7 Minutes [Blu-Ray]

Director: Jay Martin

Cast: Luke Mitchell, Jason Ritter, Zane Holtz

Release Date: Now Available on Blu-Ray & DVD

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

 

Synopsis:

After becoming indebted to a psychopathic drug lord, three desperate young men are forced to commit a brazen robbery. What begins as a simple plan – ‘in and out in seven minutes’ – quickly escalates into a dangerous game of life-or-death. As each minute of the heist ticks by, true motives are revealed and unexpected twists ratchet up the stakes to a thrilling crescendo.

When three generally well intentioned young men desperate for a few bucks to support themselves and their families take a large supply of narcotics in order to make some quick cash and end up flushing it at a local rest stop when one of them panics and incorrectly believes the cops to be in pursuit, they find themselves in a very dangerous position. Now largely in debt to a sadistic and off balance drug lord and without any way to reimburse him, the three decide to rob a small, no security bank owned by someone they know to steal a large portion of cash which was previously stolen by the bank owner and stashed on location. With everything believed to be accounted for and a simple plan to get in and out in under seven minutes before law enforcement can arrive, the three make their move, yet immediately things begin to take a drastic turn as everything continues to go wrong.

Jay Martin (best known for his work directing music videos) wrote and directed ‘7 Minutes’ which also marks Martin’s feature film directorial debut. Martin does a solid job at the helm, guiding his powerful and fast-paced thriller with ease and his work in the music video industry is clearly noticeable in many of his directorial decisions, yet surprisingly not in a negative way. Martin instead embraces the fast cuts and jumpiness he’s surely quite familiar with in order to bring an added level of intensity to the fold and a storytelling method that actually works quite well. The film also benefits from a solid cast including Luke Mitchell (TV’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Jason Ritter (TV’s Parenthood), Zane Holtz (From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series), Leven Rambin (TV’s True Detective), Kris Kristofferson (the Blade films), Joel Murray (God Bless America), Kevin Gage (Laid To Rest) and more, all of whom deliver more than capable performances in each of their respective roles.

‘7 Minutes’ is fast-paced, intense and emotionally powerful, an uncompromising heist film that never lets up on the intensity and succeeds in really getting the viewer to sympathize and root for these criminals, who while unquestionably breaking the law in numerous ways still manage to exude a relatable and understandable presence. The film kicks into high gear from the get-go and jumps between the ongoing heist to past occurrences which help us to understand and appreciate each of these three individuals in their own way and simultaneously manages to only increase the level of intensity and hope we feel for these men throughout the course of the heist. Overall, ‘7 Minutes’ is definitely worth checking out, it’s an impressive directorial debut from Jay Martin and complimented by a noteworthy cast, it’s certainly well worth a rental.

VIDEO:

The Blu-Ray release of ‘7 Minutes’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation utilizing the film’s original 2.40:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks fantastic as a whole, providing a sharp, detailed and nearly flawless video presentation throughout, holding up admirably during the fast moving and darkly lit sequences of which there is a fair share, never resulting in anything occurring on screen to become negatively affected or indiscernible in any way. Overall, this is a solid high definition video presentation complimented by a more than sufficient bitrate that shouldn’t disappoint.

AUDIO:

The Blu-Ray release features a lossless 5.1 channel Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. This lossless multichannel soundtrack sounds great, delivering a sharp, clean and discrete audio presentation throughout, utilizing all five available channels on a number of occasions both with randomly fitting natural noises including crowd chatter and the like, in addition to accentuating the more intense moments by surrounding the viewer with the films score in addition to a number of action oriented auditory effects including gunshots and more; never causing any dialogue which may be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible. Overall, this is a more than capable 5.1 channel Dolby TrueHD soundtrack that delivers in every aspect required of it.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-Ray release of ‘7 Minutes’ includes a couple of nice extras. Included on the release is the ‘Linear Heist’ which runs approximately 18 minutes in length and consists of the heist sequence alone and in order as it occurs. We are additionally treated to ‘Storyboards to Screen’ (approximately 9 minutes) which provides a split screen view allowing viewers to compare a number of select finalized scenes from the film to their original storyboards.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

‘7 Minutes’ is Now Available to own on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital HD from Anchor Bay Entertainment.

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