Blu-ray Movie Reviews

While pulling a down-and-dirty jewelry heist on a subway train, Jack encounters Ripley, a legendary thief who was casing the same job. In spite of Jack's initial reluctance, Ripley manages to rope him into helping pull off an impossible job: the theft of two previously undiscovered Faberge Imperial Eggs from the heavily guarded vault of a New York diamond wholesaler. The vault, unfortunately, is controlled by former KGB operatives who are secretly looting the Russian National Treasury. To add more stress to the situation, Ripley's beautiful goddaughter Alex has a romantic liaison with Jack, which causes additional strain to their fragile partnership. Staying one step ahead of the NYPD, the FBI, the diamond merchants and a vicious Russian crime boss determined to have the priceless eggs for himself, Jack and Ripley must figure out how to pull the heist and make it out alive without betraying one another, or themselves.

Considering the talent involved with this one I’m surprised this didn’t make a run in the local Cineplex. This is the first movie I’ve seen directed by Mimi Leder since Deep Impact and the teaming of Banderas and Freeman worked out quite well. The film is more of a typical cat and mouse type thriller but the comic timing between to two actors keeps it fresh. The film moves briskly enough and has enough twists and turns to keep up the entertainment value.

This is a great looking HD release with few complaints. If I had to nitpick I thought some of the black levels were a bit inconsistent near the end of the film. Otherwise there is a lot to like here. Fine detail is excellent and the sense of depth and dimension is on par with the best the format has to offer. It is so refreshing to see even the smaller studios putting out this caliber of video presentation on Blu-ray. It is getting hard to find things to complain about these days.

The Dolby TrueHD mix is quite good with an impressive amount of surround use and dynamic range. The action sequences are pretty intense with great panning effects and low bass response. Dialogue could be a bit forward from time to time, but it wasn’t much of a distraction. Spatial cues were abundant and the surrounds do a great job with atmosphere in the subtle scenes and action in the bigger parts.

Extras include some interviews with the cast along with a behind the scenes look at the production. Some trailers are also included.

Again I’m surprised this one didn’t make it into theaters, or I missed it altogether. The film is a fun heist film with good performances and interesting twists. While it doesn’t bring anything really new to the genre, it was fun enough.