Last Run (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	93:18 (Case: 99)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Anthony Hickox
Studio Distributor	Imagine Entertainment	Starring	Armand Assante Corey Johnson Jurgen Prochnow Ornella Muti Barna Illyes Anthony Hickox Annabel Brooks Sandor Tery
Case	Click
RPI	?	Music	Guy Farley

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    A lot of spy thrillers no longer work as effectively since the Berlin Wall fell and the threat of the USSR diminished. As this particular feature was made in 2000, the writers (Robert Syd Hopkins and Anthony Hickox) have been able to mould a story based around the falling of communism and the new threats that are occupying the attention of agencies around the globe.

    Frank Banner (Armand Assante) is the head of an elite team responsible for the safe extraction of spies if their cover had been blown, placing their lives at risk. Together with his team, he has pulled off the impossible in the past and successfully completed jobs that no other team would touch. After the fatal shooting of his wife during one such rescue, he turned into a recluse and left his past behind him.

    Banner is approached for one last mission. The former head of the KGB is being hunted down by both the Russian Mafia and the CIA. Banner reluctantly accepts and assembles his team for this daring rescue attempt. Everything runs to plan until his team starts being killed off one-by-one, but by whom . . . ?

Video

    The film exhibits a rather soft appearance, especially in the background open-air scenes. The foreground is sharper but is by no means crisp, yet the combination is surprisingly easy to watch. The shadow detail, or lack of it in some instances, is the film's largest problem. If you take a look at the sequence from 17:50 to 18:08 you will get a good idea of how difficult some scenes can be to see properly. This is one film where you will need to closely control your ambient light sources if you want to get the most (visually) from this film. Other areas are not as dark but this does tend to spoil an otherwise fine transfer. There is no low level noise.

    The colours appear slightly muted, which is most likely a reflection of the production design rather than a particular transfer issue.

    There were no MPEG artefacts seen. Aliasing is very rare and mild when it does occur. Film artefacts are also very rare and small when they do appear. They are quite apparent when you view each frame individually, but you have to look hard for them when the DVD is played back at normal speed. The darkened image may play a slight part in reducing the visibility of these particular artefacts.

    There are no subtitles available on this disc.

    This disc is single layered, so there is no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are two audio tracks available. The first and default is a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. The second is a Dolby Digital 2.0 track. I listened to the Dolby Digital 5.1 track in its entirety, and spot-checked the stereo track.

    The dialogue from the majority of actors was clear and easy to understand. Armand Assante can be hard to understand on occasion, but this is something that can be said for some of his other movies and is not related to the audio transfer.

    There was one instance when the sound dropped out for approximately 1 second, starting at 36:06. There is no dialogue at this point but the missing background music was a tell-tale sign.

    The musical score by Guy Farley was perfectly suited to this spy thriller. The inclusion of subtle but effective “ditties” like those at 16:26 and 25:02 really added to the film's ability to change your mood in tune with the story.

    The surround channels were handled very effectively and in all instances perfectly placed directional sound was on offer. At 16:33, the speakers jump in unison to match the on-screen action. In places like 5:14 or 57:35 you can hear the bullets whizzing around you, with ricochets behind you. In front of you are subtle “pings” as the shell casings are expelled onto the concrete. Magic! This is the norm for other areas of the audio transfer as well. At 75:01 there is an excellent example of perfect sound placement. A car is parked midway between the far left and centre of the camera. As the people get into the vehicle, the car doors bang between the left and centre channel, exactly where they are visually, as well as other noises being apparent just out of the camera's angle of view.

    The subwoofer was also used to good effect. Places such as 4:24 provide the boom to match the on-screen action and always place a nice bottom end on the sound.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Theatrical Trailer

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Nothing

• Nothing

    Last Run for me was an interesting movie that was quite enjoyable and definitely worth renting.

    The video transfer could have had better shadow detail - perhaps an overall increase in brightness would have helped.

    The audio quality is superb and the soundtrack was well done.

    The only extra present is a trailer.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall