Inheritance
R2 - United Kingdom - Signature Entertainment
Review written by and copyright: Rick Curzon (8th July 2020).
The Film

INHERITANCE is a nightmarish dive into the deepest and darkest secrets of New York's elite.

Breakout British actress Lily Collins is armed and dangerous in this high-stakes thriller also starring Simon Pegg as you have never seen him before. The film follows a young ambitious lawyer (Lily Collins: Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile) whose perfect life falls off the tracks following the death of her hedge fund tycoon father.

Lauren is left with a shocking secret inheritance that will threaten to unravel and destroy their lives.

Video

Disappointing, predictable thriller follows a familiar pattern of similarly themed movies; I gad a pretty good idea where this was going from the trailer and was proven correct (D). Image quality is decent although the digitally graded colour palette is a little dull and doesn't pop like I would want. The encoding job is good and it all comes off about as good as it can given the standard definition format and the clean, grain-free image.

Detail is present but muted by the filming choices with closeups obviously coming off best. This is a dark film and therefore I'm thankfully able to report that black levels are keen with decent shadow detail l ... again, for the standard definition format. Contrast is extremely low key with interior scenes like all of those in the underground bunker being so dark that I'd recommend the film be viewed at night. This isn't a visually dynamic film (B).

MPEG-2 / PAL / 106:42 / 2.4:1

Audio

English Dolby Digital 5.1
English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Subtitles: None

Sound is robust although like some other recent DVD releases I'm been asked to cover a shade lower in volume. The 5.1 obviously is the track of choice and the one I selected to watch the film with. I tested the 2.0 and there isn't a huge difference although there's a shade more depth in the 5.1. Dialogue remains front and centre, the score moves around the sound field and ambiance is well served at times in the rears, particular in big dramatic crescendos and action scenes.

There are no subtitles provided which is regrettable (B).

Extras

Startup Trailers (4:14):
- Mortal (2:06)
- Burden (2:08)


Standard promos for other Signature Entertainment releases. Mortal looks like a fun fantasy; Burden like another boring, worthy, true story about racism in the US. I have the latter to review and it'll be forthcoming (D).

Packaging

Standard black DVD Keepcase.

Overall

Disappointing, predictable thriller with no really engaging characters, at least to my mind; performances are nothing of great note but the actors seem committed. Routine in most ways (D+). Image quality is decent although the digitally graded colour palette is a little dull; but, the encode is good and it comes off about as good as it can given the standard definition format (B). Sound is robust although like some other recent DVD releases I'm been asked to cover a shade lower in volume (B). No extras worth mentioning (D). If you're interested in seeing this then the very affordable price on day one means that I can recommend this disc wholeheartedly (C).

The Film: D+ Video: B Audio: B Extras: D Overall: C

 


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