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Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Point Blank (2010)

Point Blank (2010)

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Released 18-Apr-2012

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Thriller Featurette-Making Of
Theatrical Trailer
Trailer-Madman Propaganda x 4
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2010
Running Time 80:39
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Fred Cavayé
Studio
Distributor

Madman Entertainment
Starring Gilles Lellouche
Roschdy Zem
Gérard Lanvin
Elena Anaya
Mireille Perrier
Claire Pérot
Moussa Maaskri
Pierre Benoist
Valérie Dashwood
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $29.95 Music Klaus Badelt


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None French Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     A wounded man being chased by two armed gunmen is hit by a motorcycle and ends up in hospital. Nurse’s aide Samuel Pierret (Gilles Lellouche), who is on duty that night, foils an attempt by an unknown assailant to kill the wounded man. Returning home, he is attacked and his heavily pregnant wife Nadia (Elena Anaya) is captured. Unless Samuel gets the wounded man out of the hospital in 3 hours his wife will be killed. While Samuel attempts to do just that, Police Commandant Catherine Fabre (Mireille Perrier) discovers that the wounded man is in fact Hugo Sartet (Roschdy Zem), a hardened criminal wanted for the recent murder of a leading industrialist, a murder we learn was actually committed by corrupt police under the command of Commandant Patrick Werner (Gerard Lanvin). As the tension escalates, and double cross and murder are the order of the day, Samuel is required to join forces with Sartet in order to expose Werner and to rescue his wife before she is killed.

     Only just 80 minutes in length, Point Blank is the most energetic, invigorating thriller I have seen in ages. It does not waste a second: it starts with a chase on a fire escape and seldom lets up from there. Several set pieces, such as a chase in the Paris Metro, leave one breathless and the climax is an extended sequence in the police station which ratchets up the tension to eleven! This is one film where the hand held, jerky camera work is exactly right; it is not overdone, but adds immediacy and verve to the action. All the cast are excellent, with Lellouche, as the innocent man going to extraordinary lengths to rescue his wife, and Zem, as the hard calculating criminal, nicely contrasted while the sparse score by Klaus Bedelt provides good support to the action and adds to the tension.

     This is only director Fred Cavaye’s second film after the equally energetic Pour elle (2008); Point Blank is so slick, so assured, so taut, it is hard to imagine it being done any better. For fans of thrillers, Point Blank is a rarity; a thriller that is genuinely thrilling, a wild ride that will stun you and take your breath away. This is how it should be done!

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Transfer Quality

Video

     Point Blank is presented in a ratio of 2.35:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     The film is deliberately not glossy. It uses muted dull colours throughout, often greys or dark blues, to provide a gritty feel to the streets and offices, especially evident in the cool storage facility. Within this palate the print is sharp and well detailed, blacks solid and shadow detail very good. I did notice some minor aliasing and the end titles did exhibit some shimmer, and there was nice film grain but otherwise there were no evident artefacts or marks.

     English subtitles are in a yellow font that are easy to read and contain no obvious spelling or grammatical errors.

     Lip Synchronisation is fine.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     French Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps is the only audio choice.

     Dialogue was easy to hear, not that there was a lot of dialogue in the film. The surrounds were not overused but effects and music added an enveloping feel in the Metro and crowd scenes. The sub-woofer added bass when needed, such as to the heartbeats near the start of the film.

     The sparse score by Klaus Bedelt is frenetic and adds to the pace of the film. It is nicely represented in the mix.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

Making of (50:02)

     This is more an on set video diary with captions such as “first week of shooting”. No narration, but linked by comments by the director and some of the cast, it covers costume fitting, stunts and lots of behind the scenes setting up scenes, after which the finished film footage shown to see how the stunt was edited together. Certainly not an EPK, this is well worth watching.

Theatrical Trailer (2:14) )

.

Madman Propaganda

     Included are Outside the Law (2:03), 600 Kilos of Pure Gold (2:10), Lebanon (2:35) and Public Enemy # 1 (2:18).

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

     The Region 1 US release has the same extras but is listed on Amazon.com as being in an aspect ratio of 1.66:1, although I cannot confirm this from any other source. The Region 2 UK release appears identical to ours except for an extra photo gallery. A draw, but why go past the local release.

Summary

     Point Blank is a wild ride; a genuine thriller that is the most energetic, invigorating action film I have seen in ages. Point Blank is so slick, so assured, so taut, it is hard to imagine it being done any better.

     The video and audio are very good. Extras are good, with a worthwhile “making of” and theatrical trailer.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ray Nyland (the bio is the thing)
Monday, June 25, 2012
Review Equipment
DVDSony BDP-S580, using HDMI output
DisplayLG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderNAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated.
AmplificationNAD T737
SpeakersStudio Acoustics 5.1

Other Reviews NONE