7 Seconds (Blu-ray)

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In the final third of the movie, things fall apart pretty fast, and we get mostly knuckleheaded killing and bashing for their own sake. Overall, I'd say the film is one car chase, two shootings, and three fistfights too many. It would have been better off simply sticking to its occasional humor (yes, there are a few sardonic laughs along the way: "Check!").

The fact is, Wesley Snipes is a far more charming character on screen than people give him credit for. There were moments during "7 Seconds" when I thought I could be watching Eddie Murphy in "Beverly Hills Cop." The trouble is that Snipes doesn't always get the best material, and something like "7 Seconds" hardly does him justice.

Even though the MPAA gave "7 Seconds" an R rating for violence, language, and brief sexuality, there is little in the film that might offend an action-movie fan.

Video:
The Blu-ray transfer probably looks as good as the original print, but that may not be saying a lot. Sony video engineers use an MPEG-4/AVC codec, a dual-layer BD50, and an 1080p screen resolution to squeeze the last ounce of picture from every frame; yet despite everything the image quality often looks soft and fuzzy, especially in the location shots. The Romanian filming may have been the culprit, with less-than-ideal shooting conditions; I don't know. Most of the close-ups come across well enough, reasonably sharp and detailed, with a modicum of natural film grain; and when the picture looks good, it looks as good as BD gets. It's just inconsistent: from well focused to blurry, from clean to murky, from distinct to rough, from bright to dull. As I say, I dunno.

Audio:
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio does exactly what you'd expect of it: It's loud, it's noisy, it's aggressive, and it's dynamic. Bullets fly from all 5.1 speakers, and explosions show genuine authority. The trouble is that none of it is very interesting, and none of it very subtle. At times the background effects and music even obscure some of the dialogue, making key character names and plot elements occasionally hard to hear and follow.

Extras:
You'd think that the space advantage of a dual-layer BD50 would enable it to accommodate a few bonus items, but that isn't the case here. Maybe because Sony originally made the movie for DVD rather than for theatrical release, they couldn't find any extras to put on it. Or maybe because it contains so many lossless soundtracks, they really didn't have the room.

Anyway, like most of Sony's new Blu-ray discs, it is BD-Live enabled (for Profile 2.0 players with an Internet connection), so maybe the downloads are worthwhile. If so, it would surprise me. Beyond this Web feature, the disc contains eighteen scene selections but no chapter insert; bookmarks; pop-up menus; previews of other Sony products; English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Thai spoken languages; English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Arabic, and Dutch subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.

Parting Shots:
There is nothing out of the ordinary about this Dumb Action Movie, but thanks to Snipes's cool demeanor, uncommon vulnerability, and general good humor, "7 Seconds" goes down smoothly enough that you don't want to put your foot through the screen. Now, if somebody could just explain to me why the filmmakers titled it "7 Seconds," my life would be complete.

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