7 SECONDS - Blu-ray review

Big-screen action heroes come and go. Some, like Big Arnold, Bruce Willis, and Sylvester Stallone, go and come back as good as or better than ever; most, like Steven Seagal, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Wesley Snipes, leave the big screen and don't return (at least not as of this writing). If they're lucky, they find a spot for themselves in the direct-to-video market, as these latter fellows have, where their fans can still appreciate their special talents. So, here we have a direct-to-DVD (and now direct-to-Blu-ray) release from Snipes, the 2005 DAM (Dumb Action Movie) "7 Seconds."

Written by Martin Wheeler ("Black Dawn," 2005, for Seagal; "The Detonator," 2006, for Snipes) and directed by Simon Fellows ("Second in Command," 2006, and "Until Death," 2007, both for Van Damme), "7 Seconds" is obviously a tailor-made product for Snipes.

As we might expect, Snipes plays an ex-military man, Jack Tuliver, trained to kill. What we might not expect is that Tuliver served four years in Leavenworth; he's a disgraced Delta Force commando now turned crook. Upon getting out of prison, he decided the best way to put his unique skills to work was by stealing stuff. So, as the movie starts, Jack's in Bucharest, Romania, masterminding a elaborate armored-car heist that should net him and his gang about $20,000,000. But it doesn't come off. In the middle of the stickup, a group of Russian Mafia horn in, killing almost all of Jack's men and taking off with the loot.

All well and good. But it gets even more complicated. You see, the Russians weren't after the measly $20,000,000. They wanted a case containing a rare Van Gogh painting valued at $65,000,000. Still well and good, except they don't get the painting. Jack escapes carrying the case with him, not knowing what's inside. The rest of the plot concerns the police chasing Jack for the robbery, the Mafia chasing Jack for the painting, and Jack trying desperately to clear himself of killing his own men and a few policemen as well.

Snipes's Jack Tuliver is an unusually coolheaded guy, adept not only with guns, knives, fists, and flying feet, but equally adept at pleasant banter and clever negotiating. For me, the lighter moments, the repartee, and the intrigue were far more fascinating than the rather routine action sequences. Snipes is more animated than Seagal and more charismatic than Van Damme, so he makes a fine action hero, but he's also good when he's simply talking to someone. Although he's not quite as high on the charm scale as Willis, Stallone, or Schwarzenegger, he's at least close.

Supporting players liven up the proceedings as well. Georgina Rylance is appealing as one of Jack's gang and a romantic ally; Tamzin Outhwaite is also engaging as Sgt. Kelly Andrews, an attractive NATO police officer who begins believing that maybe Jack isn't the villain in the piece that the rest of the police think he is and starts her own investigation of the case; Deobia Oparei provides pleasant comic relief as Spanky, another of Jack's gang that survives; and Pete Lee-Wilson and Serge Soric are appropriately sinister as Russian gangsters.

While high-speed chases, cars driving over other cars, shoot-outs, crashes, explosions, fistfights, punching, kicking, torture (ugh, too much torture), and sundry other diversions pad out "7 Seconds" to ninety-six minutes, the character interactions are what make the film worthwhile. Why action-movie directors think they have to load the screen with violence every two minutes is anybody's guess. A little goes a long way, and the more of it, the dumber the film.

In the final third of the movie, things fall apart pretty fast, and we get mostly knuckleheaded killing and bashing for their own sake. Overall, I'd say the film is one car chase, two shootings, and three fistfights too many. It would have been better off simply sticking to its occasional humor (yes, there are a few sardonic laughs along the way: "Check!").

The fact is, Wesley Snipes is a far more charming character on screen than people give him credit for. There were moments during "7 Seconds" when I thought I could be watching Eddie Murphy in "Beverly Hills Cop." The trouble is that Snipes doesn't always get the best material, and something like "7 Seconds" hardly does him justice.

Even though the MPAA gave "7 Seconds" an R rating for violence, language, and brief sexuality, there is little in the film that might offend an action-movie fan.

Video:
The Blu-ray transfer probably looks as good as the original print, but that may not be saying a lot. Sony video engineers use an MPEG-4/AVC codec, a dual-layer BD50, and an 1080p screen resolution to squeeze the last ounce of picture from every frame; yet despite everything the image quality often looks soft and fuzzy, especially in the location shots. The Romanian filming may have been the culprit, with less-than-ideal shooting conditions; I don't know. Most of the close-ups come across well enough, reasonably sharp and detailed, with a modicum of natural film grain; and when the picture looks good, it looks as good as BD gets. It's just inconsistent: from well focused to blurry, from clean to murky, from distinct to rough, from bright to dull. As I say, I dunno.

Audio:
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio does exactly what you'd expect of it: It's loud, it's noisy, it's aggressive, and it's dynamic. Bullets fly from all 5.1 speakers, and explosions show genuine authority. The trouble is that none of it is very interesting, and none of it very subtle. At times the background effects and music even obscure some of the dialogue, making key character names and plot elements occasionally hard to hear and follow.

Extras:
You'd think that the space advantage of a dual-layer BD50 would enable it to accommodate a few bonus items, but that isn't the case here. Maybe because Sony originally made the movie for DVD rather than for theatrical release, they couldn't find any extras to put on it. Or maybe because it contains so many lossless soundtracks, they really didn't have the room.

Anyway, like most of Sony's new Blu-ray discs, it is BD-Live enabled (for Profile 2.0 players with an Internet connection), so maybe the downloads are worthwhile. If so, it would surprise me. Beyond this Web feature, the disc contains eighteen scene selections but no chapter insert; bookmarks; pop-up menus; previews of other Sony products; English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Thai spoken languages; English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai, Chinese, Korean, Indonesian, Arabic, and Dutch subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.

Parting Shots:
There is nothing out of the ordinary about this Dumb Action Movie, but thanks to Snipes's cool demeanor, uncommon vulnerability, and general good humor, "7 Seconds" goes down smoothly enough that you don't want to put your foot through the screen. Now, if somebody could just explain to me why the filmmakers titled it "7 Seconds," my life would be complete.