- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit)
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
- Subtitles Color: White
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: R
- Run Time: 105 Mins.
- Discs: 2 (1 x Blu-ray + 1 x DVD)
- Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: June 19, 2012
- List Price: $34.98
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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Native Australian director Roger Donaldson (Cocktail; Species; Dante’s Peak; The World’s Fastest Indian) who has made his home in New Zealand since 1965 may not be one of the most prolific directors in the business, helming only 16 feature films since 1977, but when he’s on, he’s on. There is no denying the lasting legacy of films like Cocktail, Species, his 1984 remake of Mutiny on the Bounty, titled simply The Bounty, or the feel good story The World’s Fastest Indian. Donaldson seems to like to skip around genres, not being anchored down to one spot for too long, not unlike Kubrick. Not that Donaldson is in the same league as Kubrick, but at least he stretches his creative legs. With Seeking Justice, he has taken on a crime thriller that may be hindered only by having Nicolas Cage (Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance; Leaving Las Vegas) as its lead.
Set in New Orleans, Seeking Justice, an otherwise wonderfully cast thriller that also stars January Jones (TV’s Mad Men) and Guy Pearce (Prometheus; TV’s Mildred Pierce; Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark; The King’s Speech; Memento), follows Will Gerard (Cage), a high school English teacher whose wife, Laura (Jones), a classical cellist, is brutally raped one night after leaving practice. After visiting his wife in her hospital room that same night, Will is approached by a strange man, Simon (Pearce) with a proposition. He belongs to an organization of concerned citizens “seeking justice,” they know who the rapist is and they’d be willing to take care of him for Will, if he says yes. He’d just owe them a small favor. In anguish and after some short deliberation, Will agrees by sending them the agreed upon sign. The rapist is killed and will is happy, but worried – what as he agreed to?
It isn’t long before Simon and his associates come around asking for their debt to be repaid. They want Will to follow a woman and her children and look for a man. Then, on another occasion, Will is told he must kill this man who is supposedly a child molester. He tries to resist, but threats against his wife are levied, and he succumbs to the pressure. It’s too late when he realizes he has been setup and he’s involved in something much more complex than he imagined.
Pearce is the real star here, brilliantly evil, while Cage, well, Cage is his usual non-emotive self. His casting as Will is the film’s weakness for sure, There doesn’t even seem to be any real chemistry between Cage and Jones so that one would honestly believe that either one of them would go to the lengths that they do for each other. Yet the fact remains that Seeking Justice is a more than reasonable thriller with sufficiently unpredictable twists that keep you on the edge of your seat.
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Seeking Justice was done in high definition on a Panavision Genesis HD Camera with Panavision Primo Lenses at 1080p/24 resolution and comes to Blu-ray at its original 1080p/24 resolution in an AVC/MPEG-4 encodement. The image looks pristine with no evidence if artifacts. It has strong details, especially in the close-up shots. Blacks are deep, but not necessarily absolutely obsidian. Still, the overall sense of contrast is strong. Flesh tones are natural and the texturally Seeking Justice has a rather filmic feel.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (4kHz/24-bit) soundtrack is good even if it tends to get a bit too staid at times. The surround channels could stand to have their ambience boosted a little more with a few more discrete effects added in. Otherwise, dynamics are strong and dialogue is crystal clear.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
There’s very little here and nothing that will require repeat viewings, but at least Anchor Bay has been kind enough to include a DVD in the package as well.
The supplements:
- Seeking Justice Behind the Scenes (2.35:1; 1080p/24; 00:07:08)
- Trailer (2.35:1; 1080p/24)
- DVD
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
An entertaining and effective crime thriller from director Roger Donaldson, Seeking Justice has some weaknesses, but is still satisfying in this solid effort from Anchor Bay Entertainment.
Additional Screen Captures
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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:3.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
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