Review: At Close Range BD + Screen Caps

At Close Range is a bit uneven but still effective character drama headlined by a few great performances especially by Sean Penn and Christopher Walken. Despite some flaws, it’s a compelling story and worth checking out at least once. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time is nice and all with good video/audio transfers yet again comes at a high price.

 

 

At Close Range
(1986)

REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall

Genre(s): Drama, Crime
Twilight Time | R – 115 min. – $29.95 | September 8, 2015

MOVIE INFO: Directed by: James Foley Writer(s): Elliott Lewitt and Nicholas Kazan (story), Nicholas Kazan (screenplay) Cast: Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, Mary Stuart Masterson, Crispin Glover, Tracey Walter, Chris Penn, David Strathairn, Keifer Sutherland DISC INFO: Features: Audio Commentary, Theatrical Trailer Digital Copy: No Number of Discs: 1 Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 2.0) Video: 1080p/Widescreen 2.35 Subtitles: English SDH Disc Size: NA Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Region(s): A, B, C

** Click Here to Purchase At Close Range on Blu-ray from Screen Archives **

PLOT SUMMARY

Based on a true story, At Close Range — written by Nicholas Kazan (The Edge) and directed by James Foley (Glengarry Glen Ross) — gives us the grim tale of a rural Pennsylvania crime family led by Brad, Sr. (CHRISTOPHER WALKEN), a nasty charismatic who lures his n’er-do-well son, Brad, Jr. (SEAN PENN) into a life of ghastly deeds.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.75/5

Along with the usual essay booklet, the movie includes an Audio Commentary with Director James Foley and Film Historian Nick Redman as well as the Original Theatrical Trailer (2:57; HD).

VIDEO – 3.75/5

Screen Archives releases At Close Range onto Blu-ray presented in its original 2.35 widescreen aspect ratio and shown with a 1080p high-definition transfer. For the most part, it’s a decent looking video with some noise but nothing overly distracting. Detail is good while colors appear to be natural and well balanced. Dark levels are rather stark and don’t show any major instances of artifacts or aliasing.

AUDIO – 3.75/5

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is more than serviceable especially considering it’s a dialogue-driven flick where the majority of the audio is centrally located but evenly and nicely spread out over the dual channels. Obviously this isn’t anything noteworthy however it’s good enough considering the genre.

OVERALL – 2.5/5

Overall, At Close Range is a bit uneven but still effective character drama headlined by a few great performances especially by Sean Penn and Christopher Walken. Despite some flaws, it’s a compelling story and worth checking out at least once. The Blu-ray released by Twilight Time is nice and all with good video/audio transfers yet again comes at a high price.

 

Published: 09/14/2015

 

 

 

 

 

Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.