January 18, 2016

Introduction

Rush was not your typical undercover cops getting those bad drug dealers type of movie, and being released in 1991, a much less glamorous — and much more personal — look at the side of cops who take a risk to capture local drug dealers and thugs. Bottom line, it can be exciting, but the job of catching drug dealers can take an emotional and physical toll on a person, especially when they are repeatedly surrounded by temptations.

The Plot

Larry Dodd (Sam Elliott) is the boss of Jim Raymon (Jason Patric). A local coke dealer is one of the most mysterious and hard to capture dealers for quite some time, and Jim is looking for a new partner who can go undercover with him, hoping to get more than just a few glances here and there at the man known as Gaines (Gregg Allman). Gaines, towering at more than 6-feet tall and easily surpassing 230-pounds, operates a country nightclub — as well as pushing cocaine. He's a smooth man, and you'd hardly ever notice he even existed. Until you did something and he crosses your path.

On the law enforcement track and training field, Jim initially sees a potential partner and then another, but makes a last-second decision to bet his boss on a blonde, who he knows is going to beat them both. Dodd scoffs at the decision, but soon loses his $5 to Jim, who makes a living at profiling people and staying alert in a world where you need to size a person up within seconds to know if you're going to walk out of a situation alive.

After taking interest in the winning runner, Jim says she would be a good partner for the upcoming undercover job. Reluctantly, Dodd agrees and invites Kristen Cates (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to his office for an opportunity. She accepts, but is told by Dodd this is no ordinary line of law enforcement work. Being undercover changes people, he tells her.

Packaging

Packaging for Rush came in the usual Kino Lorber style. Disc. Blu-ray case.

Video & Screencaps

Picture quality for Rush wasn't too bad but I think a video bitrate of 25 Mbps would have been better than the ~20 Mbps average. The film looked good, but there were times where I observed pixelated gradients of solid color backgrounds. For example, scenes in the country night club with various shades of browns. This is another Kino Lorber BD-25, and once again, I was hoping for KL to offer a BD-50 with a little more video data.

Additional Screencaps

Audio

Audio for Rush wasn't too bad considering the soundtrack wasn't exceptionally dynamic. Given the film was mostly dialog anyway, there were not enough scenes to exploit it if it was. Cars zooming by and motorcycles rumbling all came through well. Of particular note, gunshots from shotguns and revolvers came through exceptionally well, giving a lot of depth and robust feeling. If you have a nice sound system (or even moderate comet to think of it), crank it up a notch for the scene where there is some target practicing going on.

Main Audio Track: English DTS-HD Master 5.1 @ 1955 Kbps (48kHz/16-bit)
Subtitles: English, English SDH

Extras

Extras for Rush are a little lacking, but the best extra is the audio commentary track, where Director Lili Fini Zanuck explains a lot about the presentation.

Filming Rush (8:52) 720 x 480 (SD)
Tears In Heaven by Eric Clapton Music Video (4:44) 720 x 480 (SD)
Trailer (2:21) 720 x 480 (SD)
Audio Commentary featuring Director Lili Fini Zanuck (Feature Length)

Specifications

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Active Pixel Area: 1920 x 1038 pixels
Inactive Pixel Area: 1920 x 42 pixels

Disc Name: RUSH
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Blu-ray BD-25
Disc Size: 23,989,354,312 bytes (22.34 GB)
Movie Size: 22,880,624,640 bytes (21.31 GB)
Overall Bitrate: 25.36 Mbps
Video Bitrate: 19.85 Mbps

Conclusion

After The Lost Boys introduced Jason Patric, he grabbed an instant fanbase. However, Rush was the film that grabbed everyone's attention for his most serious role at that time and shaped his future roles. Jennifer Jason Leigh was primarily known from Fast Times At Ridgemont High and The Hitcher, and it was Rush which also solidified her as a serious actor, not just interested in fanbase roles.

Having a better picture presentation than ever before along with several amazing actors which is difficult to find in modern films, Rush (Blu-Ray) receives a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Director Lili Fini Zanuck has said the ending of Rush was actually a big mistake on her part. She says everyone else loves it, but the ending has always come across to her as too coincidental. I somewhat agree, but I don't dislike the ending. A more detailed explanation (i.e., a quick scene depicting a particular actor sneaking into a vehicle) would have helped, but then again, Rush managed to develop itself more than what Director Lili Fini Zanuck may have thought. In any case, this is one of my favorite drug films, depicting undercover cops doing a very difficult job...which never truly ends.