Isolation (Blu-ray) (2015) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Thriller | Trailer-x 5 for other Eagle Entertainment releases | |
Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2015 | ||
Running Time | 93:54 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | Dual Layered | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Shane Dax Taylor |
Studio
Distributor |
Eagle Entertainment |
Starring |
Luke Mably Tricia Helfer Dominic Purcell Stephen Lang Claudia Church Marie Avgeropoulos |
Case | Standard Blu-ray | ||
RPI | ? | Music | Ben Lovett |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 1080p | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
In an attempt to salvage their marriage Creighton (Luke Mably) and Lydia (Tricia Helfer) fly to the Bahamas for a week. When the house in Nassau where they are staying turns out to be extremely noisy due to construction next door they are offered a beach house on a small, remote island. It turns out to be an idyllic location, peaceful, sunny and almost deserted. Walking on the beach they meet William (Stephen Lang), a rather strange man, who invites them to come to his cottage and have dinner with himself and his wife Mary (Claudia Church). Creighton and Lydia accept and spend a long, lazy evening eating, drinking and smoking weed with William and Mary; however, when they stagger home they find that their house has been ransacked, their money, passports and cell phones stolen and the phone cut off.
In the morning they return to William’s house, but no-one is there. Further around the island they meet Max (Dominic Purcell) who is sympathetic but confused as he says that nobody called William and Mary live on the island. He takes them to his house where they meet his girlfriend Nina (Marie Avgeropoulos). Max then offers to take Creighton out on his boat to report the crime, leaving Lydia and Nina to await their return. But evil is lurking on the island and Creighton and Lydia find themselves in a fight for their lives.
Isolation is co-written and directed by Shane Dax Taylor, his third feature film in eleven years. I don’t mind thrillers that take their time to build tension but Isolation is probably the most leisurely thriller I can remember. It takes over 30 minutes to establish Creighton and Lydia, most of that time being pretty much a travelogue for Nassau and the Bahamas, which certainly look beautiful although nothing happens. After the couple reach the isolated beach house, another 30 minutes pass in conversations, dinner, drinks and red herrings, leaving any action and surprises to the last 30 minutes of the film when, after this long build-up, the climax feels perfunctory, contrived and predictable.
Isolation features beautiful locations and the cast have some decent dialogue to work with but are let down by the pace of the film. There are familiar faces in the cast including Dominic Purcell and Stephen Lang, who also worked together the same year in Gridlocked, rather a better thriller. Isolation starts with a screen stating that the film was inspired by true events; make of that what you will.
Isolation is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.
Shot using Arri Alexa cameras, the print is spectacular. Detail is incredibly sharp, both in wide shots and close-ups of faces, colours are bright and glossy with beautiful blues of the sea and sky, green foliage and yellow beaches, blacks and shadow detail are pristine, skin tones natural, brightness and contrast consistent.
Artefacts and marks were not present.
No subtitles are provided.
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English DTS-HD MA 5.1 is the only audio choice.
The dialogue is centred and easy to understand. The rears and surrounds were used mostly for the score and gentle ambience, such as the wind and waves. Gunshots were crisp. The sub-woofer mostly added depth to the music.
The score by Ben Lovett was gentle and atmospheric.
There are no lip synchronisation issues.
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Subwoofer | |
Overall |
Trailers for From a House on Willow Street (2:02), Fear Inc. (1:57), Tell Me How I Die (2:33), Gridlocked (1:06) and Three West (1:57) play on start-up. They cannot be selected from the menu.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This Australian release of Isolation is the only Blu-ray version of the film listed on Amazon. A US Region 2 DVD has no extras.
The Bahamas look fabulous in Isolation, just the place for a sun drenched, leisurely holiday by the beach. However, thrillers are not supposed to be as leisurely as Isolation, a film which leaves any action to the last 30 minutes.
The video is spectacular, the audio fine. Trailers for other films are the only extras.
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Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Sony BDP-S580, using HDMI output |
Display | LG 55inch HD LCD. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
Audio Decoder | NAD T737. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated. |
Amplification | NAD T737 |
Speakers | Studio Acoustics 5.1 |