Erased Blu-ray review

Actors: Aaron Eckhart, Olga Kurylenko, Liana Liberato, Alexander Fehling, Neil Napier

Director: Philipp Stolzl

Format: Blu-ray, NTSC, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: R

Studio: ANCHOR BAY

Release Date: July 16, 2013

Run Time: 104 minutes

 

 

        If you aren’t Taken or Stolen, there is a pretty good chance you will be Erased. We have moved past the B-film rip-offs of the successful international thriller Taken (which include the abhorrently bad sequel) and straight on to the C-film copycats. You would think that if they were planning on recycling the storyline of a specially trained agent forced to use his skills to protect his daughter from unknown assailants in a foreign land, it might as least be in the filmmaker’s best interest to come up with titles that aren’t such a blatant reminder of this unoriginality. This half-ass effort is carried through much of Erased, a film which feels like a student’s copied homework.

 

        Aaron Eckhart is occasionally successful at carrying the film as ex-CIA operative Ben Logan, a man forced to live outside of the United States and recently joined by a teenage daughter (Liana Liberato) conveniently clueless to his past.  When both Logan and his daughter are targeted for termination, his old training is the only thing keeping them alive. Hunted by a relentless agent (Olga Kurylenko), Logan must explain his past to his estranged daughter while keeping them alive and trying to discover the reasons for the sudden assassination attempts.

 

        The storyline provides plenty of opportunities for extravagant action, including numerous chase sequences and daring escapes. This is paint-by-numbers filmmaking, and there is no possible room for error if filmmaking were like the construction of an automobile. Unfortunately for anyone watching Erased, films cannot be made with production line mentality. Even with all of the pieces perfectly in place, Erased lacks the soul of a proper movie. It is empty and void of imagination and life.

 

        The Blu-ray release of this highly unoriginal thriller includes a behind-the-scenes featurette. This isn’t a film you need to rush out and buy on Blu-ray, unless there are any die-hard Aaron Eckhart fans I’m unaware of. Wait until it is streaming or playing on television. Any additional effort to see this movie will feel wasted.

Entertainment Value: 5/10

Quality of Filmmaking: 5/10

Historical Significance: 1/10

Disc Features: 1/10