# Supremacy - Blu-ray Review



## Mike Edwards (Mar 10, 2011)

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=43306[/img] 
*Title: Supremacy* 

*Movie:* :2.5stars:
*Video:* :3.5stars:
*Audio:* :4stars:
*Extras:* :1.5stars: 

*HTS Overall Score:*66






[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=43314[/img]*Summary*
I’ve noticed an interesting trend lately, as Well Go USA is getting more and more NON Asian movies in their lineup. We’ve seen a lot of indie work that normally would have been forgotten about or gone to other channels get a chance with the Texas based little company. Some of them are quite good, little gems that get hidden, or not bad movies that really deserve a chance, while others are just what they seem. Cheap and low budget. “Supremacy” is one of those “that’s not bad” type of films, as it is based off of true events and ironically comes out right about the time that our whole nation is talking about racial issues due to some high profile incidents in the last year. I was rather hooked by the trailer, as I love Danny Glover and have been a huge fan of his since the 80s. Going in I had very little expectations, but coming out I still was a tad disappointed. 

Garett Tully (Joe Anderson) has just gotten out of the pokey from a 15 year stint for armed robbery. While in prison he found a purpose in the Aryan brotherhood and soon became their #3 guy. Now that he’s out, Garett is off on some mission for the brotherhood. Picked up by Aryan groupie, Doreen (Dawn Olivieri), he finds himself in a pickle. It’s been only a few hours and the death of a black police officer is now on his hands due to Tully’s anger issues. Taking cover in a nearby house the pair hunkers down and try and formulate an escape plan. 

The home is occupied by an elderly black man named Mr. Walker (Danny Glover), his live in assistant and the assistant’s two children and grandchildren. Now with the terror of the law behind them, and the family in front of them, Doreen and Tully are in a bit of a predicament. The cops are closing in behind them and setting up sweep nets, and there seems to be no way out for the drugged up criminals. Doreen is a bit of a schizoid personality and Dawn plays her very much like Toni Collette’s crazy portrayals. She’s barely hinged in reality and waffles back and forth between killing Mr. Walker and the rest of the black family, and trying to weasel her way into their good graces at a moment’s notice. Tully is more straight forward, as he’s your typical race hating Aryan brotherhood member with just enough intelligence to get into a bunch of pseudo intellectualism that feeds his hatred and racism. 

[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=43322[/img] Once the couple gets to the farmhouse, the momentum slows down to a crawl and the film starts to form into a morality lesson. Each of the characters has their flaws and their own racial hang ups, on both sides of the skin color gap. Mr. Walker is an ex con who just wants to take care of his family, yet is hinted at having his own anger problems and relationship problems that make him a lesson than stellar human being. I found this a little bit confusing as you can tell there was probably a lot left on the cutting room floor, for the characters are more than a little under developed. There were times where I felt that more backstory on Tully and Mr. Walker would have helped as the majority of the run time was spent trying to insert tension and terror into the scenes, rather than flesh out the motivations and purpose of the people with the guns, as well as the people without. We get to see some surprises, such as the cop in charge of the local investigation is actually Mr. Walker’s Son, and a few twists on the escape plan, but not enough to really inject a good amount of interest into the movie. 

I ended up feeling that the movie was a bit flat and bland, with way too much time listening to the Aryan criminals spout off obscenities and racial slurs, rather than have interesting characters. Danny Glover was the high point of the movie, as his performance felt raw and much more intense than the other characters. His mumbling was a bit hard to hear sometimes, but he was extremely real to me, unlike some of the various clichéd archetypes of the movie. The suspense and tension is nonexistent and the end result is rather boring. It’s not bad as a rental, and some people may get more out of it than I did, but the true story of Garett Tully in book form ends up being much more palatable than this version did on screen. 



*Rating:* 

Not Rated by the MPAA



*Video* :3.5stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=43330[/img]“Supremacy” comes to Blu-ray with a rather mediocre looking 2.39:1 AVC encoded transfer. Colors are very much desaturated and the whole image looks like it has a grey filter overlaying the picture. There are a few instances of colors, such as the bright red car of the caregiver, and the blue lights of the police cars, but the majority of the picture is left with that grey filter and very chocolaty, earthy colors. Detail is decent, but the low budget video looks a bit noisy and soft in comparison to many modern films. The fine detail and facial detail is usually quite good, but that overall softness robs of it looking razor sharp. On one hand the rough look of the movie goes hand in hand with the rough and crude ways of the Aryans, but at the same time it’s not going to be something you really drool over. Black levels are decent, but they suffer from that grey filter that sort of washes out the black levels and leaves skin tones looking sallow. 







*Audio* :4stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=43338[/img]The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is another story, as it is quite solid and definitely impressive at times. Vocals are clear and clean with good channel separation amongst the three mains. I never felt that the dynamic range was too large as I never had to adjust the volume levels once. My only complaint was Danny Glover incessantly mumbling his lines. He’s always had that raspy voice that sometimes is hard to hear, but he speaks in such a soft tone the entire movie that his gravelly voice gets lot in the background. The surrounds get some decent use with some solid ambient reproduction and the action scenes give a nice level of immersion. The LFE is solid and impactful, adding some weight to the gun shots and the score adds some excellent midbass to give you that “kick in the chest” feel more than once. The 5.1 track gives a pleasing experience that will be seen as the highlight of the whole Blu-ray package. 






*Extras* :1.5stars:
[img]http://www.hometheatershack.com/gallery/file.php?n=43346[/img]
• Behind the Scenes
• Trailers








*Overall:* :3stars:

Despite a good performance by Glover and Olivieri, “Supremacy” isn’t able to get across the message that it really wanted to reveal. Low tension, low interest and poorly developed characters brings the movie down substantially and leaves the viewer feeling a bit cheated. The rough and gritty low budget filming style is definitely watchable, but far from reference, while the audio is easily the best part of the whole package, especially with the limited extras. I might give it a cheap rental, but it’s not something I would recommend blind buying. 

*Additional Information:*

Starring: Danny Glover, Joe Anderson, Dawn Oliviera
Directed by: Deon Taylor
Written by: Eric J. Adams
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DD 2.0
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 111 Minutes 
Blu-ray Release Date: April 21st 2015


*Buy Supremacy On Blu-ray at Amazon*





*Recommendation: Rental​*







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