Rumble Through the Dark - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Rumble Through the Dark



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Seems it’s a bit of a high point for author Michael Farris Smith adapting his novels for the silver screen. A few months ago we had him adapt his own novel with Desperation Road, a dark and brutal story of guilt and sorrow in rural America. Now he’s back a few months later adapting ANOTHER one of his novels (“The Fighter”) dealing with….wait for it… guilt and sorrow in rural America. This time revolving around a punch drunk street fighter who’s trying to do right by his foster mother. Although this time it’s a slogged down by an overly long run time, and a focus on sorrow more than redemption, and guilt more than any real narrative appeal which makes the audience a little less patient with Farris Smith’s verbal posturing than they were with Desperation Road.

Jack (Aaron Eckhart) is a punch drunk old bare knuckle brawler known as “The Butcher”. His best days are way behind him, and the guy is obviously suffering from the effects of a life dominated by concussion after concussion after concussion. He can barely remember his own name, but he still is trying his best to raise enough money through podunk fights and gambling to pay off bookie Big Momma Sweet (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) her 12 grand, and use the rest of keep his foster mother’s farm from being repossessed by the bank in the next week. After a night of gambling and with some luck, he has enough to pay back Big Momma Sweet, but not enough to pay of the house. Unfortunately for him, an associate of Big Momma and the burly ex fighter get into a tussle, causing Jack to crash his car.

When he awakes and finds his way back, the money has been taken by a group of carnies including 26 year old Annette (Bella Thorne) who is looking for her father. As fate would have it, the young girl and the old fighter cross paths once more, giving Jack another chance at getting right with his bookie, and at the same time a way to actually win the money he needs for his family farm in one giant game of life or death stakes.

Rumble Through the Dark is a solid enough premise, but Michael Farris Smith’s script is a little too long and convoluted for its own good. He’s obsessed with spending more time wallowing in sorrow and misery than actually driving the plot forward, spending large swathes of the film focusing on Jack’s punch drunk nature, and Annette living in misery at a carnival while she looks for her dad. Even the final “all or nothing” fight that we can see coming a mile away is rather anti-climactic. Smith plays it safe, going for the happy ending with an uplifting final battle of grit and courage against the odds. The thing is, the writing doesn’t always have the chops to make this fighting movie trope really work. Especially after all of the wallowing and misery that’s coming before it. But, that being said, it’s not a bad watch either. Eckhart is compelling as the completely “lost his mind from punches” fighter, and Bella Thorne at least makes a PASSABLE attempt at acting (I akin her more to a white trash version of Paris Hilton acting wise than anything), and the end fight is pretty cool. Eckhart is in good shape for his age and he really looks like he could pull it off in the way the movie utilizes his fighting skills.




Rating:

Rated R for violence, language and some sexual material




Video:

I couldn’t tell what cameras were used for this shoot or the resulting resolution of the home video master, but it’s OBVIOUSLY a digital shoot for sure. The film is dark and grungy, with a heavily gritty and worth out look to the photography. Outdoor shots look the best, with slightly burnished lighting and very good detail levels. However, the darker shots lean more towards ambers and blues, with a a TON of banding in the low light shots. Not enough to really be awful, but enough that I actually noticed the banding right off the bat, and also the resulting smearing and tearing here and there. Overall it’s a solid performer, but nothing to really write home about.









Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is more than suitable for the film’s vibe. It’s heavily dialog centric for the most part, but punctuated by some brutal fights throughout the film that livens up the surrounds and low end. Punches carry hefty weight to them, and there’s a few heavy cracks and crashes (such as the train going by, or the truck crash where Jack loses his money) that knock you back into your chair. Otherwise this is a fairly straight forward and solid performing mix.












Extras:

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Final Score:
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Rumble Through the Dark is a decent low level DTV film, and unlike MOST Lionsgate Blu-rays of its ilk, it doesn’t come in a DVD case (although the image supplied us showed one, so I’m wondering if it’s a “depends on where you buy it from” scenario in regards to getting a Blu-ray case, or a DVD case for the combo pack. Cheap entertainment, but still decent entertainment. The Blu-ray looks and sounds nice enough, but the extras are pretty slim and the movie itself passable. Rental is my final recommendation.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Bella Thorne, Aaron Eckhart, Ritchie Coster, Marianne Jean-Baptiste)
Directed by: Graham Phillips, Parker Phillips
Written by: Michael Farris Smith
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DVS 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: R
Runtime: 116 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: December 19th, 2023

Recommendation: Rental