Backtrace Blu-ray Review

THE MOVIE — 2.25/5

This is a Grindstone Entertainment production. /Review.

But seriously, this is yet another half-baked movie that managed to wrangle in some decent talent, this time around Sylvester Stallone and Matthew Modine, though Backtrace marks Stallone’s second Grindstone feature following the atrocious and awful Escape Plan 2: Hades.

The plot for Backtrace follows Macdonald (MATTHEW MODINE) who is in prison after a robbery that resulted in the killings of two men. However, during the shootout, his head is grazed and now has no memory of the events or where he and his crew had hid the money they stole, a cool $2 million. Now years later, he is broken out of prison by a man (RYAN GUZMAN) and a woman (MEADOW WILLIAMS) and utilize a serum that, combined with familiar settings, can unlock memories.

The trio go on the road in attempts of finding the money but on their trail are local detective Skyes (SYLVESTER STALLONE) and FBI agent Franks (CHRISTOPHER MCDONALD). But not everything is as it seems, on both sides of the equation as Macdonald begins to remember, but the serum has some nasty side effects which could cost him his life.

I will give Backtrace a tiny bit of credit for at least having an interesting premise. Sadly, either due to a lack of talent or limited production budget (or both), the result is a film which squanders its potential with some hare-brained plot points, incompetent editing and some lazy acting, particularly on the part of Sylvester Stallone who I guess just wanted a free vacae in New Orleans or had some free time before he went on to film Escape Plan 3.

The other actors were alright I suppose. It’s nice to see Matthew Modine in more of a primary role and he accords himself well enough considering the shortcomings of the script and Christopher McDonald gets a couple okay scenes though wish he was in it more. The others, like Ryan Guzman, are… whatever.

The film was directed by Grindstone go-to guy Brian A. Miller who previously helmed The Prince, Vice and Reprisal for the direct-to-video/on-demand production company (also has 10 Minutes Gone coming up starring Bruce Willis and Michael Chiklis which has a similar plotline). Nothing really remarkable in terms of the direction and in fairness, he is limited by the script which was written by Mike Maples (feature debut).

SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5

This release comes with a glossy, title embossed, slip cover and inside a redemption code for the Digital HD copy.

Making Backtrace (5:58; HD) is your run-of-the-mill behind-the-scenes production featurette with canned interviews with the cast and crew.

Cast/Crew Interviews (20:49; HD) – This is a collection of EPK interviews with Director Brian A. Miller, Christopher McDonald, Ryan Guzman and Colin Egglesfield. Notably missing are Sylvester Stallone and Matthew Modine.

Trailer (1:45; HD)

Previews – Reprisal, Escape Plan 2: Hades, Bleeding Steel, Acts of Violence

VIDEO – 3.5/5

AUDIO – 4.0/5

OVERALL – 2.25/5

Overall, Backtrace wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but it is your run-of-the-mill poorly made direct-to-video flick that will eventually be <$10 level in no time, though you might be missing out on the sweet title-embossed slip cover… In any case, the features were on standard side as were the video and audio transfers.