Beirut - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Beirut

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
Beirut opened up on April 13th in the U.S.A. theaters amidst a little bit of controversy. Well, the controversy actually started when the trailer dropped some months prior to that, as the overseas Arabic community through a bit of a fit due to the fact that the movie was supposedly stereotyping them as well as being locationally inaccurate. The actors were all north African Arabic, the story seemed to be about your typical “Americans good, all Arabs terrorists bad” scenario, and the movie itself was even filmed in Morocco instead of the historical Lebanese city of Beirut to top it all off. Online the furor was a bit strong, but when the movie came out it got hammered critically as people called it “tone deaf” and “cliched”, as well as not taking advantage of the complexities of the Lebanese civil war that the movie centered around. In reality, the movie is just your run of the mill spy thriller. There’s really very little to be controversial over (in my opinion), as Beirut is simply a spy thriller set in the city of Beirut itself, making the idea that the movie needed to be more than it was simply online hyperbole. No more, no less.

The film opens up prior to the Lebanese civil war, showing us American negotiator Mason Skiles (Jon Hamm) living in 1972 Beirut with his wife Nadia (Leila Bekhti), and their little orphan ward Karin. When the CIA comes to Mason and demands that they turn over Karim, he naturally balks until they reveal to him that Karim actually has an infamous terrorist brother who was supposedly involved in the famous Munich bombings. Just as the CIA are about to take him into custody, Karim’s older brother stages a rescue, killing several innocent people including Nadia. Leaving Lebanon in grief, Mason moves back to the united states where he uses his negotiating skills to make deals between businesses and their opposing unions. However, even after 10 years, the ex diplomat is about to pulled back into the city of Beirut once more.

His old CIA buddy, Cal (Mark Pellegrino), has been taken hostage by the self proclaimed (and fictional) Militia of Islamic Liberation, and the agency has been informed by the hostage takers that Mr. Skiles has been called there by name. I know this may be a spoiler to some, but the movie telegraphs it pretty heavily. The reason for his inclusion in this process is due to the fact that the leader of the hostage takers is none other than Karim himself (Idir Chender) all grown up. It seems that his brother is captured by the Israelis, and Cal’s capture is nothing more than a ploy to trade assets, with the CIA getting one of their most secret laden agents back, and Karim getting his older brother back in one piece.

Beirut is a by the numbers spy thriller, and coasts very easily between the peaks and valleys of quality without deviating into a valley or rising up to the peaks of greatness. It just IS a solid middle of the road movie that has been told before. The cast is quite solid, with the powerful looking Jon Hamm playing the strength and charisma needed for a competent negotiator, and the lovely Rosamund Pike pulling her weight as well. The micro budget of the movie (the director has never revealed how much it cost, but the budget was so slim that they couldn’t shoot outside of Morocco, which is why you don’t see any ACTUAL Lebanese actors in the cast) keeps it constrained and simple, with most of the time the characters interacting in small rooms inside the dilapidated city.

I find that Beirut is a mixture of both good and bad. The good is that the movie is NOT nearly as horrifyingly cliched and insulting as the initial controversy made it out to be. Yes, the movie is not entirely accurate with no Lebanese actors, a different city of filming, but past that, it’s not in any way racist or insulting. It’s a typical spy thriller where the Islamic terrorists have taken a hostage and the good guys have to get him back (including the usual twists and turns that you really aren’t surprised by). No more, no less. It’s not a movie about the Lebanese civil war, but rather a movie that’s just set during the chaos of the time period. The only sin the movie commits is that it just isn’t that memorable. I had a solid enough time with the 1 hour and 50 minute film, but it doesn’t really differentiate itself form the myriad of other spy thrillers out that deal with the same subject matter. It just is a competently done film that doesn’t really stretch the concept much.




Rating:

Rated R for language, some violence and a brief nude image




Video:

Universal’s Blu-ray release follows what I like to call the rule of 4 (sorry, this isn’t a Sith thing) in regards to the audio and video scores. It’s a technically well done release that scores 4/5 for both audio and video, proving that it doesn’t take much of a budget to create a good looking/sounding Blu-ray, but also doesn’t really shock and wow the viewer/listener with a disc that really goes above and beyond. The film was shot with a variety of the ever popular Arri Alexa cameras, and then finished at 2K resolution for the home video master, and looks quite pleasing on Blu-ray. The disc is heavily doused in sepia tones (a stereotype for the 70s/80s and the Middle East), but shows good facial details and textural details of the war torn city of Beirut (well, technically Morocco). There’s some smearing in the blacker scenes, and the color grading doesn’t exactly lend itself for jaw dropping visuals, but overall this is a well done Blu-ray that really captures the look and keeping plenty of details along the way.








Audio:

Following the natural progression of the rule of 4, the audio is pretty much in the same vein. Good, well done in many aspects, but doesn’t really stretch itself into something truly great. The film is heavily reliant on dialog, with large portions of the movie using the center channel as the mainstay of the audio experience. When Mason travels out into the city we get a more vibrant and encompassing feel, with the ambient chaos in the city filling out the surround channels and adding some low end thump. Talking about the LFE. I was actually surprised how mild the bass was in the film. Don’t get me wrong, the LFE is definitely present and accounted for, but I was expecting more depth and power to it during the action sequences. When the bomb blast goes off it was weighty and heavy, but it just didn’t have the raw power I was expecting. The same could be said of the gunfire. The thwap of the heavy sniper rifle didn’t exude that sense of awe inspiring weight, and the score was a bit softer than I expected in that department as well. Simply put, a good track that does everything asked of it without strain.








Extras:

• The Story Behind Beirut - Featurette
• Sandy Crowder - Behind the scenes with Rosamund Pike

Final Score: ​

I really do hope that micro and mid budget films like Beirut do not fall by the wayside. I love my summer blockbusters, but the budgets for these films have become so bloated and unwieldy that it’s nice to see more intimately done pictures like this crop up on the theatrical radar. Beirut was a bit unjustly criticized during and before its theatrical run (mostly criticized for the wrong reasons, as there is ample room for criticism), as it is a competently done spy thriller, but it does fail to light the genre on fire. Acting is well done, the cast was believable, but it somehow mired itself in cliches that have been done a million times before in the middle eastern spy genre. Universal did a good job with the audio/video specs, but once again we’re left with a fairly minimal array of extras on the disc. While it may not be the greatest spy movie ever, Beirut is a comfortable watch and easily earns my recommendation for a solid rental.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Rosamund Pike, Jon Hamm, Mark Pellegrino
Directed by: Brad Anderson
Written by: Tony Gilroy
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Studio: Universal
Rated: R
Runtime: 110 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: July 3rd, 2018

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Solid Rental

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will check it out once available on amazon prime/netflix.