Vendetta [Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Review written by and copyright: Abraham Phillips (30th August 2015).
The Film

The Soska Sisters (Jen & Sylvia) are a duo of directors that have been churning out many examples of lower budget style films, or what can be considered as "Drive-In" style "B" movies. "Vendetta" has the capacity of being one those Action-Direct-to-Video style Yarns, which the 80’s and 90’s VHS boom was about. This has become another in a long line of WWE Studio produced movie adventures, and they've done it again with "Vendetta".

The plot and the execution is clichéd, but still maintains the basic entertainment you would expect from these types of films. Dean Cain plays Mason, a Detective who takes down a criminal known as Victor, played by Paul "Big Show" Wight. After being captured by Mason, and his Detective partner, Victor is let go due to a witness disappearing. Victor decides when he gets out of jail, attacks, torture’s and kills Mason’s wife. Mason will soon stop at nothing to get his revenge and peace of mind.

Mason goes about getting himself locked up in the same prison that Victor is in. His main goal now is to seek out his ultimate death wish. One of the biggest problems of the film is the length. The movie is way too long and drags with the same ordeal over and over again. The movie could have easily been chopped by 15 to 20 minutes.

The acting is ok, and what you would expect from a movie featuring wrestlers. The plot is ludicrous, and implausible and downright stupid at times, but is still an entertaining watch, if you like direct-to-video action films. The best performance would be by Michael Eklund as Warden Synder. Eklund has been a stable in the DTV lower budget cinema for many years. His part of Synder shines and is memorable. I would say for wrestling fans, and lovers of low budget cinema, give it a go but don’t expect much other than a film that is purely ridiculous.

Video

Presented in 1.78:1 widescreen 1080p 24/fps mastered in AVC MPEG-4 compression, this high definition transfer has no fault. Colors are vibrant and imagery is crisp.

Audio

A single English DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track is includes, The audio is crystal clear. No fault in this department. Optional subtitles are included in English, English for the hearing impaired and Spanish.

Extras

Lionsgate has included a handful of extras, three featurettes and bonus trailers. Below is a closer look.

"The Making of Vendetta" is a standard EPK featurette running for 6 minutes 37 seconds.

"A Haunted Location" is a featurette running for 6 minutes 13 seconds. This is a program about the filming location, and it's supposed haunting atmosphere. The directors, Soska Sisters and the actors talk about the creepy history of the building. Riverview Mental Hospital, which is a location in Vancouver, Canada and is rumored to be haunted.

"The Big Transformation" is the final featurette that runs for 6 minutes 20 seconds. This is a program about wrestler Paul "Big Show" Wight. Actors and directors talk about Wight. Plus Paul himself talks about his character of Victor Abbott.

Bonus trailers start automatically, and are listed in the special features as well, they include:

- "Condemned" which runs for 1 minute 41 seconds.
- "See No Evil" which runs for 1 minute 8 seconds
- "See No Evil 2" which runs for 1 minute 46 seconds.
- "Leprechaun Origins" which runs for 1 minute 52 seconds.

There is also a bookmarking option for scenes.

The package comes with an insert for a digital copy for the movie.

Packaging

Standard plastic Blu-Ray case with wrap around artwork. Also has a slip-case.

Overall

A violent trip of fights, gun play and murder bring this action packed and often times brutal film to completion. Ridiculous, stupid, entertainment in the B-movie action style.

The Film: D Video: A Audio: A Extras: B Overall: D

 


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