Project-Blu ‘Direct Contact’ Review, by Nate Boss

Direct Contact

By: Nate Boss, 6.1.2009

The Movie Itself:
 "That sounds like a real good offer, but I have a better one. How 'bout fuck you."

I have no problem admitting that I've never been a Dolph Lundgren fan. Honestly, ever since the ghastly affair known as The Punisher (before Thomas Jane put his take on the character), I've avoided Lundgren films on principal. In fact, save for his bit part in Johnny Pneumonic, I hadn't seen ol' Dolph in any film (by chioce) in about 15 years. With Direct Contact, I was about to be reinitiated into Lundgren's house of pain.

Mike Riggins (Lundgren) is a former US Special Forces Op in Eastern Europe, in prison for "smuggling" weapons. When he is offered a way out of his sentence, by finding and rescuing a young American girl he is told is being held hostage, he cannot resist his second chance at life. What he enters into, though, is a world of deception, mystery, mayhem, and murder, set into play the moment he is able to free young Ana Gale (Gina May) from her "captors." The men who sent Riggins on his mission now are trying to slay him, and it all has something to do with Ana, who they are trying to capture alive. Riggins must protect the girl, unravel the mystery (why do they want her so badly?), and unleash a storm of whoop ass on anyone dumb enough to get in his way.

If you didn't guess, Direct Contact is what can be called a "mindless" action flick. It doesn't always make sense. It doesn't have to. Characters don't need rationalizations for their actions, instead only to further the plot one way or another, so that we the audience can see yet another prolonged action sequence. The funny thing is, this film, that brokers its success on the action sequences shown in quick succession, is somewhat epic, in that it doesn't try to take itself seriously. This isn't camp; camp only exists when a film tries to be realistic but fails at all angles. This takes camp, and shoots about 30 rounds into it, then takes off to begin yet another chase sequence. And that's why it's so damn enjoyable.

That's right. I had a blast, and deep down, I'm ashamed to admit why. Direct Contact didn't cater to my intelligence; hell, it slapped it in the face quite a few times. Supporting actors were all amazingly dry, providing poor performances, which made Lundgren's somewhat poor performance seem much more passable, even somewhat funny, unintentionally, as he stumbles through a few line readings. We're not given a thinking man's actioner; rather, we're given something that caters to the lowest common denominator: guys wanting to see shit get blown the fuck up.

That should be the synopsis on the back of the package. Shit gets blown up. The entire film devolves into a series of explosions numerous times. The only thing missing is villains exploding after menacing stares from Lundgren. The plot stops, and we're given prolonged sequences of car crash after shoot out after explosion after yet another explosion. It's great! It's fun, and, quite ironically, it's funny. Hits aren't always well performed, as many cut right at the impact spot, while others are fairly obvious big misses, all in darn near slow motion. The villains in the film have worse aim than Stormtroopers. They couldn't shoot themselves if they swallowed the muzzle and pulled the trigger! The villains are also quite dim, which added to the fun (when Dolph Lundgren looks intelligent by comparison, yes, it's fun), as a few para-military personnel walk up to a glass double door after being phoned a tip as to Riggins' whereabouts, and proceed to each stick their hands over their eyes and peer into the bar. Yeah, real effective!

It's this kind of distancing from reality that made me enjoy Direct Contact. For every thing that I'd normally criticize the hell out of, I found myself enjoying. The film is not a landmark by any means, but it's easily more fun than most of the actioners these days that try to be so so serious. Just sit down after cooking a big fat steak (there is no other meal allowed watching this 90 minute testosterone ride), pour a cold one or two, and enjoy. Your mind won't be stimulated, but your inner child, who wants to see nothing but blood, guts, fire, explosions, car chases, and a flat out misogynistic thrill ride, will certainly have fun.
Rating: 5/10

The Presentation:
Direct Contact hits Blu-ray in a 1080P AVC MPEG-4 encode that is hit and/or miss.

The film is a bit of a mix, between nice and sharp high definition shots, and some duller, lower grade shots that can be a bit lacking. It jumps around a bit, from soft grain, to heavy grain. Sharp to flat. It does stay somewhat two dimensional, so that portion of the film doesn't jump around that much, and I'm fine with that, as not every film is going to look like a million bucks. This film was not very expensive, it is somewhat obvious, so it's tough to expect blockbuster effects and visual depth when the budget can't handle it.

There were some random bits of dirt in the source, but not all that many. It's basically just a few here or there, and they are not large or all encompassing, so it's actually a good thing they were so minimal. There is a bit of digital noise, though, that is not minimal, as it is present from the very first post-credit sequence, and pops up from time to time throughout the film. Skin tones can show a bit of orange in them at times, though they do stay quite honest for much of the film. The film runs a bit hot and over-saturated, while black levels are middling, at best.

All that may add up to a pretty low score, but I have to admit, there are a great many sequences of sharp as sin detail. Close ups are superb. You can see the age on Lundgren's face, and count his pores (or play connect the dots, whatever pleases you). Many explosions are tremendous in appearance (though one, late, was absolutely cheap and ridiculous). For a mindless action film, this a presentable video presentation, that is much superior to the bargain bin titles, flawed as it is.

The packaging for Direct Contact advertises a 5.1 Digital Surround mix, and I was instantly thinking "lossy!" But one quick check on the menu setup menus (and a confirmation from the PS3's options button) confirmed this film is actually presented in a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless track.

Lossless or no, this track has it's ups and downs, just like the video. First off, and somewhat immediately noticeable, the film doesn't utilize a wide dynamic range, as the opening theme song fails to hit any high frequencies in its flute accompaniment. Gunshots have some noise, but don't pop. There is an early bass presence, that is much more for ambiance than anything, and it emits some soft rumblings every now and again, with only one big rattler, which was also atmospheric. Action sequences, the car chases for example, didn't get a big bassy feel, so when a tank or car plows through a wall, it's all treble. The film is mixed pretty darn good for most of the film, though in the early club scene, the dialogue is drowned out easily by the soundtrack, which is honestly a bit soft itself. Surround usage is actually quite optimal, with plenty of atmospheric effects, some localized sounds, and even a bit of movement pop in from behind. In fact, the surround use was actually impressive. A middle of the road mix, that could have been something special if it would have utilized the subwoofer more (that said, check out the trailers section of the extras to hear how it could have sounded. This Blu-ray sounds much, much better than the trailers.)
Rating: 5/10 ( 5/10- video, 5/10- audio)

The Extras:
Trailers (SD)
Trailers for Direct Contact, The Code, Way of War, Trans-Siberian, and The Contract.
Rating: 1/10

Overall:
That's right, Direct Contact went past my snobby film sensibilities and delivered. Delivered fast, and often. Remember that HD DVD commercial that promised an "explodier" film presentation? Blu-ray now takes that title, by sole reason of having Direct Contact in its film library. The video and audio qualities both have their ups and downs on this release, but there is a significant upgrade from standard definition quality, which can be easily compared using the SD trailer found in the extras section.
Rating: 4/10