{2jtab: Movie Review}
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A slimmed-down (or well-concealed) John Travolta plays a cold-blooded Serbian war criminal (wait, what?) and Robert De Niro forgets his southern accent over Jaeger shots in director Mark Steven Johnson’s Killing Season. This combination of talent should have worked. But let’s be honest, the real star of the picture is the scenic and isolated Appalachian landscape the two men journey across as they trade blows with each other. In fact, the best thing this torture-heavy piece does well is kill your time.
Evan Daugherty’s screenplay isn’t a pot-boiler by any means. At one point, Travolta sounds like Dracula and spits out this gem: “Don’t worry! The calf muscle is very strong!” and we all groan. But wait, there’s more laughable moments as it pounds out its own moralism like a snare drum with lines best used in an episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
It’s a basic man-verses-man battle of might that requires, in order for it to work, a strong director behind the camera to keep things tight and tense. Maybe someone like John McTiernan could have pulled off the unlikely “friendship” between a European tourist with revenge on his mind and a reclusive American military veteran who has no time for his son and grandson.
Throughout it all, the dialogue is rudimentary and the reliance on Johnny Cash references does little to add any sense of authenticity to the project. The “friendship” is quickly turned on its head after Travolta fixes De Niro’s Land Rover and the two drink the night away swapping their stories of military experience and family struggles. The Appalachian dawn – beautifully captured by Peter Menzies Jr. – brings the truth of Travolta’s presence to light: De Niro is his mark and his aim is true.
The rest is of a brutal quality that is of no surprise. The two take turns hunting and torturing each other. The Bosnian war serves as the film’s ultimate backstory. Johnson (director of Daredevil, Elektra, and Ghost Rider) continues his in-your-face action beats with little style and even less appeal. It’s more than obvious he’s going for a Deliverance type movie but, unfortunately, the only thing he nails is the use of Tallulah Gorge State Park as untamed scenery.
Too obvious in its violence begets violence message and not convincing enough to do anything but pass the time, Killing Season is just another witless entry into the action genre.
{2jtab: Film Details}
MPAA Rating: R for strong violence, some torture, and language including some sexual references.
Runtime: 91 mins.
Director: Mark Steven Johnson
Writer: Evan Daugherty
Cast: Robert DeNiro; John Travolta; Milo Ventimiglia
Genre: Drama | Thriller | Action
Tagline: The purest form of war is one on one.
Memorable Movie Quote: "You're a long way from home, aren't you?"
Distributor: Millennium Films
Official Site: http://www.killing-season-movie.com/
Release Date: July 12, 2013
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: August 20, 2013
Synopsis: Killing Season tells the story of two veterans of the Bosnian War, one American, one Serbian, who clash in the remote Rocky Mountain wilderness. Ford is a former American soldier who fought on the front lines in Bosnia. When our story begins, he has retreated to a remote cabin in the woods, trying to escape painful memories of war. The drama begins when Kovac, a former Serbian soldier, seeks Ford out, hoping to settle an old score. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game in which Ford and Kovac fght their own personal World War III, with battles both physical and psychological. By the end of the flm, old wounds are opened, suppressed memories are drawn to the surface and long-hidden secrets about both Ford and Kovac are revealed
{2jtab: Blu-ray Review}
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Blu-ray Details:
Available on Blu-ray - August 20, 2013
Screen Formats: 1.78:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Audio: English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1; English: Dolby Digital 2.0
Discs: 25GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD)
Region Encoding: A
While not one of the richest broadcasts, the 1080P AVC @ 21.7Mbps transfer is crisp and detailed. Black levels are strong and colors have been tuned down. It appears to be digitally filmed, the lighting of this film fluctuates from scene to scene. The image is sometimes quite bright, at other times murky without real reason or a situation that merits it. There is one other thing important to mention: this was filmed in 2.39:1, and is being presented on Blu in 1.78. I have no idea what was cropped or lost, but the fact that it was done means that you won't see it as it was intended which may not improve the film as a matter of general quality, but still should be considered. Audio is presented in TrueHD 5.1, and does the film justice. You can hear every sloppy word in Travolta's silly (Russian? Serbian? Croatian?) accent and the film make very little use of a wide sound field.
Supplements:
Commentary:
- No
Special Features:
This movie probably should have been titled “We Need a Vehicle Payment” because – with only a very, very short plug for the film as its sole special feature – even the release has little faith in itself.
- Behind the Scenes Featurette (2 min)
{2jtab: Trailer}
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