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Crazy Six
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - 101 Films Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (18th July 2015). |
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The Film
 ***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** Communism is dead. Opportunity is in. In the newly emergent countries of Eastern Europe, Mafia families have taken control of all weapons and technology smuggling. Billie (ROB LOWE) is an American junkie who is trying to escape his problems and make some good money, they call him Crazy Six because he is the sixth child of his family and he is crazy for drugs. Raul (ICE-T) is the drug lord who deals plutonium on his spare time. Things get ugly when Crazy Six and an Arabic-French gangster called Mao (MARIO VAN PEEBLES) steal the plutonium from the Mao. However, when Mao double crosses him, Crazy Six finds himself on the run from the Mafia, with a US federal agent Dakota (BURT REYNOLDS) as his only ally.
Video
Independent British distributor 101 Films have released Albert Pyun's "Crazy Six" on to Blu-ray in what appears to be the worldwide debut for the format, as part of their "Cult Movie Collection" range. Given an aspect ratio 1.78:1 and a 1080p transfer using an AVC encode, "Crazy Six" looks better than "Mean Guns", but has some similar issues. The biggest issue with the transfer seems to be the aspect ratio that has been chosen as I imagine the OAR is 2.35:1 due to the way characters have been cropped and as would be the norm for Albert Pyun. Another issue is that the grain structure is quite inconsistent with some scenes showing a generally very light structure, and others barely any grain at all, leading me to believe that digital noise reduction has been used, though to a more minor extent in comparison to, say, Mean Guns. Although more minute details can often be seen in facial close-ups, some shots do lack facial contours and even look a little waxy (generally in darkened environments). Mid-range details look clunky though, and backgrounds lack clarity. Colours are fairly average, with skin tones sometimes overblown. Blacks are deep in some scenes, soft in others, and there is a fair bit of crush in the shadows. Some scenes have intentionally heavy green, red or blue tints, and these scenes are not as good looking as the rest of the feature with reduced detail. On the positive side, there is no major damage to be concerned with such as scratches or dirt and no major aliasing. There is some light ringing from time to time, and some insignificant banding in some of the lighter skylines, but nothing too bad. The transfer is certainly superior to that found on the old UK DVD from Film 2000, but there is still much room for improvement. The feature is uncut and runs 94:55.
Audio
101 Films have provided a single English LPCM 2.0 Stereo track for this release, which sounds adequate though isn't problem free. There are a number of scenes where the characters whisper to each other, with this dialogue is sometimes not quite as clear as one would like. On the whole though, dialogue is fine, and there aren't any issues such as drop outs, scratches, pops or crackles. The track is quite flat, but there are moments which sound above average, with Ivana Milicevic's singing among the highlights. Channel separation is minimal, but isn't non-existent. The score by Anthony Riparetti is suitable but a little quiet and underwhelming. No surprises here. No subtitles are included.
Extras
None.
Overall
"Crazy Six" certainly isn't a highlight in Pyun's filmography, but fans of the film will find this to be an improvement on the DVD release and possibly worth picking up.
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