Why So Blu?

Born To Race: Fast Track (Blu-ray Review)

Born To Race was a 2011 straight-to-video racing movie that apparently was well received or successful enough to warrant us the sequel Born To Race: Fast Track.  This time, the main character of Danny Krueger has been recast, going from Joseph Cross to Brett Davern.  And if you could tell me who these guys are outside of this movie series, than you’re more with it than I am.  This one advances the story to a more professional racing aspect than the original was from what I gather.  The real question is after this movie, will we be lucky enough to see another film in this series in a couple years?  And will they recast the lead again?

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Film 

Danny Krueger is back, and he’s received a scholarship from the prestigious Fast Lane Racing Academy.  Things become difficult with him and his girlfriend as she is bound and determined to go to Columbia University which will keep the two at a significant distance.  The racing academy features a set of skilled drivers that make Danny feel like a beginner as he’s finishing last with every race.  Things get even more complicated when his partner is severely injured in a crash and he must choose between losing his scholarship or teaming up with his arch nemesis Jake Kendall to race as a team.

Born To Race: Fast Track basically wants to be Top Gun with cars.  Its all about the racing school and a young rag tag bunch trying to make it with hard ass instructors getting in their face.  The setup for the film is great, and they could have done so much more with it, but instead it decides to sit and just focus on mopey Danny most of the time.  This film feels like a very safe, very friendly ABC Family film most of the time.  And I might not be too far off as its actually rated PG too.

How is the car action?  Does it make the mediocrity a little better?  Eh, its not bad, but its nothing interesting either.  The races are all very repetitive.  This comes from the fact that we are watching the same cars on the same track trying to do the same thing over and over and over.  Not helping matters is the track is very much a dessert.  Its full of very safely directed race sequences which make it slightly boring after a while.  Its not awful, its just in today’s climate we’ve seen stuff above and beyond this with regularity.

Danny Krueger’s latest adventure isn’ terrible, its just largely forgettable.  The one thing I will credit it with is being rated PG.  I don’t know that there’s many cool modern car chase/action movies that hold such a general rating.  There is some “bullshit”s dropped in the film, but aside from that its pretty playful and in check.  So, something for the young ones to feel “cool” watching.  But, for an adult, this really doesn’t cut it and will probably have you checking your watch as you guess every turn the plot takes.

Video 

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Clarity/Detail:  Fast Track has a really slick an d polished looking picture.  It almost comes across as too smooth.  The picture is really vibrant and overly bright.  Detail is solid, but like I said, there’s a bunch of smoothness to this glossy picture.

Depth:  Average depth.  Nothing really outstanding to example.

Black Levels: Black levels are solid,.  No detail really lost in super dark scenes.

Color Reproduction:  Colors are bright when available.  As I said before, its a really vibrant, but most of the movie does take place in the desert and colorless garages.

Flesh Tones:  Warm and consistent.  Detail is solid in medium and close up shots.

Noise/Artifacts:  Clean.

Audio 

Audio Format(s):  English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Dynamics:  This is a track feature some decent balance in its objects, but rather just get a solid good job done.  Its nothing to brag about, but its not going to leave you disappointed either.

Low Frequency Extension:  Engines are enhances as well as car doors shutting and cars crashing.

Surround Sound Presentation:  Mainly ambiance and lowered score.  There are some car engines heard in the rear and right and left action is solid.

Dialogue Reproduction:  Dialogue is clean, clear and front heavy.

Extras 

I was given a keychain with this release, but I’m not sure if that’s a promotional thing for reviewing it or if it’ll come with the retail edition.

Fast Track: Behind The Scenes (HD, 7:29) – Interviews with cast and crew about making this racing extravaganza.

Summary 

Born To Race: Fast Track gets a solid release of a rather “meh” film.  Fans will be happy with the video and audio presentation as well as the prospect of getting some interviews and behind the scenes knowledge.  I don’t see this as more than a rental for film fans.  Car people might like it, but really there’s no variance of automobiles in the movie and the action is substandard, so I don’t even know if they’ll be that into it.  For a safe bet, keep this at a rental if you’re interested at all.