Your Lucky Day - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Your Lucky Day



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
If you live in America then you’re pretty much assured to have at least FANTASIZED about winning the power ball lottery, or even played the game consistently for years (like my cousin). The idea of millions of dollars dropping into your lap and altering your lifestyle forever is something I think most people at least dream of casually. I mean, who wouldn’t? You can pay off your debt, live worry free, and basically write your own ticket out of the drudgery and struggle that most people at least have some experience with (some more than others). But then there begs the question. What would you DO for that sort of money? Would you give up your morals and scruples? Would you do things you never thought yourself capable of for a piece of that? Or would you hold the moral high ground and let someone take it from you, or worse yet, take it from someone else.

The story surrounding Your Lucky Day is pretty simple and well worn. The film starts out with the last performance of Angus Cloud (who died of a drug overdose at the ripe young age of 25 last year) playing the part of a street thug named Sterling who just so happens to see some douchey businessman (played for all of 5 minutes by Spencer Garrett) pull a $156 million lottery ticket at the local Sip-N-Go quickie mart. The young man decides to make a go at robbing the gentleman, only for a long police officer in the back of the store to interject, resulting in a dead man on the floor, a wounded cop, and a panicked Sterling looking for his way out.

At first you’d estimate this would go towards a hostage thriller situation, but Dan Brown digs deep into the “greed” of The American Dream (as posted in the tag line for the film) and ropes in a pregnant woman named Ana (Jessica Garza), her boyfriend Abraham (Elliot Knight) and the convenience store clerk (Mousa Hussein Kraish) to get away with the lottery ticket before anyone knows what’s going on. His promise is to cut them in for $6 million a pop if they go along with his plan. Seems like easy money, but their plan is soon hindered by the police officer’s partners, who just so happen to be lead by the corrupt Captain Rutledge (Jason O’Mara) who ALSO want that lottery ticket. And he’s not about to cut anyone else in on the deal like Sterling was.

On the surface, Your Lucky Day is a stereotypical hostage thriller, but Dan Brown (no, not the Angels and Demons and DaVinci Code author) delves into a whole array of motivations and deconstruction of greed in this 90 minute ride. Sterling himself may not be a hero, nor a villain as he embodies the greed and avarice that got them into this situation, but also has a more honorable side that wants to at least be faithful to his new “partners”. The same goes for Ana and Abraham, who are both struggling to define their relationship as both unmarried partners as well as soon to be parents. Each and every one of the remaining people stuck inside that Sip-N-Go have to come to grips with their own vices, strata, and general willingness to do things they never thought they could do for just a CHANCE at altering their life forever with those lottery winners.

The film struggles a bit with budget, and also with acting at times, but Jason O’Mara (who has voiced Batman in the DCAU for years) plays a fantastic corrupt police captain, and Angus Cloud does admirably at the morally diverse Sterling. The movie isn’t perfect by any means, but I ended up enjoying this way more than the first 10 minutes of the movie made me suspect. It’s gritty, nasty, rough, and at times it’s fairly rote in terms of it’s screenplay, but Dan Brown has a few tricks up his sleeve that elevated the film from DTV trash to something that actually has a few layers to it.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Your Lucky Day comes to Blu-ray with a gritty and slightly noisy 2.39:1 framed AVC encode from Well Go USA. The filming style is as opaque as mud when it comes to online information, but this is obviously a digital shoot of some sort (and most likely a 2K master judging by the budget) and the results are stylistically tweaked. The film is bathed in that sort of blue/gray look that is punctuated by some over the top noise levels that gives it a sort of Battlestar Galactica grunge look (just with more blue). Some of the outdoor shots in the rain showcase some great detail levels, with glossy rain dripping from Abraham’s face, or the bright red blood as the police officer gets hit. Inside is solid enough, but the typical banding you would expect from Well Go USA is present as well. All in all, it’s a solid looking transfer, with a distinctly intentional grading and aesthetic system that changes things up from your normal digital productions.









Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track found on the disc (there’s the obligatory 2.0 Dolby Digital down mix as well) is satisfactory, with a good surround presence and score based ambiance. The film isn’t exactly one of the most demanding films in 5.1, but it delivers some shocking gun battles and the score adds a sense of thick tension to the entire production. Dialog is clean and clear, and located right up front where you would expect. One thing I noticed was that the dynamics aren’t really massive in the film. There’s some distinct volume changes between the quieter bits and the action, but it’s not a massive range by any stretch of the imagination.












Extras:

• Theatrical Trailer
• Well Go :USA Previews

Final Score:
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As I said above, Your Lucky Day has some limitations as a low budget thriller, but director/writer Dan Brown has a few tricks up his sleeve that keeps the film much more interesting than I would have previously suspected. The Blu-ray itself is typical of Well Go USA releases. Good video, good audio, next to no extras outside of trailers, so it definitely makes for a compelling package if you’re interested.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Angus Cloud, Elliot Knight, Jessica Garza, Spencer Garrett, Jason O'Mara
Directed by: Dan Brown
Written by: Dan Brown
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 90 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: January 23rd, 2024

Recommendation: Interesting Watch