THE FILM:

This pulpy little slice of B-movie genre thrills is better than most almost-direct-to-video flicks, but is certainly not some unseen masterpiece. A young girl witnesses a hitman kill several people during a graveside memorial, and runs to the house of a war veteran for shelter. Director Adam Alleca's film is mostly an excuse to watch Laurence Fishburne and Thomas Jane throw down, which they do. Largely shot on one interior set, Standoff calls on the acting talents of its leads, and both men give solid, committed performances. There is some grisly violence and plenty of macho banter, but Alleca leans too heavily on his own stilted dialogue and solely uses secondary characters as bait to throw into the film's deadly trap. Standoff is not good, per se, but I was mostly entertained.

A young girl (Ella Ballentine), nicknamed "Bird," sees contract killer Sade (Fishburne) brutally shoot and kill several people at a cemetery. Unfortunately, Bird is also carting around a camera. When Sade realizes Bird has seen and documented his face, he gives chase. Bird runs to the nearby home of Army vet Carter (Thomas Jane), who is suffering from a recent, tragic loss. Carter immediately goes into survival mode to protect Bird and his home from Sade, who pulls no punches about needing to kill Bird to preserve his career. The action is intense, intimate and mostly set in the interior of Carter's house, and the two male leads appear to enjoy the dick-swinging contest.

It is hard to fault Standoff for its simple, good versus evil storyline, but the film is somewhat unambitious in its mimicry of ‘80s and ‘90s action thrillers. This is a black and white story, and not just because of the leads. I wish Alleca had done a little bit more to distinguish Standoff from a dozen genre efforts. Carter posts up at the top of the stairwell in his house, with Bird hiding nearby. Sade stays downstairs to torment the pair, and Carter quickly runs out of ammunition and patience. Alleca employs a few neat tricks, like unleashing Sade on the household piano to prod Carter, who uses his own unique skills to combat the intruder. The backstory about Carter and his family is not overly important to the plot, but it provides some motivation for him protecting Bird.

The dialogue is often stilted and includes a whole lot of "Fucks" and "Shits" and their various derivatives. There is some intense violence and suspense during the midsection, when an unsuspecting deputy (Jim Watson) gets involved. I liked Fishburne's performance here better than Jane's. Fishburne seems at ease with the proceedings, while Jane appears to be straining a bit to keep up. Neither has much of a character arc, but that is not the point. At just 80 minutes, Standoff never bores. There is nothing here you haven't seen a hundred times before, but that does not necessarily make Standoff a bad movie. That makes it a rental.

THE BLU-RAY:

PICTURE:

The 2.40:1/1080p/AVC-encoded image looks solid. Fine-object detail is abundant, so check out the grit and grime on Carter's face and the fabric of Sade's facemask. Black levels are decent, colors are nicely saturated and skin tones appear natural. Blood reds pop from the screen, and the image has a nice, sharp appearance without any hint of artificial sharpening.

SOUND:

The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix is rambunctious, and places viewers inside the action. There is plenty of directional dialogue to highlight the position of the characters on screen, and the movie benefits from good sound design. Footsteps pan the sound field, gunfire rockets through the surrounds and the subwoofer hammers during a particularly bloody battle. English, English SDH and Spanish subtitles are included.

PACKAGING AND EXTRAS:

This single-disc release is packed in an eco-case that is wrapped in a slipcover. An insert offers a code to redeem an UltraViolet HD digital copy. The only extra is Fight to the Death: The Making of Standoff (7:03/HD), a fluffy EPK.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Genre fans may want to rent this recent B-movie starring Laurence Fishburne and Thomas Jane as opposing forces in a bloody standoff. The pair brings nothing new to the table, but appears to have fun squaring off. Rent It.

William lives in Burlington, North Carolina, and looks forward to a Friday-afternoon matinee.