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MOVIE INFO

Director:
Bridget Smith, Samuel Gonzalez Jr.
Cast:
Michael Lombardi, Marc Menchaca, Joseph Gatt
Writing Credits:
The Geare Brothers

Synopsis:
An upstanding pastor uncovers a dark and twisted underworld as he searches for answers surrounding his daughter's brutal murder.

MPAA:
Rated NR.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
English DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles:
English
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
None

Runtime: 96 min.
Price: $17.99
Release Date: 2/21/2023

Bonus:
• Cast Interviews
• Music Videos
• Trailer


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RELATED REVIEWS


The Retaliators [Blu-Ray] (2022)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (March 6, 2023)

No one would expect a light, airy film with a title like The Retaliators. Indeed, the 2021 movie offers a violent tale of revenge.

Set in New Jersey at Christmas, John Bishop (Michael Lombardi) works as a pastor and acts as the sole parent of daughters Sarah (Katie Kelly) and Rebecca (Abbey Hafer). He finds his life shattered when drug dealer Ram (Joseph Gatt) murders Sarah.

This traumatic action sends Bishop on both a spiral of faith and a quest to get vengeance for Sarah’s death. Along with Detective Jed Sawyer (Marc Menchaca), Bishop struggles to cope with events and address the realities of the situation.

Based on that synopsis, I went into Retaliators with a basic structure in mind. We’d meet the Bishop clan, see Sarah’s untimely demise, and then follow John on his downward spiral.

Instead, the movie opens with a violent prologue that enjoys more in common with The Hills Have Eyes than the standard revenge thriller. In theory, this curveball sounds intriguing.

In reality… not so much, mainly because Retaliators seems so ham-fisted and hackneyed. After that out-of-left-field opening, we indeed head toward the expected vengeance narrative, one that the movie sets up in the clumsiest of fashions.

This occurs mainly because Retaliators immediately sets up Bishop as a borderline wimp. When a pushy jerk (Brian O’Halloran) takes the Christmas tree Bishop tries to buy, our lead backs down immediately.

Which would seem sane, as some dude nuts enough to provoke a fight over a tree would seem like someone to avoid. However, Retaliators paints Bishop as a bit of a coward, as Sarah needles him relentlessly about his supposed lack of cojones.

We call this “foreshadowing”, as it implies Bishop will eventually embrace “might equals right”. This seems trite and predictable, and the cinematic techniques on display follow suit.

Retaliators embraces every cliché in the book. We get abundant “jump scares” as well as an always-in-motion camera, foreboding music and anything else you can think of that an unconfident filmmaker would embrace.

As a result, Retaliators consistently seems desperate and silly. The movie tries so desperately to jolt the viewer that the opposite occurs and only eye rolls result.

Retaliators doesn’t want to seem campy but it does. The movie goes so over the top in its melodrama that it musters more laughs than scares.

It doesn’t help that the story flits all over the place. Retaliators veers from Bishop’s pain and mission to issues with the drug dealers to the lonely investigation of Detective Sawyer.

None of this flows coherently, and it all leads to an absolutely absurd third act that links to the prologue I mentioned. This twist seems so ludicrous that it becomes much more laughable than compelling.

Really, Retaliators probably should’ve just stayed with the basic revenge thriller I anticipated. While that might seem less creative than this crazed melange of genres, at least it could become coherent.

In theory, as the product on this Blu-ray leaves me with little confident the filmmakers could’ve made a worthwhile movie no matter how basic. Retaliators becomes a goofy mishmash that flops.


The Disc Grades: Picture B/ Audio B/ Bonus D+

The Retaliators appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. This turned into a generally satisfying presentation.

Sharpness usually worked fine. Some softness crept in at times, but the image mainly felt accurate and concise.

I saw no signs of jagged edges or shimmering, and edge haloes remained absent. Print flaws also failed to materialize.

Colors veered heavily toward a mix of teal an amber/orange, with some other hues tossed in as well. Given those parameters, the hues looked appropriate.

Blacks were fairly dense, if a bit crushed at times, and shadows seemed reasonably smooth. Nothing here dazzled, but the image seemed satisfactory.

Though not stellar, the movie’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack worked fine. The soundscape mainly focused on creepy ambience, music and “shocks”, with an occasional action beat. These elements formed a reasonably engaging soundfield, if not one that impressed.

Audio quality worked fine, with music that sounded vivid and dynamic. Effects also felt concise and accurate, with solid low-end.

Speech appeared concise and distinctive, without edginess or other issues. This became a decent mix.

Under Cast Interviews, we get an 11-minute, 11-second featurette. It brings notes from actors Marc Menchaca, Michael Lombardi, Jacoby Shaddix, Katie Kelly, Chris Kael, Cory Marks, Doc Coyle, Craig Mabbitt, Ivan Moody, Zoltan Bathory, Eva Marie, and Rachel Hilbert.

The interviews look at story, characters and performances as well as their favorite horror movies. These bring us brief, utterly informative promotional soundbites.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we find five music videos. We get clips for “21 Bullets”, “Wolf Totem”, “The Ending”, “Blow” and “Faded Out”.

The videos range from mildly clever (“Guns”, “Blow”) to mediocre. The songs range from crap to complete crap.

Though technically a revenge thriller, The Retaliators manages a few genre twists. Unfortunately, virtually none of these work, as the movie becomes a total misfire. The Blu-ray comes with generally good picture and audio as well as bland bonus materials. Its unusual choices mean Retaliators boasts potential but it squanders every potential positive.

Viewer Film Ratings: 1 Stars Number of Votes: 1
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