The Man From Toronto - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Man From Toronto



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
The 2020-2022 Covid era seems so far behind most of us now that the influx of direct to streaming movies that missed theaters feels like relics of a bygone era at this point. Films like Coming 2 America, Exctraction, Greyhound, Infinite were pumped out like crazy with theaters dead as a doornail, but nowadays that feels ancient. So color me a bit surprised when I realized I had missed a film from 2022 with Netflix’s The Man from Toronto. I mean, I remember the film’s production woes from a couple years back when Jason Statham was slated to play Woody’s character of Toronto, but sort of forgot about it and completely missed the film’s sliding onto Netflix with nary a word of marketing that I remember.

Checking it out for the first time (there is a 4K stream on Netflix, but the disc is sadly Blu-ray only) I was way more pleasantly surprised than initially expected. I’m not a fan of Kevin Hart action comedies, and while I love Woody Harrelson, he’s not been a a massive box office draw for quite some time, and his DTV films are sort of “meh” recently. However, I actually started to dig it, even with Kevin Hart being….well…. Kevin Hart.

Kevin Hart is Teddy, a loser at life who has continued to fail at just about everything he does. His marketing position was a failure, he invested in a whole line of fitness inventions that were dead on arrival, and the only thing that he has left that is even remotely successful is his marriage to Lori (Jamine Matthews), who just so happens to be her husband’s biggest cheerleader. Teddy is desperate to not screw things up again by missing another birthday, so he books a weekend out at a cabin for the two of them, only for to accidentally pick the WRONG cabin and be mistaken for the infamous contract Killer known only as The Man from Toronto.

The mixup is easily cleared by the FBI, but the agents in charge see an opportunity to hunt down the before unknown contractor. You see, nobody knows what he looks like, but with Teddy being mistaken for Toronto, the feds want to use him as bait lure out the real guy. Only thing is, Toronto (Woody Harrelson) knows the game that they’re playing, and has a bit of a game of his own that he’s going to use to his advantage and get the $2 million contract that Teddy has “stolen” from him as an imposter.

Silly as it is, The Man from Toronto is actually pretty decent. The film plays to the strengths of both men, with Kevin Hart doing his little man baby routine that made him so incredibly wealthy, and Woody playing the brooding hitman to a T. Both of them have decent chemistry together (which actually shocked me), and the action is pretty decent as well. There’s some very weird quick cuts going on that are mere fractions of a second (almost feels like it’s stuttering, but its’ a camera trick and not actual judder), and by the time the 2nd act was wrapping up I genuinely enjoying myself. However, the third act goes a little over board with the action. Things get tooooo comic booky and over the top, culminating in a bizarre battle between the two and Toronto’s handler that just looses the momentum of the first couple acts.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for violence throughout, some strong language and suggestive material




Video:

Shot digitally, The Man From Toronto comes to Blu-ray (sadly no 4K, even though it was streamed in 4K on Netflix) with a sparkling clean transfer that really does look quite excellent. Warm colors, neutral color grading, and a lack of artifacts makes this actioneer stand out as being a cut above, and coupled with excellent detail levels and It’s a winner. If I had to complain a little bit, it’s that some of the CGI blood effects and explosions look a bit cheap (thing the plane explosion), and digital backgrounds stand out like a sore thumb (the two walking away from the burning plane with an obvious CGI backdrop and an even MORE obvious CGI cow). That being said, by all technical merits the disc is excellent.









Audio:

The mnovie is solid, the video is excellent, but the single thing that kept standing out to me mover and over again during the run time was just how good the audio was. This is a very aggressive and powerful track, filled with tons of explosions, amazing weight in the LFE department, and an incredibly immersive surround mix that is intensely active the entire time. The entrance of The Man from Miama vs. Toronto is jaw dropping, and there were more than a few times where I kept going “wow, this LFE is freaking GREAT!” over and over again. Dialog is crystal clear, and the balance between the explosive action sequences and quieter vocals is superb.












Extras:

• Six deleted scenes
• Original trailer

Final Score: ​

All in all, The Man From Toronto is actually a pretty decent action comedy. It won’t win any awards, but it was memorable enough to not fall into the pit of abject mediocrity that films like Greyhound and Infinite suffered from. The Blu-ray (sadly no 4K UHD) looks and sounds great, and while meager, there is actually a couple of extras on board the disc. Worth checking out for a fun romp at the least.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Woody Harrelson, Kevin Hart, Kaley Cuco, Pierson Fode, Ellen Barkin, Lela Loren
Directed by: Patrick Hughes
Written by: Robbie Fox
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish DTS-HD MA 5.1, Portuguese DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Studio: Sony Pictures
Rated: PG-13
Runtime:110 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: June 13th, 2023

Recommendation: Surprisingly Fun

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I like Kevin Hart so will check it out.

 

[Epoxy1]

I may have to watch this on Netflix. I like both of the leads.

 

[BenToronto]

At last, somebody has made a movie about my career.

Thank you AudioNirvana.

BenToronto

 

[BenToronto]

Turns out to be a quite hilarious, laugh out loud, action movie.

Nothing about Toronto in it (except the title character's name) but local people will recognize some street scenes, like in many movies. Toronto locales often debut as suitable fill-ins for places from Paris to Waukegan, Wisconsin.

 

[Michael Scott]

Turns out to be a quite hilarious, laugh out loud, action movie.

Nothing about Toronto in it (except the title character's name) but local people will recognize some street scenes, like in many movies. Toronto locales often debut as suitable fill-ins for places from Paris to Waukegan, Wisconsin.

yeah, I wasn't expecting much, but came away very pleasantly surprised.