{"id":4330,"date":"2012-06-03T09:45:07","date_gmt":"2012-06-03T16:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=4330"},"modified":"2021-05-28T17:46:11","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T00:46:11","slug":"review-usmarshals-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2012\/06\/review-usmarshals-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Marshals Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>U.S. Marshals<\/em><\/strong> isn\u2019t a bad film and actually has a few decent scenes throughout. It\u2019s competently made for sure, but that\u2019s about it as the film is as by-the-numbers as it gets. The acting is fine, although even Tommy Lee Jones looked like he couldn\u2019t give a rat\u2019s ass and was merely there for a nice paycheck (reprising an Oscar-winning role, after all).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nU.S. Marshals (1998)<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nREVIEW NAVIGATION<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Movie<\/a> | Special Features<\/a> | Video Quality<\/a> | Audio Quality<\/a> | Overall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Genre(s): <\/strong>Action, Thriller
\nWarner Bros. | PG13 \u2013 131 min. \u2013 $19.98 | June 5, 2012<\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO:<\/span>
\nDirected by: <\/strong>Stuart Baird
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Roy Huggins (characters); John Pogue (written by)
\nCast: <\/strong>Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes, Robert Downey Jr., Joe Pantoliano<\/p>\n

Theatrical Release Date: <\/strong>March 6, 1998<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:<\/span>
\nFeatures: <\/strong>Commentary. Featurettes, Theatrical Trailer
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>1<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 2.0)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 1.78
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, French, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>40.3 GB
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A, B, C (untested)<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/p>\n

THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 2.75\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Plot Outline: <\/strong>Chief Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard (TOMMY LEE JONES) is back, this time in charge of hunting down and capturing fugitive Mark Sheridan (WESLEY SNIPES) who is accused of gunning down two federal agents. Joining Gerard and his team \u2013 Cosmo (JOE PANTOLIANO), Bobby Biggs (DANIEL ROEBUCK, Noah Newman (TOM WOOD) and Savannah Cooper (LATANYA RICHARDSON) \u2013 is Special Agent John Royce a.k.a. kickass character name (ROBERT DOWNEY JR.) assigned to the team by the Feds.<\/p>\n

Sheridan manages to escape after the plane he, fellow prisoners and Samuel Gerard, are on crashes after an attempt was made on his life. The bullet breaks open a window, creates a giant hole as the plane loses pressure (just to note: \u201cMythbusters\u201d busted this very scene). With no airstrip nearby, the 727 lands on a back country road, clips some power lines before tumbling end over end into a lake. Now the manhunt is on with Gerard and his team is after one objective while Sheridan tries to get \u201crighteous\u201d and clear his name.<\/p>\n

Remember how the plot for The Fugitive<\/em> was pretty simple? Yeah, there was a conspiracy element with Big Pharmaceutical at the core but U.S. Marshals<\/em><\/strong> seems to take it a step further involving espionage and trading of government secrets to foreign countries. It\u2019s not that the plot isn\u2019t easy to follow but it all felt more than a little convoluted. Anyway, the chase leads to New York City where chase ensues, a member of Gerard\u2019s team is killed \u2013 they assume by Sheridan, but instead an early revealed twist, it was somebody else \u2013 and the film\u2019s signature shot made for the trailers finds Snipe\u2019s stunt double swinging off the ledge of a building on top of a moving train. Unfortunately I think that\u2019s as thrilling as this movie gets.<\/p>\n

First things first: the cast and casting itself, wasn\u2019t bad. Tommy Lee Jones returns in his Oscar winning role but I knew it would be a joke as the filmmakers chose to make his introduction in a chicken outfit. I\u2019m not looking for a too serious drama here, but the Gerard in The Fugitive <\/em>sure as shit wouldn\u2019t have done that and given that post to Cosmo or Newman… Even so, Jones is fine in the part albeit not outstanding and no scenes that really stand out either. Wesley Snipes is suitable for the fugitive role and given his A-list status back in the mid to late 1990s, it was probably a smart hire, but I can\u2019t say he really brought anything to the bland character. Robert Downey Jr. who, if I recall correctly, was dealing with or on the cusp of his drug-crazed area in his life doesn\u2019t do too bad with a limited role, although the dynamic between he and Jones was decent enough. Point is, with these three leads, and the supporting cast for that matter, none of them really made an impression.<\/p>\n

The fact is, while each of them are good actors, the screenplay was the epitome of average. Written by John Pogue in his debut, and would go on to write the dreadful and equally convoluted The Skulls<\/em>, the awful Rollerball<\/em> and the dull Ghost Ship<\/em>, it\u2019s no wonder the script is utterly boring to the point where I almost dozed off (it doesn\u2019t help if it\u2019s your third or fourth viewing, which goes into replay value).<\/p>\n

Longtime editor Stuart Baird (Lethal Weapon<\/em>, Casino Royale<\/em>, Green Lantern<\/em> and the upcoming Skyfall<\/em>) made his directorial debut in 1996 with the fun action-thriller, Executive Decision<\/em> with U.S. Marshals<\/em><\/strong> being his follow-up. While on a technical level he doesn\u2019t do a bad job, albeit used a few too many angled shots, it\u2019s not very inspiring or energetic. Instead, it kind of goes through the motions, one shot to the next but kind of forgettable.<\/p>\n

And as a whole, while having a few entertaining moments and a couple cool action sequences, U.S. Marshals<\/em><\/strong> is just… forgettable. The performances are OK but the plot is so convoluted that it\u2019s hard to take it seriously, not to mention clocking in at 130-minutes, it\u2019s a good 10-15 minutes too long. It was a mistake to even make a sequel to an intense thriller like The Fugitive<\/em> but the old adage of less is more, should\u2019ve been applied here.<\/p>\n

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

\"\"<\/p>\n

SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 2.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

From what I can tell, all the features, save for a couple TV spots, were ported over from the old DVD release.<\/p>\n

Feature Commentary<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 Director Stuart Baird isn\u2019t very lively as it\u2019s fairly dry and could\u2019ve used another participant in the room. He does provide some behind-the-scenes information but it\u2019s so dull and boring, it is a chore to get through.<\/p>\n

Anatomy of the Plane Crash (12:44; SD)<\/span><\/strong> allows the viewer to check out the different aspects of the sequence from the model, exterior\/interior, location, water filming, research and even comparing this crash to the train derailment in The Fugitive<\/em>. This is probably the best and most expansive feature on the disc.<\/p>\n

Justice Under the Star (18:27; SD)<\/span><\/strong> is a featurette focusing on the U.S. Marshal service. This is the type of thing that would be shown in a middle school history class topped off with a cheesy narration.<\/p>\n

Theatrical Trailer (2:29; SD)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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

VIDEO \u2013 4.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

U.S. Marshals<\/em> <\/strong>makes its debut on Blu-ray presented in its original 2.40 widescreen aspect ratio and 1080p HD. The transfer actually looks pretty good. Often enough, I\u2019ve seen these cheap, cash-grab catalogue releases even from only 10-15 years ago not get the same treatment as some of the classics, but this isn\u2019t bad. The detail level is, for the most part, good and the black levels are stark without losing any of the other elements. I didn\u2019t notice much in the way of artifacts or pixilation. The color levels are also impressive, never going to the extreme either way. It\u2019s not perfect as some of the background objects are bit fuzzier but otherwise it\u2019s a solid transfer.
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

AUDIO \u2013 4.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The disc has been given a nice and hefty 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track which sounds fine during dialogue-laden scenes but picks up the pace during the action sequences, specifically the airplane crash. The rear speakers get mainly used for off-camera sounds such as idle chatter and general ambient noises.<\/p>\n

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

OVERALL \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Overall, U.S. Marshals<\/em><\/strong> isn\u2019t a bad film and actually has a few decent scenes throughout. It\u2019s competently made for sure, but that\u2019s about it as the film is as by-the-numbers as it gets. The acting is fine, although even Tommy Lee Jones looked like he couldn\u2019t give a rat\u2019s ass and was merely there for a nice paycheck (reprising an Oscar-winning role, after all). Still, if it\u2019s a slow, breezy Saturday afternoon, then it might be worth watching.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Movieman<\/em>
\nPublished: <\/strong>06\/03\/2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Marshals isn\u2019t a bad film and actually has a few decent scenes throughout. It\u2019s competently made for sure, but that\u2019s about it as the film is as by-the-numbers as it gets. The acting is fine, although even Tommy Lee Jones looked like he couldn\u2019t give a rat\u2019s ass and was merely there for a … Continue reading “U.S. Marshals Blu-ray Review”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[22,1135,1549,182],"class_list":["post-4330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","tag-robert-downey-jr","tag-tommy-lee-jones","tag-us-marshals","tag-wesley-snipes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4330"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26159,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4330\/revisions\/26159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}