Wild Hogs Bluray Review

[wbassett]

Actors: John Travolta, Tim Allen, William H. Macy, Martin Lawrence
Directors: Walter Becker
Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen
Language: English
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating PG13
Studio: Touchstone / Disney
DVD Release Date: August 14, 2007
Run Time: 100 minutes




Anytime my wife hands me a movie in High Def format and says "I want this" I don't ask questions and throw it in the cart! Usually the comment is "Why spend that much when this one is cheaper?" She's starting to like High Def more and more although she says she really doesn't understand the difference.

Okay, so for the movie... This is one that when I saw the trailer I knew I wanted to see the movie. The cast just looked like they had a good time, and it was a good call with the actors picked.

Wild Hogs is about a group of middle aged men that have become their worse nightmare... middle aged and boring!

The group has one passion though which is their Harley's. Together their small suburban motorcycle 'gang' rides around the city every weekend and stop at the local 'biker bar'. Of course this isn't your typical biker's bar, it's more like Planet Hollywood's version of a biker bar- no actual riff raff allowed, more of a theme bar for the suburbanite locals to hang out.

The movie sets things up very well. It starts off with a brief introduction of each of the main character's and a glimpse into their everyday lives.

Doug- (Tim Allen) Doug is like the Rodney Dangerfield of dentists, he can't get no respect... not even from his son who he is feeling more and more alienated from and 'uncool'. Doug also gets no respect from his friends either, who remind him he's not a 'doctor' just a dentist.

Bobby- (Martin Lawrence) Bobby took a year off from 'The Firm' to write the Great American Novel... a self help book. Thing is, Bobby needs some help himself! His wife is the bread winner and knows it. Worse she constantly reminds Bobby that she knows it. At least Doug's son respects him although he doesn't think his dad is cool. Bobby's kids have no respect for their dad and to make life just a little worse, a live in mother-in-law that also doesn't mind telling Bobby just how much of a loser he is.

Dudley- (William H. Macy) The 'plucky comic relief' of the gang. (As if a group of comedians need one! But it works). Dudley is the personification of a computer geek. Worse than just a stereo typical computer geek, Dudley is a middle aged man not a 23 year old living in his parents basement. He is awkward in life and even more awkward around women. Being clumsy doesn't help much either, especially when it comes to bike riding skills.

Woody- (John Travolta) He's the catalyst of this great adventure the Wild Hogs are about to embark on. To the rest of his friends, Woody is the guy that 'made it'. Even though Doug, Bobby, and Dudley all live in nice houses in nice neighborhoods, Woody is the man. He's a high profile 'something', the movie doesn't really say what, but it also doesn't matter. He's also married to a Sport's Illustrated swim suit model, and his life looks like the ideal dream to his friends. Except... like with everything, the grass isn't always greener. Woody's wife left him, he lost all his high paying clients, and as his attorney tells him, "You're not going broke Woody... you are broke!

So the scene is set, we all get introduced to the characters and a hint of their everyday lives. While doing their weekly Wild Hogs ride which is almost as routine as their lives have become, Woody snaps during their typical routine stop at the faux biker bar. He just wants to get away from it all and hit the road... let loose and be free, but mainly to forget about his problems. Of course Woody neglects to tell his friends and 'gang' members that he is actually having problems.

Reluctant at first, Doug, Bobby, and Dudley agree to a road trip to the coast, and that's where the fun with this misfit band of bikers really begins.

For those that like bass, there is nothing like hearing four Harley Hogs rev it up, and the sound track is done very well for Wild Hogs. It's always a great feeling when the sub and 10" woofers in my main speakers are all kicking in, and this was a joy. There is also a thunder storm scene that really shakes things up a bit bass wise.

Cinematography was nicely done, but for some reason the wide open country and highways didn't jump out at me. I think I was too busy focusing on the main characters. The BD DVD has an interesting Special Feature that I haven't seen on any of my other High Def discs, which is a HT System Showcase, which are what the director feels are the best scenes to show off a system with both the image and sound. Having done many screen reviews and going through countless DVDs queuing up scenes for screen shots, I personally may have picked different scenes, but this was a cool feature I haven't seen before.

Back to the plot though. There are plenty of site gags and the gang all turn in some funny lines. Although this is PG13, it still has some subject matter you may want to preview before letting your kids watch it. Tim Allen has tamed down a lot since his stand up days as far as being raunchy, and I was surprised at Martin Lawrence too. His style of comedy used to be very vulgar, but I think he found out that taming things down widened his audience appeal.

Ray Liotta pulls in a good performance and his over the top acting in this actually fits the character.

Peter Fonda has a small cameo role at the end, and along the way you'll see a few familiar faces pop up. The ending in the little town of Madrid was predictable, but the way they went about it kept it fun.

I'll rate this one for a comedy. There were several scenes where my wife and I were literally laughing and not just the reflex 'chuckle' some comedies only seem able to muster.