Film
As the very short piece of synopsis text on the back of the DVD case says, Kill Switch is about a pilot, Will Porter (Dan Stevens – The Guest, Beauty and the Beast), who is tasked by a mega-corporation, to embark on a dangerous mission to save the planet after an experiment for unlimited power, from a mirror universe, goes wrong and threatens to destroy the entire universe.
Kill Switch is a science fiction film, albeit with a lot of convenient science and jargon, with a helping of run-of-the-mill action scenes. It is however, a film that sits squarely in the experimental genre as well, as much of the film is presented in first-person perspective. The heads up display (HUD) worn by Porter does serve to provide the viewer with a unique view, and added information, into the world. Apart from the slightly changed colour of the world when Porter is in the parallel universe, the HUD reminds the viewer which reality he is currently in.
The first-person perspective has been done before, in other movies, but the majority use this only for a short while, and then switch back to what viewers are used to. Kill Switch however takes this to the extreme, and while it may be disorientating for some viewers, it may also be what actually holds the viewers interest as the very predictable plot begins to seem so very much like so many others action films.
Kill Switch is mediocre, at best, with shallow, forgettable characters, but provides an interesting angle with its visual style, so is probably worth at least one viewing.
Disc
Overall, the disc is of a mediocre quality, with the many compression and sharpening artefacts in each piece of content.
The main feature is of an average standard, and but enjoyment would depend on the particular viewer.
Kill Switch is available now, to purchase on disc, in South Africa.
Video
Video for the main feature is encoded at a decent average bitrate, however there are many artefacts visible on-screen. These become even more evident when the film is viewed on a larger or higher resolution screen. These are likely due to the text and graphics in the ever present HUD worn by the main character, as the DVD format is not really equipped to handle so many fine pieces of detail. There is some grain evident in other areas, most noticeable with the blue hues.
These artefacts are not too distracting, and a lot less evident when the screen is viewed at a distance.
Colours seem slightly washed out throughout the film, with some evident colour bleed. Bright and fine detail does have the appearance of over-sharpening.
Video for the menu system, and trailers is compressed at an even lower bitrate, making on-screen artefacts here even more visible.
With all the issues with the video, these are not so bad as to detract from the on-screen material.
Audio
Audio is presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track, with a Stereo 2.0 downmix available. Dialogue is for the most part clear via the centre channel, except for some more intense action scenes, and when some effects have been applied to a voice, but this does not pose too much of an issue, and is rare.
There is a decent amount of use for the surround channels, serving to expand the on-screen action, and further draw the viewer into the story.
Navigation
Navigation is comprised of a static main menu, with options to play the main feature, and access scenes. It can be somewhat unclear as to which option one has selected on the menu system, as the only keys used here are the up or down arrows on the remote. Yellow-ish is the highlight, and red / pink the available other options.
The scenes sub-menus comprise of four small, motion, slightly desaturated thumbnails each, for a total of twelve chapters.
While the thumbnails are numbered, they are not labelled, nor is there a chapter index inside the packaging, so some guesswork would be needed in order to navigate to a particular part of the main film.
Bonus Features
There are no bonus features, except trailers for The Lost City of Z, The Circle, A Family Man, which autoplay at the beginning of the disc.
While these can be skipped, or fast-forward individually, they can not be accessed again via the discs navigation menu.
Packaging
Packaging is pretty standard, with technical specs on the back. There is only a one sentence synopsis.
