Best-known for TV’s Prison Break, Dominic Purcell takes a lead role in 2016’s Gridlocked. After too much bad behavior lands him in trouble, movie star Brody Walker (Cody Hackman) cops a plea that places him in an unusual position. Rather than go to jail, Brody will accompany a police officer as a form of community service.

Brody gets assigned to David Hendrix (Purcell), a former SWAT leader who lost his position because he lacked medical clearance after he was shot on the job. This sticks him with banal tasks – such as babysitting the obnoxious and arrogant Brody.

Their ride-along goes down a different path when a band of mercenaries attacks a police training facility. Along with some survivors, David and Brody band together to combat the threat.

At 113 minutes, Gridlocked doesn’t boast an extended running time, but it doesn’t use that cinematic real estate well – at least not during the opening act. The story takes much longer than it should to introduce its characters and plot elements. It could – and should – have gone through these elements in a quicker, more concise manner.

Do matters improve once the action kicks in? No, not really. The various components add a smidgen of life to the proceedings but they don’t do a lot to make the project more involving.

Much of the issue stems from the “been there, done that” factor. Gridlocked comes with story and character facets that we’ve seen many times already. It owes a major debt to Die Hard and arrives chock full of clichés from other, better movies.

On the surface, the inclusion of the movie star character should add life to the tale, but it doesn’t. Whatever creativity this choice enables gets swept away early in the process. Brody fails to develop into an interesting personality.

Really, nothing about Gridlocked emerges as memorable or provocative. It comes across as a professional effort that lacks the creativity to become an engaging action flick.

Gridlocked appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-Ray Disc. This was a generally positive presentation.

Sharpness looked solid. A few shots were slightly soft, but not to a substantial degree. Most of the movie seemed pretty accurate and concise. No jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws were a non-factor, as the movie stayed clean.

Like most modern action flicks, Gridlocked favored a blue tint with a dollop of orange as well. The blue became a pretty heavy overtone and we didn’t get much room for other hues. Within their parameters, the colors appeared appropriate.

Blacks seemed deep and tight, while shadows were decent. They could be slightly dense – mainly in nighttime scenes - but they remained positive for the most part. In the end, the transfer proved to be good, if not great.

As for the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Gridlocked, it became a peppy mix. With all the action scenes, we got a lot of good material from all sides. Gunfire and other elements zoomed around the spectrum and added a nice sense of activity to the film. Stereo music also worked well, and this turned into a pretty vivid soundscape.

Audio quality seemed fine. Speech was crisp and distinctive, with no edginess or other concerns. Music was full and rich, while effects came across as lively and accurate. The track boasted good low-end when appropriate. All of this was good enough for a “B+”.

The Blu-ray provides two featurettes. Kicking It Old School runs 15 minutes, 53 seconds and includes writer/director Allan Ungar and actors Dominic Purcell, Stephen Lang, Cody Hackman, Trish Stratus, James A. Woods and Danny Glover. “School” looks at story/characters, cast and performances, stunts and action sequences, and Ungar’s approach to the material. “School” brings us a pretty rudimentary program without much substance.

During the six-minute, 40-second Inside the Action, we hear from Purcell, Lang, Stratus, Woods, Ungar, and Glover. As expected, “Action” tells us a little more about fights and stunts. It delivers a few good behind the scenes shots but like its predecessor, it remains fluffy.

Eight Deleted Scenes occupy a total of 11 minutes, 34 seconds. These add a little to the story but not much. As such, they don’t contribute anything that would’ve embellished the movie.

Finally, a Blooper Reel goes for six minutes, three seconds. It mostly consists of goofs and giggles, so it’s standard dare.

The disc opens with ads for High-Rise and The Wave. No trailer for Gridlocked appears here.

Could you find less effective action movies than Gridlocked? Sure, but you can also locate so many superior efforts that I can’t think of a reason to point you in its direction. The Blu-ray provides pretty good picture and audio along with a minor array of supplements. Gridlocked offers a “rainy Saturday/nothing better on cable” kind of experience.