Horsemen [Blu-ray]

'Horsemen Of The Apocalypse' is a serial killer movie, clearly inspired by the classic movie 'Seven'. It had a limited theatrical release in the USA and a direct to DVD release in the UK. On both releases it was critically panned.

The movie tells the story of Detective Aidan Breslin (Dennis Quaid) who starts investigating a series of violent murders, which is linked with Biblical prophecies concerning the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death.

The movie is intriguing at the start, slowly unfolds and ends with a twist, which I did not expect, however was not the best climax. I expected more from the climax because the movie promises a lot but settles for less. Also in the movie, there is a lack of tension building, which is essential for its genre.

The performance of the lead actor, Dennis Quaid is below par as he is not in his element and looks very tired/rough. The performance, which I found to be impressive was Zhang Ziyi's. The direction provided by Jonas Åkerlund is strictly average as a lot of the scenes are abrupt and disjointed. This can also be blamed on the editing and a flawed screenplay. The production values are average.

The movie does not come anywhere near to the likes of 'Seven' but is still watchable and quite interesting.

'Horsemen Of The Apocalypse' is average to above average when it comes to entertainment if you're not expecting much. It had the potential of becoming a classic of its genre.

The screen resolution for the Blu-ray disc is 1080p (1920 x 1080 progressive scan) and the sound format is HD MA 5.1 Dolby Digital or 2.0 Stereo. The picture quality is great with defined cinematography and crystal clear sharpness. The sound quality is clear and crisp including the dialogue.

Recommended for hardcore mystery/thriller fans.

Ridiculous.

Only remotely bearable by Dennis Quaid. No other redeeming features.

Echos's of a late night pub idea - "lets make Seven for the dotcom generation", but falls far, far short.

Just silly.

The opening of this film promises great things, and the attachment of Michael Bay in the producers' team seems to as well, after his involvement with a stream of high calibre horror remakes in the last ten years. However, the opening scene's dramatic promise throttles back to a gritty, moody and downbeat film, where a relentlessly depressed and astoundingly craggy Quaid constantly feels on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion.
While the discovery of the first body is dramatic and interestingly handled, the film then makes the odd choice to vary very little, its only surprises being the character twists and revelations. It also sets out its stall a bit too clearly and predictably. We're told fairly early on how many victims to expect, and how they're likely to be dispatched, and this doesn't help the tension. The audience also can't help wondering why Quaid spends so much time interviewing one suspect again and again who clearly has no willingness to tell him anything useful and revels in using the meetings to overperform and taunt him. To say much more would be to give the plot away as several crucial twists happen fairly early.
However, all the main roles are acted very well, and the film's main flaw is its structure and reasoning. The motives for some of the murders, when they're revealed, make very little sense. The identity of the ringleader is also bizarre, as while well acted again, it's entirely unbelievable that this person would hurt someone, let alone orchestrate and ringlead a spree of multiple murders. We're also supposed to believe that the ending could have a far wider ranging effect, but this never feels remotely believable due to a clumsy set-up with no background.
It's a strange film. For most of the time you'll be fairly entertained by its interesting if sombre tone, and well acted characters. And then it ends so suddenly that you feel the ending has been messed up by the editors. Rarely have I felt so puzzled by the rapidity of an ending or so thrown by the apparently unconvincing lack of sense it made. Nowhere near as Biblically dramatic and large-scale as it's made out to be, but not a bad (far) smaller scale police thriller either.