Hardball - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Hardball



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


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Movie
The late 90s and early 2000s were a great set of years for Keanu Reeves. He was taken seriously as an actor for once instead of just a goofy guy. He was getting role after role after role that skyrocketed after he made The Matrix in 1999, and was seen as the biggest marketable actor of the time. He got some really great roles, and some mediocre ones that he made arguably better by being in them. Hardball was one of those movies that missed part of the mark, but hit enough on target to be enjoyable, but didn’t shake the ground like The Replacements, The Matrix or The Devil’s Advocate (shut up, I love that movie).


Hardball is a movie that we’ve all seen before. A down and out gambler and ticket scalper named Conor O’Neill is down on his luck, and roped into coaching a “projects” kids baseball team by his buddy. In turn, Conor gets $500 a week so that he can pay his bookies off. Naturally the low life scammer isn’t exactly thrilled by the prospect of having to basically babysit some down and out children for a season, but he needs the money and begrudgingly teaches the kids everything he knows about the sport. As you could have guessed it, Conor begins to fall in love with the kids he doesn’t give a rat’s butt about until he would do anything for them. Along the way is your typical romance with teacher Elizabeth Wilkes (Diane Lane), and the heavens align for Conor to wipe out his massive debt and start life anew.

The film is cliched and tired in it’s story, but it has great actors pushing it forward. Reeves is his usual affable “good scumbag” persona before he shifted to a darker tone in the late 2010s (right around his rebirth John Wick era), and Diane Lane is great in everything she’s in. The kids are just that, kids, and they do a solid job endearing themselves to the audience. I was actually surprised to see a VERY young Michael B. Jordan in the role of Jamal, as I had to take a double take a few times being that I could recognize him, but not really place WHO he was at first.

The movie is light hearted and fun, with just enough early 2000s cheese to make it worthwhile. The movie won’t blow your socks off by any means, but its a capable sports under dog story with the traditionally transparent outcome from a mile away. Enjoyable, not perfect, but still enjoyable for a Keanu sports flick.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for thematic elements, language, and some violence




Video:

Hardball wasn’t given the “Paramount Presents” 4K remastering treatment, and judging by the look of the film I’d guess it’s an older master. Probably the same one used for the 2001 DVD. That being said, it generally looks very good. It’s got that nice textured 35mm film look to it, with a slightly soft gleen that just doesn’t ever really “pop” like it could. There are many scenes that really do pop with clarity and color, but many times that softness and haziness I mentioned seems to creep into the picture. Colors are on the warm and hot side, with greens and reds being the most prominent. There’s grain spikes in the low light areas, but outside on the baseball diamond things really get to shine. The black and orange of D.B. Sweeney’s uniform really snaps the eye to attention, and the green of the grass is great. The sort of dusty and run down environment the kids live in translates to the general tone of the film, and overall I’m rather please to see a decent uptick in quality from the ages old DVD. I almost gave this a 3.5/5 at some points in the film, but most of the time it’s a solid 4/5 for PQ.






Audio:

Audio quality is very solid as well. The track is generally very front heavy due to the dramatic nature of the film’s makeup, but it does open up and expand a good bit when the kids are on the baseball diamond with parents yelling in the background. Dialog is impressively accurate and clean, but there’s a HINT of dynamic range crush in my personal opinion. There’s not a whole ton of swing in the dynamics outside of the games. Bass is punchy and tight, though soft and generally reserved for only a few choice moments and the score. Good, never great, but generally satisfying.









Extras:

• Commentary by director Brian Robbins and Writer John Gatins
• The Making of Hardball
• Deleted Scenes
• Music Video: "Hardball" by Lil Bow Wow
• Theatrical Trailers
• Interstitals

Final Score: ​

Hardball is not another The Replacements, but it’s a reasonably entertaining underdog story that we’ve seen a billion times. It has heart, it tugs at the strings of said heart just enough, has a romance, and had Keanu Reeves right after he made one of the most influential sci-fi movies of all times. Simply put, it’s just good enough to be entertaining, but not good enough to truly be amazing or ground breaking. The Blu-ray itself has been a LOOOONG time coming, and looks and sounds good for a non 4K remastered catalog title. Worth checking out.

Technical Specifications:

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Diane Lane, Michael B. Jordan, John Hawkes, D.B. Sweeney
Directed by: Brian Robbins
Written by: Daniel Coyle, John Gatins (Screenplay)
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5,1, French DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, English, French
Studio: Paramount
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 106 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: September 21st 2021

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Never saw this movie. Will check it out once available on netflix/amazon prime.