The Hero - Blu-ray Review

Movie
There are some character actors that you’ll watch read lines from a breakfast cereal commercial (or in the case of this film, a bbq sauce commercial). Sam Elliott is one of those iconic character actors that just is pure magic in whatever he does. I don’t care if the movie he is in stinks to high heaven, Sam Elliott WILL be the best part of that movie. Or at the very least, his buttery smooth voice will be the best part. I grew up watching him in Louis Lamour westerns as a child, and then got to watch him play in cult classics Road House as Swayze’s mentor, and he even got to say “The dude abides” in The Big Lebowski. Hey, even in Ang Lee’s Hulk he was one of the only bright spots in the entire film. Not to mention the fact that he’s kind of like Patrick Stewart in that he pretty much looks the same whether it be 1980 or 2015, just with a few more wrinkles around that handlebar mustache. The Hero is kind of an odd and cliched look at Hollywood, but the single defining star in the middle of this mediocre desert is once again, Sam Elliott.

Sam Elliott seems to be playing a stylized version of himself in Hollywood named Lee Hayden. Hayden was a big time Western movie icon since the 70s and has been riding on the success of some of his earlier films, namely one called The Hero. Nowadays the work has pretty much dried up and the 71 year old actor is making due by doing voice over work for commercials and the like. The rest of his time is spend commiserating over his successes and failures as an actor, while smoking pot with a one time actor coworker named Jeremy (Nick Offerman), who also happens to be his drug dealer. However, he has a major secret that is causing some introspection for the aging actor. He was just diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. A cancer that has a near universal kill ratio, and one that usually only gives between 6 months and 5 years left on a person’s life.

Dealing with this news is not always easy, and Lee is struck with the stark realization that what he has is not something he wants to end with. He has next to no relationship with his daughter Lucy (Krysten Ritter), and his marriage ended many years ago. After a chance encounter at Jeremy’s house during a pot buy, Lee runs into the vivacious and oddly unique Charlotte Dylan (the lovely Laura Prepon), who mysteriously take a shine to the older man. What starts out as a simple evening of reclaiming what little dignity and youth he once had, turns into a life saving relationship that helps the aging western start gain a whole new lease on the little life that he has left, and gives him an element of his center back.

The Hero plays fast and loose with the cliches of Hollywood life. The late life romance that helps gain purpose for someone after decades of wasting their life. Last minute relationship efforts with an estranged family member that seemingly works out in the end. A new bout of happiness in the face of imminent demist, and the good old fashioned nostalgic moments that say “see!? Your life really did have some meaning in it!” before the credits roll. If you take Sam Elliott out of the picture, it’s pretty easy to see that the film is really just a middling movie that wouldn’t have been nearly as watchable as it was without the leading man’s incredible charm and buttery voice.

Lee is a wildly cliched character, but also one that seems to resonate with Elliott himself, as his life mirrors many aspects of the main character. Other actors fare worse in the film. Krysten Ritter has always been an appealing actress, but she is only given a few lines here and there, and Laura Prepon is sadly wasted due to the writing. She’s actually quite good when she’s on screen, and she’s rather invigorating, but her lines are so clumsily written, and her backstory so throwaway that you just can’t seem to get invested in her. Interestingly enough, Nick Offerman does one of the better performances outside of Elliott as Lee’s old friend and new drug dealer. He’s a bit goofy, but honest and straightforward, which suits Offerman’s gruff acting to a T. The movie itself really feels like it was a short film that got stretched on way too long, and the same can be said for the dreamlike sequences that Lee undergoes. They’re nice and poignant to a point, and then they feel repetitious and unneeded.




Rating:

Rated R for drug use, language and some sexual content




Video:

Shot digitally with the Arri Alexa cameras in scope 2.39:1, The Hero comes to Blu-ray via Lionsgate with a very nice looking 1080p encode. The film is lightly graded with overtones of honey and wheat, but there are a few shots along the beach where an almost monochromatic blue tinge is applied. Fine detail is usually excellent, though there is some mild softness that plagues the dreamier moments of the film and gives it an every so lightly gauzy look. Blacks are impressive, but do show some light banding and haziness, but shadow detail is more than acceptable and the overall clarity of the disc is excellent.






Audio:

The singular 5.1 DTS-HD MA track that Lionsgate is sporting is what one would expect of a low key drama. There’s some surround usage with the haunting and emotional score, and the comedy club lights up a few times with the audience laughter, but a majority of the track lives in the front three speakers. The dialog is strong and clean, and I have no issues with the way that it is balanced throughout the rest of the track. Never once did I have to bounce the volume up and down to hear things, and every word is crisp and well defined. LFE is mild, but still there in a few key moments, and adds a very subtle low end toe the entire film. It’s not an action track, but it was never meant to be, and does everything asked of it without question or flaw.





Extras:

• Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Brett Haley and Actor Sam Elliott
• Photo Gallery










The Hero was meant to be this larger than life dramatic film that analyzes what happens when we look back at our life, but it really just is a decent little drama that doesn’t do much of anything special outside of having Sam Elliott front line it. That’s not a knock against it, but rather an honest observation as I really liked some parts of the melancholy tale, but others were just your run of the mill low budget dramatic writing. Writer/director Brett Haley had some big ambitions with his ALMOST art house drama, but those ambitions just weren’t easily realized. Lionsgate gives us another stable looking/sounding Blu-ray encode, and mild amount of extras that actually has a pretty solid commentary on board. It’s not a GREAT movie, but it is an interesting watch and I enjoyed a good portion of the film. Definitely worth a solid rental.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Sam Elliott, Laura Prepon, Krysten Ritter
Directed by: Brett Haley
Written by: Marc Bash, Brett Haley
Aspect Ratio: 2.40.1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: R
Runtime: 93 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: September 19th, 2017

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017