Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Young FBI agent Johnny Utah goes undercover at the suggestion of his partner to learn if a group of wild surfers is actually a gang of bank robbers. He soon comes under the dangerous spell of the surfers' charismatic leader, Bohdi, a mystical mastermind who'll do absolutely anything for a thrill - and expects his followers to do the same.

This was a bit of a break out role for Keanu and a bit of a stepping out for Swayze. While not the best action film of the early nineties, it has always been a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. The film is a bit cliqued but it does a good job of balancing the extreme sports edge of surfing with a genuinely good action film. While it wasn’t quite as thrilling as it was the first time around, I still had a lot of fun with it.

The HD presentation is a bit of a mixed bag and I can see the consumer base being a bit divided on it. The image has a very film-like quality to it with nice dimension and good depth. The image is a bit soft at times and like most films from the late eighties/early nineties the color palette is a bit subdued. Film grain is preserved nicely but some may find it a bit intrusive. I loved the location shooting in this film and the photography has always lent a lot to the mood of the film. As long as you don’t expect this one to look like a brand new film and like the original look of the film, this is a solid offering from Fox.

The DTS-HD Master Audio mix is a fun ride and far more dynamic than I remembered. The action sequences have solid bass response and the 5.1 mix has a very open quality with great use of the surrounds. The surfing sequences have an intense quality from the waves and I noticed some nice infrasonics here and there. Dialogue is a bit boxed in at times but this is probably a limitation of the production. Overall I can definitely say I’ve never heard the film sound this good and Fox delivers another solid DTS mix.

Extras are geared toward the production on this edition and you get some featurettes covering most of the aspects of the film including surfing, extreme sports, locations and the story. There are also some deleted scenes, the trailer and a photo gallery.

Fox delivers a solid presentation for a catalog favorite. The A/V presentation is a solid representation of the film’s style and I loved the audio mix. Definitely recommend for fans of the film.