Striking Distance Blu-ray offers solid video and great audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
Set against the backdrop of the Pittsburgh river system, a river patrol cop is on a quest to
catch a serial killer at all costs.
For more about Striking Distance and the Striking Distance Blu-ray release, see Striking Distance Blu-ray Review published by Martin Liebman on July 16, 2009 where this Blu-ray release scored 3.0 out of 5.
The Cop movie lives on a road well traveled, the past several decades in particular a venerable
caravan of hopefuls, each only wanting to somehow, some way, stand out amongst the copycats.
It's practically become a genre
unto itself, and like any genre, it's got its own collection of worthwhile titles, bottom feeders, and a
plethora of selections that fall somewhere into a middle ground that's akin to a pile of football
players scratching, biting, and shoving their way to the ball. The 1993 Bruce Willis (Die Hard) outing
Striking Distance throws its weight onto the heap and emerges unscathed. A solid entry in
every regard, Striking Distance delivers a worthwhile picture that won't win any awards but
should satiate the appetite for a good all-around effort that maintains a fair level of suspense,
features an assortment of typical but never at all ridiculous action scenes, and creates a world that
is populated by several intriguing characters.
The cops that saved the fish that saved Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Homicide Detective Tom Hardy (Willis) finds himself shunned by his fellow officers.
He's
ratted out a corrupt cop, Jimmy Detillo (Robert Pastorelli), who happens to be both his partner
and his cousin. The force is also on edge thanks to a string of serial killings plaguing the city, the
murderer taunting the police by calling them up while in the act of killing his victim and playing
the song "Little Red Riding Hood" in the background. On their way to the annual police ball,
Hardy and his father, Vince (John Mahoney), become involved in a high-speed pursuit of a
suspect
thought to be connected to the serial killings. The chase ends with Hardy wounded and
unconscious, his father dead, the suspect escaped, and soon thereafter, Jimmy dead by way of
suicide. Two years later, Hardy has been
unceremoniously demoted to river patrol though still no less hated by his peers. He's forced to
team up with a new partner, Jo (Sarah Jessica Parker, Sex and the City: The
Movie), who comes to understand Hardy's checkered past and assist him when the
serial killings begin anew, opening old wounds and presenting Hardy with an opportunity to clear
his name and put his troubled past behind him once and for all.
Though Striking Distance begins with an almost surreal murder sequence that sets a
none-too-promising tone for the film, it picks itself up nicely and continues to deliver a story
that
is defined by familial interactions where the balance between family and duty is questioned,
turned
on its head, questioned some more, and ultimately brought full circle in an emotionally
challenging
finale. Though the movie may very well never feature much more than a dime-store quality
exterior, its emotional core, interesting premise, and focus on the hardships of an entire family in
the line of duty brings plenty of intriguing possibilities and a world of cinematic potential to the
table. For a mid-level Action picture, Striking Distance does well to examine and
integrate
some of the questions raised and emotions unearthed by a plot that focuses on the consequences
of
honor, truth, and loyalty both to a job and to a familial unit that finds its bond in a common
thread
that keeps them more closely knit than blood: the police force. Throughout the film, it seems
that a badge, not blood, defines the makeup of the family, both for better or for worse. It's a
fascinating premise that is sufficiently explored in Striking Distance, the film remaining
on a consistently even keel that delivers equal parts action, intrigue, and emotion.
One unique aspect of Striking Distance lies in its setting. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
replaces the typical New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago settings as the plot of real estate that
serves as the backdrop to this film, and the city's rich heritage and notable locations are to be
found -- and well-integrated into the story -- throughout. Striking Distance earns an
authentic look and feel thanks to plenty of Pittsburgh notables that pop up throughout the film
and firmly cement it in the city's culture of the early 1990s. Viewers familiar with the Steel City
will take note, for instance, of the presence of real-world news anchors Sally Wiggin and Ken Rice
on
television sets during the film. Hardy's apartment as seen at the beginning of the film is littered
with small touches that add a unique Pittsburgh flair to the scene, including an early 1990s
Pittsburgh Penguins Stanley Cup Championship poster, a vintage Pittsburgh Pirates team
photograph, a Pittsburgh Steelers button, a Penn State Nittany Lions cap, and a Rolling Rock beer
(brewed in nearby Latrobe, Pennsylvania) nicknack. The film
also integrates several city landmarks and locations into the story and, of course, sets up much of
the action on any one of the city's three rivers: the Allegheny, the Ohio, and the Monongahela.
Striking Distance veers onto Blu-ray with a satisfactory 1080p image framed inside a
1.85:1 window. This transfer delivers a good, crisp image throughout, with only the occasional
hiccup or otherwise distracting shot to take away from what is, generally, a rather good film-like
appearance. Striking Distance isn't slathered in film grain, but it is there in small doses.
Several shots -- the film's open in particular -- appear mostly free of grain but don't appear to be
digitally manipulated. Throughout the film, colors appear natural if not the slightest bit
reserved, more an attribute of the film's intended look than any shortcoming of the transfer. The
level of fine detail throughout the film never goes above and beyond the call of duty, but there are
never any occurrences where the image falls short of delivering a suitable upgrade over typical
standard definition imagery. Though not terribly sharp, Striking Distance never appears
abundantly soft; only a few select scenes take on a distractingly undefined appearance.
Flesh tones and blacks never fall too far out of line, save for the film's climactic scene where
contrast wavers a bit and blacks take on a brighter, slightly unnatural appearance. Free of all but a
few scattered artifacts, Striking Distance, on the whole, looks rather good on Blu-ray.
Striking Distance washes up on Blu-ray with an active and satisfying Dolby TrueHD 5.1
lossless soundtrack. The rear speakers are exercised regularly throughout in several key areas: in
support of the action, delivering discrete effects, and creating a realistic environmental ambience.
A thunderstorm heard early in the film, for instance, delivers a rather good effect. The rain won't
exactly drench the listening area, but it does pour to good effect across the front and with
noticeable, but not completely enveloping, rear channel participation. Fortunately, the action
sequences pack a good wallop. Explosions deliver the goods; they're not quite up to par with the
latest in whiz-bang sound effects, but for an early 1990s, moderately-budgeted Action flick, the
aggressive nature of such effects comes as a welcome surprise. Likewise, the car chase that ends
the film's first act feature a plethora of entertaining effects; vehicles slam onto the ground as
they roll over multiple times; they zoom through the listening area to good directional effect; and
the metal-on-metal crashes play with both volume and clarity. The track delivers a fine
level of atmospherics, too. One scene delivers a chirping cricket that sounds all too real, where
only the pause button reveals whether in fact it's in the soundtrack or back in the corner of the
room. Rounded out by flawless dialogue reproduction, Striking Distance delivers an
all-around solid listen.
Striking Distance stays within the comfortable confines of its genre but sits on one of its
higher perches. Though clearly not one of the great Action films of all time, or even the greatest
Bruce Willis
Action picture out there, Striking Distance nevertheless manages to do everything right,
the film featuring
adequately developed characters, decent acting, solid direction, and an interesting plot that
maintains a suitable aura of suspense. There are certainly far, farworse ways to spend the
Action movie dollar; Striking Distance delivers just enough quality content to make it a
worthwhile investment. Sony's Blu-ray disc delivers a consistently good 1080p picture and a
strong
lossless soundtrack. It's just too bad the disc lacks any film-related supplements. Still, this
Blu-ray release of Striking
Distance earns a
recommendation when it hits a price befitting a featureless catalogue title.
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Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced that they will bring the Russel Crowe film 'No Way Back' and Bruce Willis film 'Striking Distance' to Blu-ray on June 16th. Both films, which arrive on Blu-ray just in time for Father's Day in the US, will be presented ...
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