Cross Wars (DVD) : Review

Film

Brian Austin Green reprises his role as Callan (from Cross, and the future Cross 3), who returns with his team of “weapons experts” in order to oppose the return of the evil Gunnar (Vinnie Jones). Callan again crosses paths with Frank Nitti (Tom Sizemore), a detective under the city of Los Angeles. Not forgetting the appearance of Muerte (Danny Trejo – Storks).

Cross Wars, second in what will be a trilogy, is strong contender for the worst movie of 2017. The action is horrific, made ever more fake by the ameture special effects and total lack of any weapons or tactical knowledge by the characters, humorously referred to just moments prior to the opening gunfight, as “weapons experts”. They are anything but, tossing out ridiculous one-liners, that would make even the most B-grade action character cringe.

The story is weak, the acting non-existent. The budget would have been better spent hiring some students from a local acting school. At least things might have been ever slightly bearable.

Not much else to say, other than Cross Wars is just plain terrible. Avoid it.

Disc

Technically, the disc is of a decent quality, however the actual content is certainly not.

Cross Wars is available now, to purchase on disc, in South Africa.

Video

Video for the main feature is encoded at a high average bitrate. There are no visible artefacts on screen, colours are vibrant (perhaps too much vibrancy, but this was a creative choice of the filmmakers).

Viewers with the relevant hardware or software can scale up to a larger or higher resolution screen, should they wish, however this is likely just going to make the terrible effects just all that more noticeable.

Video bitrate for the menus is considerably lower, but this does not affect viewing the main feature, and rather leaves more room on the disc to allow for a higher bitrate for the film.

Audio

Audio is presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix. There is no stereo downmix, so one would need to rely on the hardware or software of the player or amplifier for this.

Dialogue is clear via the centre speaker, with the weight of the film’s audio carried by the front channels.

Navigation

Navigation is simple, and easy to follow. The main menu has a static background, with no accompanying music. There are text links to play the main feature, languages, scene selection and special features. The menu colours are a bit garish, but this would be to personal taste, fitting in with the colour of some of the films effects.

The languages sub-menus provide a text list to several audio languages, and several sub-menus of subtitles.

The scene selection sub-menus contain large, colour, still thumbnails. While these are numbered, they are not labelled, so some guesswork would be needed to navigate to a specific part of the film.

The special features sub-menu provides a text list to select the audio commentary or alternate credit sequence.

Bonus Features

Audio commentary by Director Patrick Durham and Executive Producer Gary T. Williams: As the film contends for worst movie of 2017, the director and producer have put in the effort to have the worst audio commentary of 2017, keeping in line with their film. The two mumble a few things such as calling the opening action scene “cool”, or spotting themselves. There is nothing of value imparted here, neither to the casual viewer, or any budding filmmaker who might be seeking insight. They seem to have forgotten they were doing an audio commentary, and got wrapped up watching themselves on-screen. Give this a miss, along with everything else.

Alternate Credits: An alternate to the films credits. This feels thrown on, just to have an additional bonus feature. Not worth the effort of clicking the remote buttons.

By Andrew Germishuys

Founder of SAMDB | Actor | Armourer | Tech Enthusiast With over two decades in the film industry, I'm a seasoned actor and skilled armourer. I hold numerous certifications in acting and filmmaking, complemented by degrees and diplomas in IT and technology, giving me a unique blend of creative and technical expertise. When I'm not on set or in the workshop, you'll find me immersed in the world of gaming and VR, fuelling my passion for cutting-edge technology. Connect with me: X / Twitter Facebook Instagram Mastodon Threads Explore my work on SAMDB IMDb