An action filled crime story, Pawn comes to Blu-ray and DVD in a combo pack. It has a high powered cast and very good cinematography. The film needs a few tweaks in the storyline, but the drama takes control of the audience making it entertaining. If you like crime films that feature hostage takeovers, then this one should interest you.
It’s late at night and the local 24 hour diner is not very busy. In walks Will (Forest Whitaker) a beat cop who just wants a cup of coffee. He looks over the patrons and his friend Charlie (Stephen Lang) behind the counter. It’s quiet with no chatter from the customers and even Charlie doesn’t seem his same old friendly self. Will looks into Charlie’s eyes and you can feel the tension as he asks him for a refill even though his cup was never filled in the first place. Moments later Will excuses himself and walks to the men’s restroom.
So begins a night of bloodshed, deceit, trickery and mayhem when hostages are taken and the police are at odds with the leader of a gang that has a major robbery in mind. Under the helm of first time director David A. Armstrong who has some 50 plus films under his belt as a cinematographer, Pawn becomes a very violent movie that finds gang leader Derrick (Michael Chiklis) at wits with police as he tries to make the best of his plan that goes awry.
Armstrong pulls his camera in tight with Will and Charlie showing the emotion between the two knowing what is about to go down. He moves his camera around the diner letting the audience know who the characters are with focus on those directly involved with the robbery. Most of his direction involves the camera as he makes it his tool to get all he can from the simple script of robbery gone bad, hostages taken and a shootout with the police.
There is a downside to Pawn when a cinematographer directs as it tends to make the storyline meander with an over indulgence in needless cutaways and flashbacks. Some scenes do not integrate well with the whole story and there are too many shifts in the action. With the addition of several twists Anderson works his way into a predictability corner and never paints his way out.
In the end, in spite of the flaw, Pawn does entertain with some very good acting. The show gets good with Michael Chiklis doing his impression of an Australian gangster, Ray Liotta as a man of justice on the take, Common playing a hapless hostage negotiator, Nikki Reed as a pregnant wife of Sean Faris’s character an ex convict, Forrest Whitaker being a tough beat cop, Stephen Lang with a secret only he knows and Martin Koskas as a police Lieutenant trying to keep the diner from exploding into an all out firefight.
The Blu-ray has a special feature called simply “Behind the Scenes” and features the cast and a few of the crew talking about how the film was put together. While the cast mostly exchanges accolades with each other and the director, it’s still a pretty good bonus.
The video quality on the Blu-ray and DVD is very good with the 2.40:1/16x91080p keeping the movie much like the theatrical release. The interior shots of the Diner at night are impeccably filmed and Armstrong makes the movie viewable from all angles. I can’t say enough about the cinematography led by David A. Armstrong who gave us the SAW series 1 through 6 along with movies like Hellraiser: Revelations, The Nutty Professor and Just Friends. Here his film translates nicely onto Blu-ray and DVD.
The audio quality from the Blu-ray (Dolby TrueHD 5.1) and DVD (Dolby Digital 5.1) is truly superb with not a bit of distortion. All the dialogue can be heard, special effects sound, side talk from surround speakers and the explosions from gunfire. Technically both formats deliver fine sound quality on both discs.
Pawn been rated R by the MPAA for violence, language and brief drug content and while there is a lot of blood spilled, it’s not up in your face gory.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A good film for home viewing. [rating=3]
Specifications and additional film information:
- Cast: Forest Whitaker, Michael Chiklis, Common, Stephen Lang, and Ray Liotta
- Directed by: David A. Armstrong
- MPAA Rating: R for violence, language and brief drug content
- Genre: Crime, Thriller
- Running Time: 1 hr 28 min
- Street Date: April 23, 2013
- Original Theatrical Release: April 23, 2013
- Language: English
- Format: Blu-ray plus DVD
- Audio: Blu-ray- Dolby True HD 5.1, DVD- Dolby Digital 5.1
- Video: Blu-ray- 2.40:1/16×9 1080p, DVD- 2.40:1/16×9
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
- Number of Discs: 2 Disc Combo Pack
- Distributed by: Anchor Bay
