Fury: The Tales of Ronan Pierce (Blu-ray) (2014)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Theatrical Trailer Trailer-x 2 for other films
Rating
Year Of Production	2014
Running Time	91:10
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Kevin A. McCarthy Edward Payson
Studio Distributor	Gryphon Entertainment	Starring	Michael McCarthy Wade Gallagher Harry Aspinwall Jordan Elizabeth Heidi Pitts Brad Potts Rick Montgomery Jr
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Frantz Widmaier

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     The Luna cartel from South America have taken over Harbour City; with impunity gained from crooked cops and venal politicians they sell drugs on every street corner, abduct young women to force into prostitution and carve up men for their organs and body parts. In the city a masked psychopath (Harry Aspinwall) enjoys torturing young girls while a mad doctor (Rick Montgomery Jr) has fun dissecting young men. One vigilante cop with a score to settle, Ronan Pierce (Michael McCarthy), stands against them, his methods as brutal and violent as those of the cartel. But this comes at a cost: a while ago his daughter had been murdered and now his ex-wife Mckensie (Heidi Pitts) has been abducted and every few days Ronan receives a DVD showing her being abused and tortured by Damien Logan (Wade Gallagher), a man with a grudge against him. Searching for his ex-wife Ronan is on a killing spree through the thugs, perverts and psychos of the city, his only help his police partner Rex (Brad Potts) and Karina (Jordan Elizabeth), a female circus clown he rescued along the way. One thing is for sure: Ronan is out for blood and his revenge ain’t going to be pretty!

     Fury: The Tales of Ronan Pierce is a graphic novel put onto the screen, a little like Sin City, although rather than the green screen basis of those films Fury: The Tales of Ronan Pierce was mostly shot on actual locations and the print manipulated and enhanced to give the film its look. Everything about Fury: The Tales of Ronan Pierce is exaggerated; the colours, the violence, the brutality and torture, the dialogue, the characters, the acting. This is a very dark film in tone and look, with most scenes taking place at night or in darkened rooms or clubs; there are flashes of colour, such as Ronan’s yellow Mustang, but mostly even the blood is a dull crimson rather than red. There is no character development for anyone; rather Fury: The Tales of Ronan Pierce runs as a series of vignettes as Ronan works his killing way through the scum of Harbour City. The dialogue, including a hoarse voiceover narration by Ronan, is over the top and watching Michael McCarthy’s loud and bug-eyed performance I could not help being reminded of Nicholas Cage at his most wild-eyed and manic!

     That is not a criticism as it is exactly the over the top performance the film needs. As well McCarthy is matched by a wonderfully creepy performance by the very classy English-voiced Harry Aspinwall and by Rick Montgomery Jr as a doctor happy in his work. Jordan Elizabeth is also good, although I think she is underutilised, and while the violence perpetrated against women is appalling the revenge taken on a perverted senator by a woman with a pair of bolt-cutters will make every male cringe!!

     Neither of the filmmaking brothers Kevin A McCarthy (director and co-writer) and Michael McCarthy (co-writer and actor) have any experience; it is both the director’s and actor’s first credit although the film was co-directed by Edward Payson who has a number of mainly horror films and TV on his CV. However, in the end this matters little as they have delivered just the over the top live action graphic novel they intended. Fury: The Tales of Ronan Pierce is full of attitude; it is extreme in its brutality and the film’s R rating for “high impact sexual themes, violence, blood and gore” is justified. There is nothing subtle or deep and meaningful here, only a bloody, graphic novelesk ride that is wildly entertaining.

Video

     Fury: The Tales of Ronan Pierce is presented in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     Because of the way the film was intended to look the print cannot be judged by any of the usual criteria. Some of the close-up detail is crisp and the night city-scapes are beautiful with pristine blacks and shadow detail. But almost all scenes look gritty and have been manipulated and colour graded, with flashes of glossy digital colour. Some scenes have a yellow pink skyline while others are so dark it is almost impossible to make out what is happening although I think you see what you are intended to see. Brightness and contrast also vary, deliberately.

     I did not notice any digital noise reduction, marks or other artefacts.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     Audio is an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 track.

     The audio was slightly disappointing for this is a film where everything, except the audio, was over the top. Dialogue was clear and easy to hear but the rears and surrounds mainly featured music and some effects during gunfights and hand to hand combat but they did not seem to deliver the oomph this type of film should have. The sub-woofer supported the music and some thumps and crashes.

     The original electro / techno music by Frantz Widmaier was effective and it was supported by tracks by the likes of Vague Fears, Drygdealer and Corpse Pose.

     There were no lip synchronisation issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Start-up Trailers (4:01)

     Trailers for Charlie’s Farm and Eat play on start-up. They cannot be selected from the menu.

Film Trailer (2:20)

     Be warned, the volume level for this trailer is very loud!

     The Region B UK version of Fury: The Tales of Ronan Pierce is available on 12 October 2015. Amazon.co.uk lists it as having a making of, but I have no details of whether it is worthwhile or how extensive it is. I cannot find any Region A US version of the film.

     While comparisons have been made to Sin City, to me Fury: The Tales of Ronan Pierce is closer in theme and tone to The Crow (1994). Fury: The Tales of Ronan Pierce has heaps of attitude; it is a nihilistic, brutal, bloody and violent so if that sounds like your thing, you will not be disappointed.

     The video is manipulated and looks as the filmmakers intended, audio is a bit disappointing. A couple of trailers for other films, plus the film trailer, are the only extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall