American Renegades appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie provided a solid presentation.
Sharpness usually worked well. Though a few wider shots displayed a smidgen of softness, the majority of the movie gave us accurate, precise visuals.
I saw no shimmering or jaggies, and edge haloes remained absent. The movie also displayed no print flaws.
Renegades opted for a fairly typical mix of orange and teal, though not cranked to absurd extremes. Within those constraints, colors looked appropriate.
Blacks appeared dark and dense, and shadows boasted good delineation. Low-light scenes seemed smooth and well-rendered. This turned into an effective transfer.
I also felt pleased with the engaging DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Renegades. Unsurprisingly, combat/action scenes added the most zing to the proceedings, as those cranked out vivid material from all around the spectrum.
In addition, the mix brought a good sense of place and ambience throughout the film. Music showed nice stereo presence, and effects meshed together well. These moved smoothly across speakers and formed a quality environment for the material.
Audio quality seemed satisfying. Music was clear and full, while effects offered accurate, dynamic information.
Speech appeared natural and concise, without edginess or other issues. The soundtrack fit the story on display and became a lively partner to the visuals.
We get four featurettes here, and Covert Operations runs 12 minutes, 18 seconds. It includes notes from director Steven Quale, dialect coach Andrew Jack, and actors Sylvia Hoeks, Charlie Bewley, Joshua Henry, Sullivan Stapleton, Dimitri Leonidas, Diarmaid Murtaugh, and JK Simmons.
“Covert” examines story and characters as well as cast and performances. It tends toward happy talk so outside of a discussion of the actors’ accents, it doesn’t give us much substance.
With Keeping It Real, we locate an 11-minute, 35-second clip that features Quale, Bewley, Hoeks, Leonidas, Murtaugh, and production designer Hugues Tissandier.
“Real” looks at sets, locations and production design. Like “Covert”, “Real” leans toward the puff piece side of the street, but it nonetheless boasts a higher level of useful information, so it merits a look.
Can Do Attitude goes for 10 minutes, 36 seconds and includes Quale, Bewley, Stapleton, Murtaugh, Henry, stunt supervisor Francois Doge, picture vehicle coordinator Jan Kubkowski, and key armourer Lutz Zeidler.
“Attitude” provides a look at the movie’s stunts and action. It becomes another erratic but fairly informative piece.
Finally, Underwater Adversity lasts 10 minutes, 47 seconds and presents remarks from Quale, Murtagh, Henry, Leonidas, Bewley, Doge, Hoeks, SFX supervisor Uli Nefzer, and underwater DP Pete Romano.
As implied by the title, this show examines the movie’s underwater photography and related elements. It turns into a reasonably effective clip.
The disc opens with ads for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Robin Hood (2018) and Kin. No trailer for Renegades appears here.
A caper flick that involves US military forces, American Renegades boasts some excitement potential. It never does much with its positive elements, though, so it ends up as a wholly mediocre enterprise. The Blu-ray brings very good picture and audio along with a smattering of supplements. Nothing about Renegades flops but the film simply can’t ever become better than “okay”.