Blu-ray Review #71: 2 Guns

2 Guns - Blu-ray Review 4.5 Stars (out of 5) - Rated R

Synopsis

When an attempt to take down a drug cartel blows up in their faces, two undercover operatives are forced to go on the run together, though neither knows that the other is a federal agent.

Starring:

Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton, Bill Paxton, James Marsden, Fred Ward, Edward James Olmos

Director:

Baltasar Kormákur

Blu-ray Release Date:

November 19, 2013

Subtitles:

English, French, Spanish

Rating

Overall rating weighted as follows:

Audio 40%, Video 40%, Special Features 20%, Movie - its just our opinion so take it with a grain of salt

Audio 4.6 Stars (out of 5)

Dolby and DTS Demo Discs used as basis for comparison

● Subwoofer – 4.5 Stars

● Dialog – 5.0 Stars

● Surround Effects – 4.0 Stars

● Dynamic Range – 5.0 Stars

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 2.0, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1,

The low end sounds great, but it isn’t utilized as often as it could have been. When the sub is active it sounds pretty good, especially when trains rumble down the tracks, cars crash, punches thud, and when things explode. The film is heavy with dialog, and at no time did I need to rewind to understand what was said. Surround effects were only used in major action sequences, I didn’t notice any subtle ambient noises to help envelop you into the movie. However, the rear channels were loud and clear during action sequences which featured sounds of gunshots, revving engines, helicopters, and fire alarms.

Video 4.9 Stars (out of 5)

Spears & Munsil Benchmark Blu-ray Edition used as basis for comparison

● Color Accuracy - 4.8 Stars

● Shadow detail – 4.8 Stars

● Clarity – 5.0 Stars

● Skin tones – 5.0 Stars

● Compression – 5.0 Stars

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC, Resolution: 1080p, Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1, Aspect Ratio: 2:40:1

Colors are natural and help bring out the neutral colors and green brush in the desert, fluffy white clouds, an orange sunset, and a few deep red swaths of blood. Black colors are truly black without bleeding into the light, however sunlight and lightbulbs seam to glow extra bright and sometimes make adjacent colors look pale. Clarity is crisp and clean which make it easy to see the details on beard whiskers, chipped paint, dust floating in the air, and deep canyon like wrinkles in Edward James Olmos’ weathered leathery face.

Bonus Features 3.5 Stars (out of 5)

● Feature Commentary With Director Baltasar Kormákur and Producer Adam Siegel

● Undercover and Into Action (HD, 6 min.) – This is a basic behind-the-scenes featurette

● Deleted Scenes – 8 deleted scenes, most scenes are short but fill a few holes in the story.

● Click, Click, Bang Ban: The Making of '2 Guns' The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy (HD, 30 min.) – This is the entire making of featurette that begins with 'Undercover and Into Action,' but continues with ' The Good, the Bad, and the Sexy,' 'Finding the Vibe' and 'Living Dangerously.'

Movie – 3.8 Stars (out of 5) Review

2 Guns is a fast moving action film that surprised me with how funny it is. Thankfully, it’s not a knee slapping comedy with unrealistic silly situations. Instead, the comedy comes from character interactions, or quick one-liners. There isn’t much action in this film, it spends most of it’s time building the plot and solving the mystery. The story is fast paced it can be a little complicated if you aren’t paying attention. The plot is solid except that a character showed they couldn’t be trusted and the beginning of the film and no one questioned them at all. The most enjoyable part of the movie was seeing the great chemistry between Washington and Wahlberg. Their pairing made this one of the best buddy cop movies I’ve seen in a long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVNe3RK2fgI