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Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden Blu-ray Review

  • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
  • 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, Spanish
  • Subtitles Color: White
  • Region: A (Region-Locked)
  • Rating: Not Rated
  • Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
  • Digital Copies: N/A
  • Run Time: 90 Mins.
  • Studio: The Weinstein Company/Anchor Bay Entertainment
  • Blu-ray Release Date: January 15, 2013
  • List Price: $24.99

Overall
[Rating:2.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:1/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]

Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures

(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

The Film

[Rating:1/5]

This indie film from director John Stockwell and screenwriter Kendall Lampkin purports to tell the true story of the world’s greatest manhunt – the search for and subsequent killing of Osama Bin Laden. Sadly, this independent production, which started out headed for theaters and ended up as a direct-to-TV movie that aired on the National Geographic cable network (NatGeo), is about as authentic as Call of Duty on a PS3. There are many out there who tried to turn this film into a battleground for some political debate, but they chose the wrong battlefield. This is like fighting over who’s better at making Filet Mignon, McDonald’s or Wendy’s. The answer would be, of course, neither, because none of them includes it on the menu and both are rubbish to begin with. The silly dialogue, two-dimensional characters, and woefully executed big scene where the soldiers finally storm the compound (helmets with flashlights, really?), this film is just atrocious. The creators didn’t even bother to try to make the location seem authentic. We’re supposed to be in Pakistan – hello! But with the location shooting in Mumbai that doesn’t even attempt to imitate Pakistan’s geographic terrain and the city surrounding the compound, one can only assume that they were either A) too cheap or B) thought we Americans were too stupid to tell the difference.  Even Anson Mount, who plays Seal Team Six member “Cherry”, here is regrettably bad, flat, and cliché in his performance. It’s terrible to see, given his usually strong portrayal in his own series Hell on Wheels. This entire “film” is nightmarish or incredibly funny, depending on how you look at.

Video Quality

[Rating:3.5/5]

Despite weak efforts to make Seal Team Six look like a slick, high budget film, the production nonetheless shows signs that it isn’t. Therefore, this AVC/MPEG-4 1080p transfer from Anchor Bay is underwhelming. Black levels aren’t anywhere near inky and detail can be a little smooth. The use of low-resolution archival footage throughout doesn’t help matters along either.

Audio Quality

[Rating:4/5]

A reasonably effective DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit) soundtrack is provided. It doesn’t reach the level of bombast and dynamics that big budget films along this line would, but there are decent ambient effects and clear dialogue.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:1/5]

An obligatory “making of” featurette is included as the only extra.

  • The Making of Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:17:30)

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:2.5/5]

What had the potential to be in interesting to look into one of the greatest, most important manhunts the world has ever seen with Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden instead turned into a half-baked, video game of a film, with bad dialogue, bad acting, and bad direction. The location shooting, sets, factual errors, and generally weak exploration of the entire history leave this film as one of the worst docudramas ever.

Additional Screen Captures

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Seal Team Six: The Raid On Osama Bin Laden

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Seal Team Six: The Raid On Osama Bin Laden

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

Overall
[Rating:2.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:1/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:1/5]


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