with edge enhancement or mpeg compression and really, Magnolia has done a great job here, leaving nothing to really complain about.
Point Blank arrives on Blu-ray with an ass kicking French language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track with optional subtitles available in English, English SDH and Spanish. A dubbed track is provided in English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio as well but the French track is the way to go here. This is a very aggressive track that comes at you from all across the soundstage delivering crisp and concise channel separation and plenty of interesting, subtle background activity. Bass response is fantastic, with each gunshot really packing a punch, while dialogue stays clean, clear and audible even during the more action intense moments which make up the later half of the film. The score resonates nicely across the mix, adding some welcome emotional depth to the sweeter scenes in the film while making the action scenes all the more intense. There are no problems at all with hiss or distortion and the levels are all properly balanced resulting in one of the finest surround experiences possible.
There's only one extra of much substance here, and that's a fifty minute behind the scenes featurette that is presented in French with optional English subtitles. Here you'll find some interesting cast and crew interviews and some behind the scenes footage, fairly typical 'making of' stuff. It doesn't go as in-depth as you'd think it would, given the running time, but it's worth checking out. Aside from that, we get a trailer for the feature, trailers for a few other Magnolia releases, animated menus and chapter stops.
The Final Word:
Point Blank is not the generic straight to video action movie that the title and cover art imply, but in fact stands tall as a lean, mean thriller with some great twists, some really impressive set pieces and fine performances from all involved. Magnolia's Blu-ray release looks good and sounds even better, which helps make up for the fact that the extras aren't all that impressive. See this one based on the strength of the movie itself.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
