Trauma Center - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Trauma Center



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
I actually have a tinge of sadness whenever I see Bruce Willis’s bald head grace the cover of a new movie. The man was once a legend in the acting world, but has since fallen to becoming the next Nic Cage of DTV movies. You know, not being able to say no to any low level script that comes around no matter how bad it is. The difference with him vs. Cage is that Cage was kind of forced to do that due to his tax issues with the IRS. He was wiped out and in huge debt, and needed whatever cash roles he could get to acquire some quick cash. Willis, on the other hand, is worth roughly $200 million and doesn’t really need the money. My only conclusion is that the man is bored out of his mind after he’s no longer cast as blockbuster lead roles, and just agrees to do DTV movies to keep himself busy and in beer money for the year.

Trauma Center plays out pretty much like most of his newer movies, with Bruce taking a backseat role in the film (although he’s much more prominent than his other films, where he’s in it maybe 5-10 minutes of the run time), giving actress Nicky Whelan the lead role in this low budget thriller. Det Wakes’ (Bruce Willis) CI and his partner are both shot by criminals, and the only person who saw the shooters is struggling waitress Madison Taylor (Nicky Whelan). Madison has just put her younger sister Emily (Catherine Davis) in the hospital for a serious asthma attack, and was going back to her shift when she stumbled upon the hit of Det. Wakes’ partner. Transported back to the hospital, Madison is grilled by Wakes, but really remembers nothing but seeing a blur and shadows concerning the two men who shot her. Thinking that she might still be a target due to being a witness, Wakes puts her in the isolation wing under an assumed name to protect her, while he goes out to investigate.

Well, Madison is most definitely still a target. The men who shot her and the other two men are not just hitmen, but dirty cops as well. Vice detectives Tull (Texas Battle, yes that’s his real name) and Pierce (Tito Ortiz) are not just looking to mop up the mess they made, but also retrieve the one thing Madison has in her body that could put them away. A bullet that will be ballistic matched to their service weapons. With Wake out and about, the two cops have full run of the isolation ward, hunting Madison down in an effort to finish what they started.

Trauma Center is pretty typical of the recent Lionsgate DTV thrillers. It’s a moderately decent plot, but even at 87 minutes the film is dragged on a bit too long. Most of the time is spent hunting Madison down in the upper hospital wing, and after about 30 minutes it gets a bit repetitious. The dialog is also rather pedestrian and Bruce is pretty much sleep walking the entire time. He does try a few times to muster up a few grimaces and emote some, but you can tell that the man is very obviously bored with the script. I was actually surprised to see Steve Guttenberg show up for a few minutes as the overseeing doctor. I haven’t seen him in a movie in YEARS. Sadly he’s only give 3-5 minutes max, while Nicky Whelan gets the bulk of the script along with Ortiz and Texas Battle. Neither of the men can really act, and it’s only made worse by the fact that the few hand to hand battles that the men engage in are painfully choreographed.




Rating:

Rated R for violence and language




Video:

Lionsgate’s 2.39:1 framed transfer is decent enough, but suffers from some pretty obvious low light level artifacts. The opening scene with the two cops dragging the dead CI into the room is just covered in banding, and some pretty nasty black crush. The yellowed look to the night time sequences washes out the blacks as well. Outside and in the brightly lit hospital is a completely different scenario. The colors are a bit blueish, but details are excellent and blacks are inky. However, as Madison is being hunted in the hospital it’s all dark and gloomy, bringing back washed out blacks and some pretty heavy banding. Luckily the yellowish look to the darkness is gone, but its instead replaced by a fairly heavy blue tinge to the color scheme. It’s a solid enough transfer, but just barely so.








Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track fares a bit better, but not by a whole lot. It’s a capable track, and one that handles the claustrophobic nature of the hospital hunt quite well, but it also has a few flaws. Dialog is clean and clear, and the action gives rise to a few boisterous scenes, but the surrounds are rather quiet and subdued most of the time. There’s some chatter in the back with metal hospital tools clanging around, but the LFE is softer than usual and doesn’t add as much weigh to the track. Still, it handles everything quite easily, adding some punch when needed, but doesn’t really rise up to be something superb in the audio department.










Extras:

• Trailers

Final Score: ​

All in all, Trauma Center is a mediocre DTV thriller. The action is weak, the tension is bare minimum, and we all know how the film is going to end within the first 10 minutes. I’ve seen much worse, but like normal, this is a film that just fades into the background. Being nether really good, nor really really bad, but rather hovering at that middle level that just allows it to fade from your memory as quickly as you can put the movie away in its case. Audio and video are both solid, but extras are relegated to the ABSOLUTE bare minimum (not that anyone REALLY cared to find out behind the scenes information and interviews with this bland thriller)


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Bruce Willis, Nicky Whelan, Texas Battle, Tito Ortiz, Steve Guttenberg, Lala Kent, Heather Johansen, Lynn Gilmartin, Catherine Davis
Directed by: Matt Eskandari
Written by: Paul Da Silva
Aspect Ratio: 2.39::1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Studio: LIonsgate
Rated: R
Runtime: 87 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: February 4th, 2020

Recommendation: Skip It

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Based on your recommendation to skip, I will skip it.

 

[Todd Anderson]

LOL... ah, Mike. Great minds, my friend. Great minds.

Your opening sentence is EXACTLY what went through my head when I saw this movie pop-up on the homepage.