The Contractor/The Fan double feature Blu-ray release isn’t anything remarkable as these aren’t high-quality movies to begin with, however both films do have their moments and Wesley Snipes at least never felt like he was phoning it in.
The Contractor/The Fan
(2007/1996)
Genre(s): Suspense/Thriller, Action
Mill Creek Entertainment | R – 99 min. / 116 min. – $14.98 | March 17, 2020
Date Published: 03/23/2020 | Author: The Movieman
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Mill Creek Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIES |
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The Contractor (2007) — 3.0/5 Quick Hit Review: Subpar but I suppose acceptable enough thriller that seemed to be made when Wesley Snipes still gave a damn and wasn’t phoning it in, or at least played it above the material he was given. Even so, the plot is thin and the attempts at giving some sort of sweet father-daughter-like chemistry, a la The Professional, never quite worked so well, especially when the girl’s home life, even with her deceased parents, wasn’t terrible (versus what Portman’s character had to endure in her home life). In any case, as a throw away action-thriller, it’s fine but nothing especially memorable. The Fan (1996) — 2.5/5 Quick Hit Review: The Fan was a decent enough thriller for the first two-thirds and a topical commentary about sports fanaticism that still applies today, but then has a ridiculous finale that lacked any suspense with a “showdown” of sorts between our two leads. That said, the performances from both De Niro and Snipes were good, capturing a time period where both were at least still giving it their all. The film was directed by Tony Scott and is certainly one of his weaker entries from the 1990s and felt like his heart wasn’t as into the project compared with others, including his follow-up Enemy of the State released in 1998. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5 |
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No features were included but there is a DVD copy. |
VIDEO – 3.5/5 |
| Both The Contractor and The Fan are presented with a 1080p high-definition transfers and shown in their original theatrical aspect ratios, 1.85 and 2.35 respectively. This is the Blu-ray debut for The Fan and the North American debut for the other. Although The Fan wasn’t a favorite of mine but I was strangely looking forward to a proper aspect ratio as the DVD re-released by Sony in the early 2000s left off the widescreen version leaving only a, I believe, Pan & Scan Full Frame behind.
In any case, neither films look amazing in high-def with The Contractor easily the better of the two. Although both videos are relatively well defined, albeit a tad soft in spots, seemed like there were numerous frames on The Fan littered with specs, dust marks and other significant damage to the film. Course, this being a budget title, these aren’t movies worth putting any money into restoring, just know that going in they aren’t going to wow anyone. |
AUDIO – 3.5/5 |
| The Contractor comes with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and The Fan a DTS-HD MA 2.0 track. Both of these are satisfying however nothing extraordinary, the former lacking incredible depth and the other’s outputting clear enough dialogue. While neither are awe-inspiring, they are perfectly adequate. |
OVERALL – 3.0/5 |
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The Contractor/The Fan double feature Blu-ray release isn’t anything remarkable as these aren’t high-quality movies to begin with, however both films do have their moments and Wesley Snipes at least never felt like he was phoning it in. The transfers on both may not be incredible but at the cheap SRP, and currently can be had for only $8.99, it’s still worth picking up. |