{"id":26777,"date":"2021-07-16T23:31:44","date_gmt":"2021-07-17T06:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=26777"},"modified":"2021-07-16T23:31:44","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T06:31:44","slug":"review-spiral-4k-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2021\/07\/review-spiral-4k-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Spiral 4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Although I do appreciate trying to take the franchise is a new direction, Spiral: From the Book of Saw<\/em><\/strong> is a complete misfire with really poor acting, bad and predictable writing, pedestrian direction and nonsensical editing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mortal Kombat<\/span>
\n(2021)<\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Genre(s): <\/strong>Horror, Crime, Thriller<\/span>
\nLionsgate | R \u2013 93 min. \u2013 $30.99 | July 20, 2021<\/span><\/p>\n

Date Published:<\/strong> 07\/16\/2021 | Author:<\/strong> The Movieman<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"
\n<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
MOVIE INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Directed by: <\/strong>Darren Lynn Bousman
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Josh Stolberg & Pete Goldfinger (written by)
\nCast: <\/strong>Chris Rock, Max Minghella, Samuel L. Jackson, Marisol Nichols, Daniel Petronijevic<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
DISC INFO:
\n<\/u><\/strong>Features: <\/strong>Audio Commentaries, Featurettes, Theatrical Trailers
\nSlip Cover: <\/strong>Yes
\nDigital Copy: <\/strong>Yes
\nFormats Included: <\/strong>4K, Blu-ray
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>2<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Audio (4K\/BD): <\/strong>English (Dolby Atmos), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
\nVideo (4K): <\/strong>2160p\/Widescreen 2.38
\nVideo (BD): <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 2.38
\nDynamic Range: <\/strong>HDR10
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, English, French, Spanish
\nCodecs: <\/strong>HEVC \/ H.265 (4K), MPEG-4 AVC (BD)
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A, B, C<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Lionsgate provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe opinions I share are my own.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Note:\u00a0<\/strong>The screen captures were taken from the included Blu-ray disc.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

THE MOVIE \u2014 1\u00be\/5<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Plot Synopsis: <\/strong>Working in the shadow of his father (SAMUEL L. JACKSON), Detective Ezekiel “Zeke” Banks (CHRIS ROCK) and his rookie partner Detective William Schenk (MAX MINGHELLA) take charge of an investigation into grisly murders that are eerily reminiscent of the city’s gruesome past. Unwittingly entrapped in a deepening mystery, Zeke finds himself at the center of the killer’s morbid game.<\/p>\n

Review: <\/strong>2004\u2019s Saw<\/em> was an amazing film, one that attracted horror, thriller and crime fans alike and for me, I found it to be a compelling and all around entertaining suspense-thriller with some grisly horror thrown in. The subsequent sequels what really ushered in the torture-porn craze that sprouted the likes of Hostel<\/em> and The Collector<\/em> amongst others, albeit Saw<\/em> was hardly the start of the trend, but spurred it on in a time when, at least from my memory, horror was on a downslide.<\/p>\n

Eight movies later that had concluded with Jigsaw<\/em> in 2017, a movie I saw but really cannot remember one thing about it. As for the previous entries, all coming out in succession year over year, the quality of each diminished and less focus on any story and instead trying to find new and grisly ways to find ways to kill a human with some odd twist of the perpetrator\u2019s reasoning. Of course, it would be hard to find a twist as surprising as it was for the first film.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Now comes Spiral: From the Book of Saw<\/em><\/strong>, a new chapter that takes the legacy and takes it in a different direction, which I am perfectly fine with given they had driven the Jigsaw storyline into the ground. And when I initially read that of all people Chris Rock was spearheading this, my eyebrow raised but kept an open mind. And adding Samuel L. Jackson to the cast was… not all that impressive since, as entertaining of an actor he is, he does tend to take just about anything thrown his way. The cast also includes Marisol Nichols and Max Minghella, two fine actors but, well, I\u2019ll get to the acting later.<\/p>\n

In any case, what we got with Spiral<\/em><\/strong> was a gigantic mess. The film sees the return of Darren Bousman (Saw II, III <\/em>and IV<\/em>) and I suppose he\u2019s the best part, at least giving some semblance of a mood or grit. However, and this was an issue with the others in the Saw<\/em> franchise, the editing was chaotic, here it felt amateurish. There\u2019s nothing in the technical aspects that could be pointed to that I could say was any good.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The biggest issue was with the acting. I actually was absolutely stunned in how awful… EVERYONE was, top lined by Chris Rock, who served as an executive producer, himself. Not that anyone else could\u2019ve done any better but he was woefully miscast and mostly screamed the terrible dialogue and throughout the movie would throw in little comedy rants that felt out of place and added nothing to the character. Rock isn\u2019t the only one:<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a trope scene where we get the police captain, played by Marisol Nichols, yells at Rock\u2019s Banks character for being a reckless and that he\u2019s getting a rookie partner, he was a line away from saying \u201cI work alone!\u201d Mind you, this was not supposed to be a satire of the buddy cop movie (notable Rock pitched this as a cross between 48 HRS<\/em> and Seven<\/em>, if only). The acting between Rock and Nichols was so over-the-top, it was difficult to take anything seriously from there on out.<\/p>\n

Oh, and Samuel L. Jackson has a small part and gets an interesting trap I suppose, but clearly the filmmakers got him for a couple of days, i.e. the Bruce Willis treatment. It\u2019s your typical Jackson performance and I guess compared with the others, probably is the better one of the bunch… by default at any rate.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The other problem: while there was plenty of suspension of disbelief in some of the Saw<\/em> sequels, both in terms of how the torture\/kill devices were designed and built, but the unmasking of the ultimate villains beyond John Kramer as well. Here, the identity of the killer is completely predictable, where you\u2019ll know within the first 15-20 minutes, so you\u2019re left with a half-baked story with poorly conceived characters and terrible performances. It\u2019s not that the others in the franchise had spectacular acting or anything, but it wasn\u2019t this bad.<\/p>\n

I have no idea where this storyline is going to go, or where it can go, from here or how Lionsgate defines success since this was released prior to theaters completely re-opening, but I can only hope somehow, someway they right the course, or just let it die completely (I\u2019ll predict they\u2019ll go for the TV series route, I\u2019m sure it could find a home on Shudder).<\/p>\n

Spiral: From the Book of Saw<\/em><\/strong> is just simply a bad movie. There are parts to unintentionally laugh at like the bad acting from what would be assumed a talented cast, however Chris Rock in particular was especially felt out of place; honestly someone like Chiwetel Ejiofor might\u2019ve brought something better to the table, though he would be too good for this script…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\n

SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 4\u00bd\/5<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

This release comes with a glossy slip cover<\/strong> and inside a redemption code for the Digital HD<\/strong> copy.<\/p>\n

Audio Commentaries:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n