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DVDfever.co.uk – The Interceptor Blu-ray review Dom Robinson reviews
Optimum Home Entertainment Blu-ray: 
DVD:
- Cert:
- Running time: 94 minutes
- Year: 2009
- Cat no: OPTBD1749R0
- Released: February 2010
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 12 plus extras
- Picture: 1080p High Definition
- Sound: DTS 5.1 HD Master Audio
- Languages: Russian
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: BD25
- Price: £19.99 (Blu-ray); £15.99 (DVD)
- Extras: Trailer
- Vote and comment on this film: View Comments
Director:
- Konstantin Maximov
(The Interceptor)
Producers:
- Vasiliy Golovachev and Julia Orlova
Screenplay:
- Vasiliy Golovachev
Cast :
- Matvey: Igor Petrenko
Polina: Liusov Tokalina
Kurylo: Alexander Baluev
Gorshin: Valdimir Vdovichenkov
Kristina: Anna Khodyush
Tina: Tina Kandelaki
Khranitel’Nitea: Anna Khodyush
Infarkh: Valeriy Gur’ev
Dikoy: Lev Prygunov
Ivakin: Andrey Chyubchenko
Some loquacious statements fill the screen as The Interceptor begins, but they generally amount to the fact that Earth is about to be invaded by aliens.
A man who’s been shot – Matvey (Igor Petrenko, right) – detonates the plane he’s just been on and jumps out at the last minute, landing in a forest. He’s a good guy and the powers that be need him to go after Kurylo (Alexander Baluev), his ex-partner, now a bigwig who’s running for government. It’s a typical case of “Only one man can stop him!”
The world looks very futuristic and clinical, even though it is only 2013, and set in Moscow, so there’s not a chance of it looking like that by then! We learn that the plane contained a psychotropic prototype weapon and that there’s a weird force, like spidery strands of blood, appearing and sticking through people (below). Also, there was a Russian incident where what looked like a huge laser zapped through an area and killed loads of people with snazzy CGI, which turned out to be a more advanced version of this prototype weapon.
Matvey, his partner, Ivakin (Andrey Chyubchenko) and a meathead called Gorshin (Valdimir Vdovichenkov) are the ones who end up having to go after a syndicate called “Stop Crime”, radical group executing heads of state, so they certainly aren’t stopping any crime. Matvey also hangs out with redheaded lesbian photographer, Polina (Liusov Tokalina), who reminds him of someone in his past, while she’s on the trail of Kurylo. And since she’s a lesbian, what’s the betting he has sex with her to make her straight, hmm?
The film has futuristic backdrops, but in an opening shot, it’s clearly a painted one rather than CGI and looks… well, rather odd. In fact, not much of this film makes any sense. It’s a case of “nice effects, shame about the plot and writing”. It feels like it’s trying to be the Russian equivalent of The Transporter with its slomo special FX, flash Audi cars, plus car chase and fight scenes. Hence, this film’s hero has a similarly monikered title of The Interceptor.
There’s some neat direction on occasion, such as when he has a gun put to his head while in his car, at one point, but such moments are few and far between.
By the end, you’ve stopped caring about much of what’s going on and when he starts fighting all this spidery stuff, it looks like a trailer from the ’80s about fighting against plaque, or something else health-based.
Presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio, the picture is flawless throughout which really does perfect justice to the often-stunning visuals and crisp futuristic appearance. If you did enjoy this film, somehow, then you can be safe in the knowledge this transfer couldn’t be any better. For the record, I’m watching on a Panasonic 37″ Plasma screen via a Samsung BD-P1500 Blu-ray player.
As for the sound, this this in DTS 5.1 HD Master Audio, or DTS 5.1 for those, like me, without the full technical dohickey. Like the picture, this is spot-on too. Whether it’s gunfire, explosions or lots of fighting, it’s got it sorted. The rest of the time, the ambience flows nicely too.
As for the extras, well, there’s one – a trailer (2:08), in anamorphic 2.35:1.
The menu mixes clips from the film with a plot device, for a short time. There are English subtitles but the Chaptering is, again for Optimum, appalling with just 12 over the 94-minute running time.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.