Review by Gary Tooze

Production:

Disc:

Video:

Audio:

Subtitles:

• Audio Commentary with editor Barry Zetlin
• Hired to Direct a brand new interview with director Nico Mastorakis on the making of Hired to Kill (27:26)
• Undercover Mercenary a brand new interview with star Brian Thompson (17:34)
• Original Theatrical Trailer (2:50)
• Stills Gallery
• Original Freedom or Death Screenplay (BD/DVD-ROM Content)
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
• Fully-illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by critic James Oliver

Bitrate:

 

Description: Starring legendary actors Oliver Reed (Gladiator, The Brood), Academy Award Winner George Kennedy (The Delta Force, Cool Hand Luke, The Naked Gun series) and Academy Award Winner Jose Ferrer (Cyrano de Bergerac, Dune, Lawrence of Arabia), Hired to Kill is an essential slice of '''90s action fare featuring guns, girls and a plethora of budget-busting explosions for good measure''.

Action movie staple Brian Thompson (whose brief turn in 1984 s The Terminator led to a starring role in the 1986 Sylvester Stallone vehicle Cobra) stars as Frank Ryan, a mercenary sent to track down a rebel leader in hostile territory. Posing as a fashion designer, he won t be going it alone, as he'll be aided by seven beautiful but deadly female fighters.

Whilst the opportunity to see Oliver Reed chewing up the scenery behind an elaborate moustache merits the price of the admission alone, Hired to Kill is also noteworthy as being co-directed by Nico Mastorakis the man behind such cult favourites as Island of Death and The Zero Boys.

 

 

The Film:

Excerpt from VideoVacuum located HERE

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

This is the another Arrow Blu-ray release that is being simultaneously released in both region 'A' (US) and 'B' (UK). It is the exact same package on both sides of the pond to the best of our knowledge.

NOTE: As Michael Brooke informed us on Facebook in regards to Day of Anger: 'As the producer of Arrow's release, I can confirm first hand that the UK and US discs are absolutely identical: we only paid for one master, so there's no doubt about this at all! Which means that no matter which package you buy, the discs will play in any Region A or B setup (or Region 1 or 2 for DVD - and in the latter case the video standard is NTSC, to maximise compatibility). The booklets are also identical, but there are minor cosmetic differences on the disc labels and sleeve to do with differing copyright info and barcodes, and the US release doesn't have BBFC logos.' Hired To Kill is the same situation.

Hired To Kill gets a dual-layered transfer to Blu-ray from Arrow supported with a high bitrate.  It is described as a "Brand new 2K restoration of the film, approved by writer-director Nico Mastorakis" The 1080P reproduces some pleasing depth in the 1.85:1 frame but generally it looks a shade softer than I might have expected.  It's very clean and I don't doubt a solid representation of the original. This Blu-ray provides a decent presentation but certainly no demo.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arrow use a linear PCM 2.0 channel stereo track at 1536 kbps (16-bit) of the option of a lossy Dolby 5.1 surround. I stuck with the default (stereo) and it exported some depth in the film's more aggressive sequences. The score is by Jerry Grant and a bit awkward at times - but I liked it and thought it suited this 'spoitation actioner. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles and my Oppo has identified it as being a region 'A' + 'B'.

Extras :

Arrow provide an audio commentary with editor Barry Zetlin and a couple of new featurettes - Hired to Direct is a brand new 28-minute interview with director Nico Mastorakis on the making of Hired to Kill. Undercover Mercenary is a new 17.5 minute interview with star Brian Thompson recalling the production and its relevance in his career. There is also an original theatrical trailer, a stills gallery. You can access the original Freedom or Death screenplay via BD/DVD-ROM content as a PDF and the package has a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys and includes a fully-illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing by critic James Oliver.

 

BOTTOM LINE:
Well, if you've come this far I think you know what you are in for with Hired to Kill. Nico Mastorakis adds some flavor to this genre and he is beginning to grow on me. Hired to Kill is a cheap action/adventure with some sexy gals and it might be a notch above the standard for this exploitation-leaning flic with a hint of style. The Arrow Blu-ray provides a strong a/v replication of the original film and some decent supplements including a commentary. I suggest this fitting a unique vein of film-fan but you also might be surprised at some of the positive-ness of your reaction. Let's just say "You could do worse". 

Gary Tooze

May 13th, 2016