Why So Blu?

7 Minutes (Blu-ray Review)

7 Minutes follows Sam (Luke Mitchell), Mike (Jason Ritter) and Owen (Zane Holtz), three high school friends who are forced by circumstance to commit a brazen robbery that goes horribly wrong. As each minute of the event unfolds, the stakes are pushed higher and higher. What begins as a simple plan — ‘in and out in seven minutes’ — quickly becomes a dangerous game of life and death.

Film 

7 Minutes is director Jay Martin’s feature film debut. He has brought along an attractive cast of young people to the show. The film, as implied by its artwork and promotional stills, is indeed a crime-caper of a film. Mike (Jason Ritter), Sam (Luke Mitchell), and Owen (Zane Holtz) are friends and they do not have the best of upbringings – some would say that they’re of an unsavory nature. Whether they have hearts of gold remains to be seen.

As I mentioned before the lads decide that they need to branch out on their own criminal endeavors far from the prying eyes of Mr. B. (Kris Kristofferson). Mr. B. also happens to be one of the boys’ fathers and a bit of a crime lord in whatever town the film takes place in. Mr. B. doesn’t like competition, so he puts his loyal dog on their tail.

The guys hatch an idea to rob the local bank. An idea – written and rehearsed to the absolute time it would take to be in and out and with the money – in, you guessed it, seven minutes. Yes, it’s not just a catchy title. 7 Minutes is told through a fractured narrative, with flashbacks to boot. I should mention now that I really hated the character of Owen. At first I was like saying to myself “this meathead is just a horrible actor” but then when I looked him up I realized it was “Ritchie” from the From Dusk till Dawn television show. I like that show a lot and he’s cool in it. I have absolutely no idea why he sucks so badly as Owen.

Back to the film – so the boys get in way over their heads trying to rob the bank and it all goes out the window. I did a bit of research and read that first-time director Jay Martin is a veteran storyboard artist. I guess that’s why the film looks really good and compositionally correct. You won’t hear a peep from me in terms of its visual and technical merits. My complaints are that the film just isn’t that great. The story is weak, the acting mediocre, and it tries to be clever for its own good. Another gripe would have to be with Kristofferson’s cameo. We see him for five minutes and then we never hear back from him during the rest of film even though his character is the one got his henchman to go after his son and friends. Awkward editing?

7 Minutes won’t blow anyone’s house down – it’s not cutting edge or very good. It serves the purpose of highlighting some young talent in addition to telling another story in crime genre. Keep reading if you want to know how the Blu-ray stacked up in terms of technical specifications and special features.

 

 

Video 

Encoding: AVC/MPEG-4

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Clarity/Detail: 7 Minutes may not have been my cup of tea but the transfer is outstanding. The compositions are clean and crisp and I did not notice any contrast or sharpness anomalies. Not bad for a low budget crime caper.

Depth: The film on Blu-ray looks terrific and has many instances that “pop” out – granted; it all has to do to the way it’s framed.

Black Levels: The few scenes that take place in darkened rooms or at night all look great. Crush was never a problem.

Color Reproduction: The color palette has moments of absolute “skittles” saturation before going for that minimal bleak tone. In other words: the color palette is fine, with only a spot or two of banding – nothing major.

Flesh Tones: Flesh tones look natural. You can see every pore and wrinkle depending on which characters are onscreen.

Noise/Artifacts: Noise, debris, artifacts, etc., are absent.

 

Audio 

Audio Format(s): English Dolby TrueHD 5.1

Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish

Dynamics: 7 minutes has a very robust lossless track that will envelop the viewer and make it seem like you’re the 4th bank robber – this is a testament to the audio magicians that mixed the Blu-ray. It’s terrific.

Low Frequency Extension: The LFE subwoofer shows off during scenes of violence and heavy gunfire as expected and it’s appreciated.

Surround Sound Presentation: The rear channels handled ambient sounds well enough even during scenes that had several characters in tight spaces – like the bank robbery itself – the front and back never got jumbled up.

Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue levels are fine – everyone could be heard and understood clearly. I never had to turn up the volume to hear what anyone had to say.

 

Extras 

There are only extras on the Blu-ray and they consist of the heist played in its entirety and a set of storyboards by director Jay Martin. Both special features are presented in high definition.

• Linear Heist (HD)

• Storyboard-to-Scene Reel (HD)

 

Summary 

 7 Minutes tried a bit too hard to be the next best crime thriller and only succeeded in terms of style and flash – barely. The Blu-ray looks and sounds great but the extras are minimal but quite educational. If you must watch 7 Minutes then I suggest a rental – barely.

 

 

 

 

 

7 Minutes is now available on Blu-ray & DVD!

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