So dumb that it's laugh-out-loud, unintentionally funny.
Perhaps the biggest lapse in logic, and a major flaw of this film, is that the magnitude of this event isn't conveyed. I mean, two nuclear warheads are missing, and the problem seems to be monitored only by the same command-central folks who sent the pilots on their mission in the first place, with a small team of bad guys squaring off against them. There's no sense of greater peril to the planet, and no concern beyond this small circle. Heck, if this were "The West Wing," Jed Bartlett would have been caucusing with the top brass trying to figure out a strategy. But what do I know. I'm not an explosives expert either, but I've watched enough war movies over a lifetime to know that in every single one of them a grenade that was tossed always exploded mostly upwards and outwards from the point of impact. In "Broken Arrow," grenades create blow-out effects that burst like the cloud of debris from the World Trade Center.
Then there's Woo's inexplicable insertion of reaction shots that are as cheesy as those gauzy-filtered high school senior portraits, with just as cheesy music in the background. But maybe it's the script itself that slices these villains thin as deli Swiss, with just as many holes. Though the film is rated "R" for strong action violence and language, there's still one head-snapping moment when Deak says in a tense situation, "HUSH." If this guy was so bad, wouldn't he just growl, "Shut the fuck up?" It's moments like these-and the way that blood instantaneously appears on Riley's face, trickles and all-that render "Broken Arrow" cartoonish, though we're never sure if we're supposed to take it as comic-book action. The tone seems deadly, not deadpan serious.
Video:
The 1080p picture is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen and transferred to a 25-gig single-layer disc using MPEG-2 technology at 21 MBPS. For a 1996 color film this one looks pretty good, though with FX developments over the past 10 years, the explosions don't quite have the magnitude you'd hope for. There's also the slightest bit of grain in some scenes, but the level of detail is decent, with close-ups proving once again to be the test of how sharp the Blu-ray picture really is.
Audio:
There's a similar sense of disappointment with the audio, again probably due to the original source materials. The featured soundtrack is English Dolby Digital DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless Audio, but while the bass is plenty booming enough and the treble/bass balance is good, the movement of sound across the speakers is inconsistent. Sometimes the sounds move naturally and seem in synch with what's happening on the screen or implied off screen, while other times you just feel that the sound has been randomly channeled. It feels like sound is just coming out of the rear speakers and main speakers, as opposed to a sound that fills a room or moves across it.
Alternate soundtracks are Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles in English (CC), Spanish, Cantonese, and Korean.
Extras:
This one is enhanced for D-Box Motion Control Systems, but there are no extras except for the original theatrical trailer and a handful of other Fox movie trailers.
Bottom Line:
This is the tamest R-rated movie I've seen in some time, and for that matter it's the tamest bad-guys-try-to-steal-nuclear-weapons film I've seen. When you total all of the niggling inconsistencies and lump in Travolta's and Long's silly performances and a sillier script, you get a film that's just plain dumb. But the good news? "Broken Arrow" is so dumb that it's laugh-out-loud, unintentionally funny. The explosions, crashes, flying bullets, and fight scenes are just a bonus.
Then there's Woo's inexplicable insertion of reaction shots that are as cheesy as those gauzy-filtered high school senior portraits, with just as cheesy music in the background. But maybe it's the script itself that slices these villains thin as deli Swiss, with just as many holes. Though the film is rated "R" for strong action violence and language, there's still one head-snapping moment when Deak says in a tense situation, "HUSH." If this guy was so bad, wouldn't he just growl, "Shut the fuck up?" It's moments like these-and the way that blood instantaneously appears on Riley's face, trickles and all-that render "Broken Arrow" cartoonish, though we're never sure if we're supposed to take it as comic-book action. The tone seems deadly, not deadpan serious.
Video:
The 1080p picture is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen and transferred to a 25-gig single-layer disc using MPEG-2 technology at 21 MBPS. For a 1996 color film this one looks pretty good, though with FX developments over the past 10 years, the explosions don't quite have the magnitude you'd hope for. There's also the slightest bit of grain in some scenes, but the level of detail is decent, with close-ups proving once again to be the test of how sharp the Blu-ray picture really is.
Audio:
There's a similar sense of disappointment with the audio, again probably due to the original source materials. The featured soundtrack is English Dolby Digital DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless Audio, but while the bass is plenty booming enough and the treble/bass balance is good, the movement of sound across the speakers is inconsistent. Sometimes the sounds move naturally and seem in synch with what's happening on the screen or implied off screen, while other times you just feel that the sound has been randomly channeled. It feels like sound is just coming out of the rear speakers and main speakers, as opposed to a sound that fills a room or moves across it.
Alternate soundtracks are Spanish and French Dolby Digital 5.1, with subtitles in English (CC), Spanish, Cantonese, and Korean.
Extras:
This one is enhanced for D-Box Motion Control Systems, but there are no extras except for the original theatrical trailer and a handful of other Fox movie trailers.
Bottom Line:
This is the tamest R-rated movie I've seen in some time, and for that matter it's the tamest bad-guys-try-to-steal-nuclear-weapons film I've seen. When you total all of the niggling inconsistencies and lump in Travolta's and Long's silly performances and a sillier script, you get a film that's just plain dumb. But the good news? "Broken Arrow" is so dumb that it's laugh-out-loud, unintentionally funny. The explosions, crashes, flying bullets, and fight scenes are just a bonus.
Average user rating (1-5):
Not yet rated.
Not yet rated.
[release]20607[/release]