- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit)
- Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
- Subtitles Color: White
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: PG-13
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Digital Copies: N/A
- Run Time: 104 Mins.
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- Blu-ray Release Date: June 4, 2013
- List Price: $29.99
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0.5/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(The below TheaterByte screen captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray Disc and losslessly compressed in the PNG format. There should be no loss of picture quality with this format. All screen captures should be regarded only as an approximation of the full capabilities of the Blu-ray format.
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
There are biopics that legitimately try to understand their subjects, like Spike Lee’s Malcolm X or Olivier Dahan’s La vie en rose, then there are those that barely skim the surface of the subjects they purport to be exploring. Executive producer/director Harry Thomason’s The Last Ride falls into this latter category. Perhaps it is due to a poor screenplay from writers Howard Klausner and Dub Cornett, or perhaps too many years by Thomason spent directing and producing drivel on television the likes of the Emeril sitcom or The Designing Women Reunion, but The Last Ride misses the mark completely, giving us no more than a sideways glance at a character larger than life in the musical landscape, Hank Williams, boiled down to here, as my mother might say quite colorfully, low gravy.
The Last Ride is a fictional account of the final days of country music legend Hank Williams ( as he journeys on the road to two live shows, one for New Year’s Eve, one for New Year’s Day, 1952/53, that, if you know anything about country music or music in general, you already know he will never make. Williams (Henry Thomas; Big Sur; E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial), traveling under the pseudonym Mr. Wells, suffering from a lifetime of hard living, heavy drinking, drug abuse, two failed marriages, and spina bifida, would succumb to his demons on the road, but not before bonding with the young, pie-eyed driver, Silas (Jesse James), whom he hired to drive him to his gigs.
More a fictional road trip than an actual exploration of the life and times of Hank Williams, The Last Ride sadly gives us no more than a two-dimensional Williams, as portrayed by Thomas, who drinks a little, coughs a little, seems a little melancholy when he hears one of his songs on the radio, and seems happy with a drink in his hand. His traveling partner/driver Silas, as portrayed by Jesse James, is too much of a push over, always doing the bidding of Williams whether it’s running over street signs to go around a pig truck or driving him up to the nearest bar. We don’t even get a good look at Hank Williams, honky tonk legend, playing his famous guitar or crooning any of his ubiquitous hit songs.
If the filmmakers were going for philosophical with The Last Ride, they gave us a garden variety tabloid version of it that we could find at any supermarket checkout aisle, not the kind that leaves us contemplative or even longing to pull out that 3-disc Hank Williams anthology that may have been collecting a little too much dust on our shelf for a while.
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
This is a solid effort from Fox offered up in AVC/MPEG-4 at 1080p. There’s no evidence of video noise, the darker areas are nuanced, and close-ups yield a textured image.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
An atmospheric DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) track is included that picks up little details of the road trip nicely, keeps the dialogue clean, and expands nicely when the various musical numbers are brought to the fore.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0.5/5]
A brief behind-the-scenes with some short interviews is all we get with this one.
- A Look Inside The Last Ride (1.78:1; SD; 00:06:24)
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Last Ride is not the biopic that a figure like Hank Williams deserves. It’s a quick, pop culture fiction of the man’s last road trip. Henry Thomas’ portrayal of Williams lacks any gravitas and Jesse James is only a warm glass of milk beside him, meaning, quite bland, boring, and just might put you to sleep.
Additional Screen Captures
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Purchase The Last Ride on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
[amazon-product]B009C30ROU[/amazon-product]
Purchase The Last Ride on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0.5/5]