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Released by: Umbrella Entertainment
Released on: September 2nd, 2020.
Director: Vince Morton
Cast: Marcus Graham, Nikki Coghill, Doug Bowles, Stephen Whittaker, John Arnold, Bruce Alexander
Year: 1994
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Point Of No Return - Movie Review:
Directed by Vince Morton in 1994, Point Of No Return tells the story of a former soldier named Grady (Marcus Graham, who had a small part in Mullholland Drive) who, after the war, got busted for playing around with some money laundering. This landed him a spot in prison where, while doing time, he learns that his brother, Christian (also Graham, this time sporting a fake moustache and a bad wig so that we can tell the characters apart), has been murdered under some rather unusual circumstances.
Grady is let out temporarily to attend Christian's funeral and it's here that he makes his escape. Hungry for both answers and revenge, he takes it upon himself to do what the cops either can't or won't - and that's figure out who killed his brother and why, and if he gets injured or worse in the process, so be it. The only one who seems to be on Grady's side, or willing to offer him any help at all, is his foxy former girlfriend, Kate (Nikki Coghill).
Together, they're going to go…. you guessed it… past the point of no return!
Morton, who served as cinematographer on some legitimate Australian classics like Long Weekend, Road Games and Thirst (not to mention Fantasm Comes Again!) controls the pace of the picture well. Shot in and around Melbourne, the film moves quickly and offers some decent action set pieces. The characters are all underwritten and little more than stereotypes, but they work in the context of the picture. A little more originality put into the script, also from Morton, would have gone a long way towards making this stand out more, however. There are moments that tie into Grady's military past that seem to be alluding to something deeper that are then discarded, and the ending doesn't tie up as many of the loose ends as it should, which might leave more discerning viewers mildly irked.
The acting, however, is actually really strong. Marcus Graham is a good casting choice, he carries the movie pretty well. He's got the looks and he's got the moves, we have no trouble at all buying him as a tough guy and he never seems to have any trouble with the material at all. Nikki Coghill is actually the better of the two leads, however. She gives her character a bit more depth and the movie is more interesting thanks to her being in it.
Some decent suspense and a couple of twists keep things interesting. The cinematography from Louis Irving (who also shot The Howling III!) is quite nice, at times definitely and clearly intentionally going for a noirish look. It works, and tends to accentuate things quite nicely. The score from Neil Sutherland is also solid. This could and should have been a bit more unique than it winds up being, but otherwise it's a solid slice of mid-nineties entertainment.
Point Of No Return - DVD Review:
Point Of No Return looks pretty decent on this DVD from Umbrella, framed at 1.78.1 widescreen. Detail is pretty solid for a standard definition presentation, colors are reproduced quite nicely and there aren't any problems with print damage, dirt or debris. Obviously a new HD scan and a Blu-ray would yielded better results but this looks just fine.
The English language Dolby Digital 2.0 track on this gets the job done without any issues. Dialogue is always clean and clear and the audio is properly balanced. There are no alternate language or subtitles provided.
There are no extras here, not even a menu.
Point Of No Return - The Final Word:
Umbrella Entertainment gives Point Of No Return a no frills DVD release that does give the feature itself a pretty decent presentation. As to the movie? It isn't deep or even particularly original but it offers up a nice mix of drama, thrills and action and turns out to be a pretty entertaining thriller in its own right.
