Blood Money - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Blood Money

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
Thrillers are a dime a dozen these days. Criminal masterminds off in the woods, and come across some unsuspecting young campers who get wrapped up in his whirlwind of criminal affairs. Yadda yadda yadda, rinse and repeat a billion thriller/horror cliches and the young kids come out on top against the madman. The story is as old as time (now I can’t get that song out of my head), and usually ends up with the same tired ending. However, Blood Money starts out that way, but along the way you slowly begin to realize that the genre tropes aren’t ALL followed to a T. Usually the villain is very cut and dry, with innocent (and usually nubile) teens runs away from his machinations, but this film kind of turns that particular one on its ear. This time very slowly introducing the idea that the villain is not always the MAIN villain, and changes your idea of just who is really to be feared. The movie is still littered with genre tropes that are as cliched as they come, but this little nuance makes Blood Money actually stand out a bit from the pack as a result.

The film starts out with a frightened female being dragged by her hair at the hands of John Cusack, only for the film to jump back in time to the beginning of the day. There we get to see the young woman named as Lynn (Willa Fitzgerald), and she and her friends Victor (Ellar Coltrane) and Jeff (Jacob Artist) are meeting up for the first time in ages to have a sort of “reunion” camping trip. Things start out innocent enough, but we can see that Victor still is carrying a bit of a torch for Lynn (long lingering glances, and that sort of mopey doe eyed look that you get from a twitterpeted young man). As the story unfolds it becomes clear that Jeff and Lynn have been dating for a while, while poor Victor is left feeling like the awkward man out. Things get even MORE awkward when Lynn stumbles upon a cache of cash hidden in a set of dufflebags. An argument ensues as Lynn and Jeff want to keep the money, while Victor takes the moral high ground, only to be over ridden by the other two.

As the film sets up with John Cusack in the opening moments, this is NOT going to be an easy getaway. As Jeff and Lynn try to smuggle the cash back to the car, Victor runs across a man in the woods named Miller (John Cusack) who seems “just” a bit odd. Turns out that Miller is the owner of said cash as he has embezzled the 8 million contained within and is going to get it back. No matter what cost. Soon the maniacal banker turned con is chasing the trio of kids through the woods in search of his money, but it seems like he is not the ONLY villain at play as Lynn slowly succumbs to the allure and pull of that much cash.

Blood Money is a film that doesn’t really defy genre tropes. All of your typical thriller cliches are here, from the nubile young teens running through the woods, to the maniacal killer at their backs. Cops get shot, the teens are hunted, and soon they’re cornered by the villain. You really can pretty much predict what is going to happen BEFORE it happens for the most part. The only real twist comes from the characterization of Lynn. It’s pretty obvious that she’s not the innocent character of the movie, but when she gets a whiff of that green goodness there sparks a change inside of her. The film slowly watches her progress form an innocent character with some flaws to an all out villain that you just love to hate by the end of the film. I won’t spoil the EXACT twist (although it’s not TOO hard to guess from the information given), but the neat little change up at the end of the movie actually had me sit up and pay attention for a few minutes as it broke the cliches long enough to have a glimpse of originality.

The movie watching experienced COULD have been a solid one but for two things. The acting of the main trio of teens/young adults is pretty stinking bad. I mean, Willa Fitzgerald is not bad when she becomes all evil, but before that she falls into the “well duh!, I’m painting my nails” type of stereotype with the dopey guys. Jeff is your typical macho man, but Victor is so insufferably whiny and prone to pity parties that you’re almost wondering if his archetype ACTUALLY exists in real life. I just couldn’t get over how pathetic and whipped he was, even in the confines of the movie. Cusack gives a decent (if not slightly restrained) role, and actually gives a bit more effort into Miller than he has for his last half dozen movies combined. The second factor is the writing. The dialog in Blood Money is just sooooooooooooo bad that you honestly feel like you’re in a 1980s slasher movie. Couple that with painful delivery and the movie (up until the last 20 minutes) is a bit much to slog through.




Rating:

Rated R for language throughout including sexual references, and for some violence




Video:

Blood Money is another digital affair on Blu-ray from Lionsgate, and it looks typical of the studio’s lower tier releases. Everything looks generally good, with a few flaws, but nothing that will really disappoint most viewers. When outside in the wilderness, the picture is just STUNNING on my Sony x900e, with a clarity that makes you want to just walk into the picture. There’s a natural color grading to the film, giving it a very photo realistic look, but its when the movie gets dark that some of the “problems” come out. The darkness is a bit milky, and shadow details is restrained compared to what I was hoping for. There’s a little bit of banding when the trio goes underground, but that clears up as soon as they make it through the narrow junction to the power plant. Overall it’s a good looking image, and VERY sharp, with the darker bits being the only real problematic areas.






Audio:

Lionsgate’s 5.1 DTS-HD MA track offers quite a bit for fans, with nice layers of immersion and some really stand out action sequences that jolt you out of your chairs. The film opens up with the trio of friends heading out to a camping spot, and the movie accurately depicts a nice array of forest sounds to kick up the surround channels, and even a modicum of bass with the water rushing I the background, or a bit on the score. LFE is especially intense with the handful of gunshots that really startle you out of a seemingly comfortable audio space. The bolt action rifle that Cusack uses is the first powerful scene in the movie, and it really is hefty with the sheer depth of the shots. The score keeps it buzzing with a nice background hum, and some bass to keep this interesting. While the track isn’t a stunning achievement for 5.1, it does quite well as a simple thriller and there is nothing I can actually complain about as it does everything to the best of its abilities.






Extras:

• Blood Money Uncovered

Final Score: ​

Blood Money is a derivative film that REALLY suffers with a painfully written script and the horrible acting of the two male leads. Cusack give a decently energetic performance (considering how baked he looks in most of his recent films), but the real stand out is Willa Fitzgerald, who is fascinating to watch as the most hated person in the film (for multiple reasons). The Blu-ray is technically sound, with good audio and video specs, and only a modicum of any real special features to act as the weakest link in the film. The movie isn’t exceptionally GOOD, but the end of the movie wrapping back directly into the misconceptions you have at the beginning of the film was actually rather impressive. So I’d have to say it very well may be worth your time as a rental for that alone.





Technical Specifications:

Starring: John Cusack, Ellar Coltrane, Willa Fitzgerald
Directed by: Lucky McKee
Written by: Jared Butler, Lars Norberg
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: R
Runtime: 86 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: December 19th, 2017

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Rental

 

[Asere]

When you have an actor like John Cusack in a film that you never heard of you know it is really bad or mediocre. I will skip this one and thank you for the review.

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I will also skip this one.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Mike, you've taken a lot of shots to the gut for us over the years...

 

[Michael Scott]

lol, ironically it was the ending that made me give it as HIGH of a review as I did. Without that, it would have dropped to 1.5/5 or 2/5 lol

 

[Todd Anderson]

I just don't have the patience for bad movies... I'd never made it that far!