It was like watching any other clever heist film, but rather than following the tried and true formula of a slow build up and then sudden misdirection, 7 Seconds made a backwards attempt at the genre and came out with everything just a bit off.
For an action film, it was generally difficult to identify with the characters because there were neither bad nor good guys, just lots of greedy guys and one precocious British woman. Even the evil Russian mastermind behind it all isn't all that bad because he suffers from Parkinson's disease and turns the plot in serach of a cure. It's strange then that he occasionally garners more sympathy than a battered Snipes.
Captain Jack plays the ring leader of the band; a ragtag army of dishonorably discharged militants, but there's no Blade-like heroism for him in this flick. It's all just some off the cuff thinking, self-indulgence and some pretty shoddy camera work that earned this film a B rating for the action genre.
The story itself was not particularly noteworthy. It had enough action at its core to satisfy a Snipes fan, but a story that had the makings of a clever heist film took the road more traveled as a brain-dead and balls out shoot-em-up flick instead.
Score: 6 out of 10
Video and Presentation
Coming out on the heels of other, better heist films such as the Ocean's trilogy and even in the wake of The Italian Job leaves much to be desired for 7 Seconds. But one thing this edition has in its favor is the quality of the disc. The film is presented in 1.85:1 aspect ratio at a clear resolution which gives it some much needed clarity through a muddied plot. In fact, the picture is quite clear, and there were very few issues with grain and soft focus in the action scenes so Snipes was free to get the crap kicked out of him time and again because the oozing blood was almost clear enough to start counting platelets.
Score: 7 out of 10
Language and Audio
The Blu-Ray edition features Dolby TrueHD 5.1 encodings in English, Portuguese and French. This high action track does a decent job of making room for the instances of unexpected dialogue, (most of which resided in the center channel) but the strikingly familiar score shot out from all directions. They especially earn kudos for the extensive use of the side and rear speakers throughout the numerous chase scenes. The audio in these scenes enveloped the energy and immerses the viewer into a world of outrageous action. All throughout there was a lot of action and seamless movement in the side and rear speakers, and the various sound effects and ambient noises were enough to give this film an added adrenaline boost.
Score: 8 out of 10
Packaging and Extras
This single-disc release is packaged in that familiar hard blue plastic case indicative of a price jump of nearly $10. Inside the mysterious blue box is a promotional insert and a one-disc wonder complete with little to no extra features. There are no commentaries or featurettes to speak of and the only option from the pull-down menu that has any actual options comes from the audio bank where the film was encoded into most any language imaginable. The graphics on the start menu are pleasing and that slide effect of one icon jumping over another never gets old, but these things come on most Blu-Rays and can therefore be better used if they actually had some valid extras.
Score: 5 out of 10
The Bottom Line
If 'timing is everything,' than this film was seven seconds behind.