Film
Divorced father Toby Howard (Chris Pine – Star Trek Beyond, Z for Zachariah) and his ex-con brother, older brother, Tanner (Ben Foster – Warcraft: The Beginning, Lone Survivor) resort to a desperate scheme to get enough money to save the family ranch in West Texas.
As part of the brothers plans, and bank robbing scheme, they encounter Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges – R.I.P.D). A few weeks from retirement, and ready to leave all the action and relax on his porch.
As the story unfolds, both the brothers, and the rangers pursuing them, take bolder and bolder steps to finish the task at hand, and to either elude or capture the other, leading to a few life changing events for all.
Hell or High Water is a pretty straightforward story, one that moves along at a decent pace, and one that is told really well. A talented cast, and great direction, one can not only enjoy the story, but how that story is told.
The action sequences are more realistic, with a touch of humour in some cases, than going for all out showmanship. Relying more on the acting than the visual effects, meaning that there is a lot more invested in each particular character, good or bad, than with a straight Hollywood style shoot-em-up.
It is clear to see why Hell or High Water received nominations for Jeff Bridges as best supporting actor, editing and best original screenplay. This is a well rounded, and well constructed film, with a story to enjoy, allowing one to sit back, and be entertained.
Hell or High Water, a buddy cop movie, a buddy criminal movie, a story about love for family, and a film that has a bit of western to it. A thoroughly enjoyable, well made movie.
Disc
Overall, the disc is of a high technical quality. The main feature is good, but there are no other features to accompany it.
Hell or High Water is available now, to purchase on disc, in South Africa.
Video
Video is encoded at a high average bitrate. There are no visible artefacts on screen, and no colour bleed. Colours are vibrant where needed, maintaining a high degree of detail, even in darker scenes.
Viewers with the necessary hardware or software could scale up to a larger or higher resolution screen, should they wish.
Audio
Audio is presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, with a 2.0 stereo downmix. It is encoded at a high average bitrate.
Dialogue is clear via the centre channel, with the front channels picking up most of the sound. Surround channels do get their fair share though, expanding the on-screen action, and serving to further draw the viewer into the story.
Navigation
Navigation is simple, and easy to use, with a static menu, and text links. The menu does have background music that loops.
Other than a link to play the main feature, there are menu items for audio, and chapter selection.
The audio sub-menu allows selection between the 5.1 and 2.0 soundtracks.
The chapter selection sub-menu presents the viewer with four motion, colour thumbnails. While these are numbered, they are not titled, so could make guessing where you are navigating to, in the main feature, a little tricky.
Bonus Features
There are no bonus features, other than trailers for Desierto, Max Steel, The 9th Life Of Louis Drax that auto-play at the beginning of the disc.
These trailers can be fast forward, but not skipped individually. They can not be accessed from the disc menu.
