Set in 1898, Wyatt and Samuel have set out to find their father and collect the bounty on him to save their home. Their father has been doing some brutal things around the territory and the law wants him brought in to justice. Between the two, Wyatt is the reckless brother who is less liked by the locals. They’re also instructed to take Colonel Rupert Thomas with them to make sure the job gets done. All the while, Samuel’s wife is at home with their child and they’re waiting for either the local bank to evict them or her husband to come home.
Anthony O’Brien is the director of the film and this is his second time helming a movie. His first movie PERFECT SPORT was a highly rated success but THE TIMBER had a rather poor showing in comparison. There wasn’t a lot in the way of story but the settings as well as the costume designs look authentic for the time period. Josh Peck plays a convincing family man who just wants to do the job and come home. James Ransome’s role as Wyatt is like most of the other roles he has played before: a guy with an attitude problem. Of course, in that part of the country in the around the turn of the century, every conflict was as serious as kill or be killed. The only problem is that there isn’t much to be intimidated by when it comes to Ransome.
The movie itself was really just “ok” to me. The story was a little rushed and every character is superficial with no elopement at all. It’s a shame because a story like this has a lot of potential but it just never found its stride.
Cast
James Ransone as Wyatt
Josh Peck as Samuel
William Gaunt
David Bailie as Sheriff Snow
Attila Árpa as Patrick The Bear
Elisa Lasowski
Mark Caven as Colonel Rupert Thomas
Shaun O’Hagan as Jim Broadswell
The 1080p AVC transfer for the movie looks really good at times but it can quickly do a 180. There is decent detailing and good contrast against the snowy backgrounds. You can see the rough textures in the clothing and material in close-up shots. Like I said, the contrasting can quickly change when the scene is in a darker, low-lit interior. During these scenes, a high amount of grain can be seen and the sharpness gets lost. Also, there is some blocking and black crushing in the same scenes.
The audio is your average DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix that has a lot of ambient sounds but there are no moments to really push the sound at all. During the few scenes where pistols or rifles are used, the effects are reproduced well and do echo into the distance but most of the film is dialogue. So the hardest working channel is the center and a little in the rear surround speakers.
Bonus Features:
-Director’s Audio Commentary
-Behind the Scenes:
Gunfight Featurette
Nightmare Featurette
-Interviews:
Josh Peck and Elisa Lasowski
Julian Glover
-Trailer
Disc Details
1 Blu-ray Disc
Running Time
80 mins
Edition Ratings
Not Rated
Region Coding
Region A
Video Resolution
1080p AVC MPEG-4
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Audio Mixes
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles
English SDH
THE TIMBER is a decent movie but there are quite a few spots where it falls a little short. As a whole, the acting is good and the casting choices make sense but there are some lulls where is feels like nothing is happening. The Blu-ray is good but it has some trouble areas that could be fixed in the way of the video transfer. Like I always say, check it out for yourself but this was my take on the film.
