Ministry of Vengeance - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Ministry of Vengeance



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

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Movie
And finally, to wrap up the box set, we have another film directed by Peter Maris (and it shares 3-4 actors from Hangfire), and probably the only other film in this set besides Joshua Tree that's decent enough on its own merits. And like Joshua Tree, it’s a simple revenge thriller with a standard-fare plot. Man loses wife and daughter; man goes to Lebanon to kill their murderer. Lots of people die along the way. End of story.

Take Death Wish, blend it with Taken, sprinkle in a dash of Rambo: First Blood, and make it with a shoestring budget and a case of Diet Pepsi, and you have Ministry of Vengeance. Starring John Schneider of Smallville and Dukes of Hazzard fame, our film introduces us to Reverend David Miller. A man who once was a soldier during Nam, only to come home with severe PTSD after killing a child as a tunnel rat. Now he’s given up his guns and uses a bible instead. But coming home from a trip to Rome leaves his wife (Joey Peters, in like 3 minutes of screen time) and daughter dead at the hands of an infamous Islamic terrorist by the name of Ali Aboud (Robert Miano). Devastated, David begs the state house to do something, but Aboud is in Lebanon, and nobody is willing to forcefully extradite him.

Desperate and angry, David decides to take the law into his own hands, and stepping down from his parish, he heads out to his old commander, Colonel Freeman (James Tolkan, also from Hangfire) to get some weapons and training. After almost getting smoked by a mysterious gunman, David heads overseas to find Aboud, and he does. The only problem is the man has an army of Jihadists around him, and his own moral compass is starting to falter as the consequences of his own actions start to shake the revenge-fueled rage he has inside of him.

AS I said, Ministry of Vengeance is a moderately fun movie, and probably the only film outside of Joshua Tree that can stand on its own as a standalone movie without being thought of as “so bad it’s fun”. John Schneider isn’t your typical 80s action star, but in this low-budget actioner he does a solid job as a former killer turned man of God. But the story is so simple and rote that there’s not a whole lot of subtext or nuance to be had here, really. It’s just David heading out and blowing up bad guys until he finally comes face to face with his family’s murderer, and thenit'ss over. Not to say that it's bad, but Ministry of Vengeance is so straightforward and cheaply done that there’s not a whole lot to say about it. Even some 37 years later, the film fails to impress, but still manages to be a decent popcorn waster if you’re into these low-budget action films. It works when it works, fails when it fails, and the cameos by Ned Beatty and George Kennedy were probably the highlight of the film.

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Rating: R by the MPAA




Video:
Yadda Yadda, we know the routine. Ministry of Vengeance is given a new 2K master from the 35mm interpositive over at Fotokem, then graded and restored in 2K over at Dragon Post Production (wow, it wasn’t R3Store for once). And the results are kind of like Hangfire. Good enough. The image is solid enough for a teensy tiny low-budget late 80s DTV film, and don’t go in expecting something stunning. Details are generally good, but the grading is a bit pinkish, with solid detail levels but some haziness and softness along the way. Inside the Aboud tunnel, the grain gets a bit thick, and sometimes I saw some crush popping up here and there. The colors have some nice pop to them, though, and overall this is a solid-looking image for a cheapo film.


Audio:
Despite being an LPCM Mono track, Ministry of Vengeance’s audio is actually quite spry and lively. Ambient environmental elements and gunfire alike get a moderate boost in levels, and the score works well enough without distortion or overwhelming the audio. I didn’t notice any dips in audio volume, nor did I find any distortion anywhere. It’s simply a good enough mix and does what is asked of it without complaint.


Extras:
• Commentary by Rob Hill
• Act Like it's Warmer
• Lebanon in California
• Apocalypse Then
• Original Trailer
• Stills Gallery

Final Score: ​

Ministry of Vengeance is a silly little actioner that fit right in in the very late 80s and early 90s resurgence of DTV films. It was similar to many low-budget Cannon Films productions, just without the absolute insanity that went along with Cannon Films. A budget that consisted of giving the cast a bottle of whiskey and a McDonald's gift card (only slightly joking), phoned-in roles, and cheap squibs and gunfights that fill you up just like a McDonald's cheeseburger. It may be absolute garbage, but when you’re buzzed on a Friday night it will do. The Blu-ray looks and sounds solid enough, and like the rest, has pretty decent extras from Arrow. Low Rental is my final recommendation.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: John Schneider, James Tolkan, Yaphet Kotto, Ned Beatty, George Kennedy, Robert Miano
Directed by: Peter Maris
Written by: Randal Patrick, Mervyn Emeryys, Brian D. Jeffries
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: LPCM Mono
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Arrow
Rated: R
Runtime: 90 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: October 27th, 2026

Recommendation: DTV Drunk Watch