2:22 (Blu-ray) (2008)

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General		Extras
Category	Crime	Gallery-Photo Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	104:25 (Case: 109)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Phillip Guzman
Studio Distributor	Lab 4 Productions Eagle Entertainment	Starring	Mick Rossi Robert Miano Aaron Gallagher Jorge A. Jimenez Peter Dobson Val Kilmer Bruce Kirby
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	$29.95	Music	Danny Saber

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     2:22 did not get a theatrical release in Australia, so comes straight to Blu-ray. However, don’t let that unduly influence you against watching it; 2:22 is a quirky, moody, tense character driven thriller that is well worth a look.

     A criminal gang led by Gully Mercer (Mick Rossi) and comprising of older man Willy (Robert Miano), family man Finn (Aaron Gallagher) and Latino Gael (Jorge A. Jimenez) execute a plan to rob a hotel’s safe deposit boxes on New Year’s eve. The title of the film 2:22 refers to the time in the morning that the heist commences. They successfully take control of the hotel, but there are more guests awake and about than they had expected and with a suicidal elderly man, a TV soap star out for a bit of S&M, a gangster with a stash of drugs and a CEO of a major company spending the night with a woman not his wife, things do not go entirely to plan. Yet they do succeed, and escape with the deposit boxes’ contents. But the film still has another 40 minutes, and a few more twists, to go before all is concluded.

     2:22 is a film that takes a while to get going, deliberately so. We meet each of the gang in their own environments, and in this it is not unlike Michael Mann’s Heat in developing the home and family lives of each of the gang members making them human beings; flawed human beings certainly, but human beings nevertheless. Indeed, during the first 30 minutes of the film, while we know they are criminals we do not know what they intend.

     This type of slow, deliberate build-up, complete with moody camera angles and moody music, can be justified by a reasonable pay-off, and 2:22 mostly delivers quite well. There is tension and humour in the actual heist sequence so that it works quite well, and when the action occurs it is frenetic and reasonably well handled. And the post heist sequences, which could have been anti-climactic, instead build another level of tension. If it does not quite work, it is because too many characters flit in and out of the film, some important, some red herrings, and the post-heist sequences, again like the final third of Heat, become a much simpler revenge saga, rather at odds with the careful character development of the rest of the film. At times, 2:22 also suffers from camera angles and tricks, such as freeze frames, that draw attention to themselves and can disrupt the flow of the narrative.

     While it is not Heat, 2:22 shares with that film not only Val Kilmer (who has, however, only a minor supporting role here) but a concentration upon slowly developing the home and family lives of its criminals, interspersed with sudden bursts of violent action. It did not get a theatrical release in Australia, yet, for all this, for much of its running time 2:22 is an interesting, quirky and tense character driven thriller that is well worth a look. You could see far worse.

Video

     2:22 is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The IMDb does not list its original ratio, but I doubt that it is 1.78:1. While much of the film is shot hand held, with the variable framing that this frequently entails, and, as noted, there are a number of unusual camera angles and tricks used, a number of sequences where two characters are in static conversation do show evidence of cropping, with characters partly disappearing at the edges of the frame.

     The colour scheme of the film is deliberately over-exposed, reflecting the city snowscape, and interior sequences have a desaturated silver look. This works well in the context of the film. Blacks are solid and shadow detain very good.

     I did not see any film or video artefacts.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     Audio is a choice between English DTS – HD Master and English Dolby Digital 5.1. Both are good and do what is required, and although the dts does have better clarity it is not an exceptional difference. Both make good use of the surrounds for ambient noise and especially music and give a good enveloping feel. The bursts of action are well handled. The sub woofer mainly supports the music – there are no loud explosions anyway.

     Occasionally the dialogue was a little difficult to hear, the lack of any subtitles being a slight problem.

     Lip synchronisation is fine. The original music by Danny Saber works very well, supporting the film effectively.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Image Gallery

     A total of 89 movie and behind the scenes stills, without music. The remote is required to advance to the next still, quite a tedious process.

Movie Previews

     Trailers for other Eagle Entertainment releases. Included is Tenure (2:00), Doghouse (1:51), Worlds Greatest Dad (2:22), and Evil Angel (2:00).

     Note: the Blu-ray case lists as an extra “The Making of ‘Doghouse’” but this is not on the disc.

     A Region A US Blu-ray and Region 1 US DVD of 2:22 are due for release on 24 August 2010. I am unable to determine the specifications or extras at this time. I could not find any current Region B Blu-ray.

     While it is not Heat, 2:22 shares with that film a concentration upon slowly developing the home and family lives of its criminals, interspersed with sudden bursts of violent action. It did not get a theatrical release in Australia, yet for much of its running time 2:22 is an interesting, quirky and tense character driven thriller that is well worth a look.

     The Blu-ray has very good video and audio and minimal extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall