Assault on Hill 400 - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Assault on Hill 400



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Asylum films is not known for making great pictures. In fact, they’re known for intentionally making “mockbusters” like Top Gunner, Battle Star Wars, The Davinci Treasure, and my personal favorite, Transmorphers. Their entire business model is based off of taking popular blockbuster films and ripping them off with budgets and casts that would make the SyFy channel films look absolutely monumental in comparison. Basically they’re content to be bottom feeders and churn out movies that make just enough profit to keep them in beer money, and know that ENOUGH people will buy/rent/stream their film to keep doing the same thing until the end of time. So color me surprised when they decided to step away from the mockbuster wheel and take a stab at a genuine war time drama from a genuinely true tale of heroism during WWII. It’s not like they’re going to stick the landing on it, but I at least give them credit for branching out.

The year is 1944, and the place is Hurtgen Forest outside of Belgium. The Allied forces and the Nazis had clashed for months by that forest, with neither side gaining much ground. The entire crux of the Nazi forces holding their own was keeping control of Hill 400 (which is aptly named for having a 400 meter elevation over the surrounding land). So far they had been able to control it, but General Weaver (William Baldwin) has decided that it’s time to take the hill once and for all. Sending in the same battalion that breached Normandy, the General tries a last ditch effort in having a small squad of men hold the hill.

It seems to work at first. The Germans didn’t expect a small squad to slip in under their noses, and got caught with their pants down. However, taking the hill is the last of their problems. The squad is informed by the General that he doesn’t have the manpower to send reinforcements so that they can hold their prize. Instead the squad has to wait until morning and hopefully fend off the German forces who are intent on regaining control of their tactical advantage.

Assault on Hill 400 doesn’t have the budget nor the resources to pull off a good World War II movie. Instead they utilized the C level actors they have (and a very bored looking trio of Michael Madsen, William Baldwin and Eric Roberts) to garner at least a modicum of authenticity and heroism. The end result is a movie that is painfully acted, given horrific dialog, and the battle scenes look like they were shot with a grand total of 15 homeless guys they paid with a subway sandwich off the streets of L.A…. needless to say, this isn’t too hot of production.

On the other hand, Director Christopher Ray does the best he can with the meager tools at his disposal to wring out a halfway decent performance from the cast. He really does go all out seeping us in language of the 1940s, as well as using proper weapon props and uniforms for the time. Again, that’s not saying a whole lot, but that’s about all the praise I can heap on the film considering how bland and forgettable it is.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

The 2.39:1 AVC encoded Blu-ray BD-25 is solid enough on the detail front, with strong facial details and good backgrounds in the country. There’s some mild amber and leather brown looking tones in daylight sequences, but most of the film is bathed in a monochromatic gray that sucks every last bit of color out of the image. Certain scenes are rife with green grass, or the red of blood (bullet wounds are VERY obviously CGI), and black levels are decent. There’s some banding and black crush when the soldiers are in the depths of the Belgium forest, but overall this is a technically decent looking disc.









Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track handles dialog well enough, with strong representation up in the center channel, and the mains getting some decent panning and ambient effects as the troops battle their way up the hill. Surrounds get some decent activity with gunfire and screams of Nazi soldiers being shot down, but bass is fairly minimalistic. There’s a few booms and thuds when mortar shells hit, but gunfire is very light in the low end, and there’s not many scenes where the bass is allowed to shine.












Extras:

• Image Gallery
• Trailer

Final Score: ​

I wanted this film to be so bad that it was sort of good, ala their mockbusters. But sadly it’s just plain mediocre. The worst possible ranking you can give a movie being that a bad movie can be kind of fun, and or it can truly memorable as a HORRIFYING experience. A mediocre movie is lost to the annals of time as soon as you’re done watching it, and nobody will remember it. I give them props for trying their hardest to do something serious and non cheesy, but when you’re used to cooking fast food every day of your life, it’s hard for Asylum to attempt something that doesn’t taste greasy and tasteless. The Blu-ray looks and sounds decent for the budget, but extras are stereo typically lackluster. Skip It.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Collin Arend, William Baldwin, Boz Bozek, Jaime Brighbill, Eric Roberts, Michael Madsen
Directed by: Christopher Ray
Written by: George Clymer
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Shout Factory
Rated: NR
Runtime:87 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: August 1st, 2023

Recommendation: Skip It