Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Frank Martin has been pressured into transporting Valentina, the kidnapped daughter of Leonid Vasilev, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency for the Ukraine, from Marseilles through Stuttgart and Budapest until he ends up in Odessa on the Black Sea. Along the way, with the help of Inspector Tarconi, Frank has to contend with the people who strong armed him to take the job, sent by Vasilev to intercept him, and the general non-cooperation agents of his passenger. Despite Valentina's cynical disposition and his resistance to get involved, Frank and Valentina fall for each other, while escaping from one life-threatening situation after another.

I was in no hurry to see this one after watching the abomination that was the second film in this series. Lionsgate has procured the rights this time around and the series finds itself away from Fox studios, who has been a big disappointment in the movie camp these last few years in my opinion. Evidently this was a good move as this new addition to the series is more in line with the first film and doesn’t go so completely off the wall like the second film. The action sequences are intense, and although at times you need a serious suspension of disbelief, the film manages to stay a bit more grounded and not downright silly. I loved the stylish photography and the car chases are great. If you skipped this one because of the second film’s aftertaste, you should probably give it a look.

Wow . That is one way to put it. Lionsgate serves up a delicious HD transfer for this one with sensational detail and jaw dropping contrast. I loved the deep, deep blacks and the amazing sense of dimension and fine detail on display here. The image is razor sharp and colors have a great sense of vibrancy and saturation. The stark contrast adds so much to the visual style and depth of image is nearly without equal. So far this is one of the best looking titles I’ve seen on Blu-ray this year.

Lionsgate has been delivering some solid 7.1 soundtracks lately but this one was pretty aggrevating. It seems that someone went a bit crazy with the LFE knob as this track runs at least 6db hot in the low end. I’m all for some great bass response but this was so hot that it distracted and became tedious. The overwhelming low end was just a complete distraction causing me to lower my LFE level about 7db and even then it had plenty of juice. So be warned. The rest of the track fares pretty well. I did notice a higher noise floor in the dialogue than we typically hear but it wasn’t overly distracting. Surrounds are very engaging and the spatial design of the track is consistently impressive with great side wall imaging and rear channel envelopment. It is just too bad about the overly pronounced bass track.

Extras include some good production features that give an inside look at the production of the film complete with behind the scenes footage and interviews. You also get a look at the sets and storyboards for the film along with the special effects sequences. Like most of the Lionsgate films, this one includes MoLog BD-Live capabilities, which let you add commentary and images to the movie and share them with friends online. Disc two also features a digital copy of the film for your portable devices.

Lionsgate has done a great job picking up the ball here and delivers a fresh look at this series that has more in common with the first film than the laughable second. I was disappointed with the audio presentation on this one but the video is phenomenal.