Most Wanted - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Most Wanted



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
First thing I have to say. What happened to Josh Hartnett? He was once a Hollywood heartthrob, making millions per picture, and suddenly he dropped off the radar. I mean, I know that he’s making films still, but he was once the fact that graced dozens of blockbusters and romcoms back in the early 2000s. Luckily the man hasn’t lost his acting chops, but seems more interested in starring in indie films like Most Wanted and Valley of the Gods (although he’s got a place in Quibi’s Die Hart with Kevin Hart and John Travolta) rather than going big (either that or he’s fallen out of grace with Hollywood central). That being said, Most Wanted was a movie that sort of took me by surprise. I had heard next to nothing about it, the film missed theaters (straight to home video flicks can be a bit weak) and it had Jim Gaffigan in it (not exactly a shining endorsement), but it the film totally surprised me. A slow burn thriller it takes a look at the cost of the drug war, and a tale of police corruption that shamed Canadian officials for years.

Based off of a true story (although spiced up for cinemas), Most Wanted is a tale about two people. One of those people is a junkie heroin addict named Daniel Leger (Antoine Silver Pilon) who has nothing going for him. He’s down on his luck looking for a job after quitting heroin 6 months prior, and then falls in with an even worse crowd. He THINKS he has a friend Glen Picker (Jim Gaffigan) who offers him a job on his fishing boat, only to fall into an elaborate scheme by Picker. Picker is actually an informant to the British Colombian narcotics division, feeding them low life criminals and drug dealers for a $40,000 finders fee. However, Picker has different plans. He wants more money and decides to frame Daniel as a drug kingpin from Thailand and make his riches.

Daniel has no idea about this, and soon gets suckered into a drug deal brokered by the BC Narcotics division, headed up by officer Frank Cooper (Stephen McHattie), only to turn south fast. McHattie thinks he’s on a big kingpin, but sooner or later he figures out the truth. Daniel has no criminal record, he’s not a kingpin, and his only crime is being a junkie loser who is being threatened and cajoled by Picker and the cops into going to Thailand to pull a deal for them (a sting operation of course). But Sgt Cooper is in too deep, and at this point he doesn’t care. They’ve broken enough laws and rules funding the sting and guilty of entrapment, so who cares that they’ve got the wrong guy? When they catch him making a “deal” on Thai soil they can have their arrest and not get black eyes for getting the wrong guy.

The other tale is told from the point of view of reporter Victor Malarek (Josh Hartnett) who is investigating the “Operation Goliath” drug bust that netted a super criminal over in Thailand (they don’t tell us for the first 45 minutes of the film who they’re talking about, but it’s blatantly clear that they’re talking about Daniel). But for all his investigative skills, Victor can’t seem to find out any criminal past for this drug lord that no one’s heard about. Smelling a rat, the reporter heads on down to Thailand, only to get blocked from speaking to the prisoner, and all roads lead back to the Canadian embassy. Smelling a rat even more Victor continues to push, until he finally gets in and finds out the truth on Daniel. However, the Canadian higher ups really don’t want this found out, and every time he tries to print an article about it, his friends get threatened, and vague “instances” happen that push him out of the limelight, forcing him to go to a governmental complaints division who specializes in public servant corruption.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much from Most Wanted, and while it’s not an Emmy award winning film, it IS quite engaging and makes for a good watch. The film is a slow burn story and uses split time lines to tell the story. Most of the first 2/3rds of the movie show the Daniel Leger portions from much earlier, while the scenes with Victor are all after he was caught in Thailand and are of the reporter trying to find out about him. The scenes jump back and forth in time and its’ sometimes hard to see WHAT scenes are in the past, and what scenes are in the present. It doesn’t happen very often, but there were a few shots I had to rewind and see again in order to ascertain which time period we were talking about. It’s not a major factor, but it was a noticeable.

Hartnett does a great job as Victor Malarek, but it’s Antoine Pilon who really sells the film. He plays the French Canadian druggie to a T, showing all of his awkwardness, false bravado, and confusion with perfect precision. He sells the scared kid so well that you truly do feel for him, despite knowing full well that he’s kind of a junkie at this stage in his life (supposedly after he got out of prison he had conquered his heroin addiction and hasn’t touched it since). Gaffigan isn’t as major a player as I had expected, and he’s toned down from a lot of his comedic rolls. His sleazy Glen Picker is just nasty enough for you to hate him, and just smart enough to not get caught. Sometimes I felt the plot was a bit TOO slow burn, but the overall payoff is a rather satisfying story for a low budget flick.




Rating:

Rated R for drug content, language throughout and some violence




Video:

I couldn’t find out any info online or via my normal sources about what cameras were used, nor what resolution the master was. Guessing by the budget it was done with digital cameras of some sort and given a 2K master, but that is purely speculation. Either way, the resulting 2.39:1 AVC encode is quite nice. It’s given a stylized look to make it fit into the 1989 period, with the Victor Malarek scenes showing that blued teal look, while the sequences with Leger are blueish while in British Columbia, but turn decidedly yellow and brown when visiting Thailand. Visual clarity is quite good most of the time, with only some instances of digital noise in dark Thailand streets, or in the bottom of the boat marring it any. Black levels are consistently good, with nice shadow detail and only a hint of crush. Colors are a bit flat and dull, but that seems a stylistic choice to fit in with the era more than anything.








Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA is a good dramatic track. The flick is very VERY front heavy most of the time, with the dialog being the direct focus, but it makes room for a very bassy score and some good surround usage. Dialog is clean and located up front, and the only time I ever had a problem hearing something was because Antoine’s French accent coupled with his soft speaking sometimes made it hard to hear what he said. Surrounds get some usage when Daniel’s in a Thai prison, as well as with mild things like an airport hubbub, or the talking of officers in a busy police station. The score is melodic and comfortable, but what I noticed above all was that the LFE channel was given a lot to do with the score. It adds quite the thump to keep the tension up, and even comes through a few times when Daniel is on his motorcycle or when the battle ensues in the Thai “sting”. All in all, solid dramatic track.









Extras:

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Final Score: ​

I said it earlier and I’ll say it again. Most Wanted REALLY surprised me. I was expecting absolutely nothing but mediocre DTV trash, but the film was really solid. Maybe not a $100 million blockbuster, with highly paid A list actors, but still a very compelling drama that pays off at the end. It’s well acted, well directed, and outside of some wonky editing, is all around a well done film in general. Audio and video are very solid too, but sadly no extras on the disc (a documentary about the real life Daniel Leger would have been great). Not perfect, but a good watch. Check it out.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Josh Hartnett, Antoine Olivier Pilon, Stephen McHattie, Jim Gaffigan, Cory Lipman, Don McKellar
Directed by: Daniel Roby
Written by: Daniel Roby
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
Studio: Paramount
Rated: R
Runtime: 124 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: September 22nd, 2020

Recommendation: Check It Out

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Never heard of this one. After reading the review, will check it out.

 

[Epoxy1]

Agree Michael. Gaffigan stole every scene he was in IMO.