McBain (1991) Synapse Films Blu-ray Review

Christopher Walken is an award winning actor, whose films have grossed near 2 Billion dollars in the United States. Some of his most popular films include, The Dogs of War (1980), The Dead Zone (1983), A View to a Kill (1985), Biloxi Blues (1988), King of New York (1990), Batman Returns (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Sleepy Hollow (1999) just to name a few.

In 1991 Walken would take the lead in an action war thriller entitled McBain directed by James Glickenhaus (The Exterminator). Synapse Films are known for giving cult films Blu-ray releases that many of these kinds of films would probably never receive elsewhere. Now they are given McBain a chance to shine in HD.

When prisoner of war Robert McBain (Academy Award winner Christopher Walken, The Deer Hunter) is rescued in the jungles of North Vietnam by a group of Rangers, he expresses his thanks and gratitude. The leader of the Rangers, Santos (Chick Vennera), takes out a $100 bill, tears it in two, gives half to McBain and says, 'If the other half of this bill ever finds you, you can pay me back.'

Eighteen years later, Santos is killed in Colombia while leading a fight against drug lords and corrupt politicians. His sister, Christina (Maria Conchita Alonso, Predator 2, The Running Man) goes to New York with the other half of the bill and seeks out McBain to enlist his help in overthrowing the Colombian regime. With the surviving ex-Rangers from his Vietnam rescue, including Michael Ironside (Total Recall, Top Gun) and Steve James (The Exterminator, The Soldier), McBain's team travels to Colombia to break the power of the drug lords and avenge Santos' death.

McBain is a film that has some hits and some misses. It is not the best war thriller ever, not by a long shot, but the bright spot is Christopher Walken and Michael Ironside, they are extremely believable in their roles. But for its misses it is not as bad as the box office reports would show. Against a budget of $16 Million it only brought in a mere $456,127 meaning it was by far a box office success. It didn't help that it had very stiff competition. But over the years this film has become a cult classic. 

Synapse Films transferred McBain to Blu-ray featuring a new 2k scan. The film is transferred in 1080p in 1.78.1 widescreen format. As for the audio there are options of English language DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio and DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo. In addition, there is the option for English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing.

The film transfer by Synapse looks pretty nice. There is some very specks of dirt and vertical lines. The picture is sharp, and the colors looks great. All in all, this is a very good HD presentation of McBain. But this film in HD is not all that is included in this release look what else Synapse films included in this release.

* Audio Commentary by Director James Glickenhaus and historian Chris Poggiali 

* Trailer 

Not every film fan loves war films, but for those that do McBain will defiantly scratch that itch. And this new Blu-ray release would make a nice addition to any physical media fans war film collection. 

So if you are a fan of Christopher Walken or war thrillers the new Blu-ray release of McBain may just be what you are looking for. Head over to Amazon and order your copy today.

Out of 4 Film Reels (4 Being the Best) the McBain Blu-ray receives...