Standoff - The Only Witness- Blu-ray

Film: Since the death of his son, for which he blames himself, former soldier Carter Greene (Thomas Jane) has completely withdrawn. Only alcohol allows him to keep his demons somewhat in check. But he no longer feels any real courage to face life. But then one day the twelve-year-old orphan girl Bird (Ella Ballentine9 shows up at his door and asks him for help. While visiting her parents' grave, she witnessed a professional killer (Laurence Fishburne) kill several people in the cemetery. And since she saw his face, now Bird is supposed to die too. When the killer shows up, Carter is finally jolted out of his lethargy. For him, it is clear that he must protect the girl at all costs, whatever it takes. And so begins a merciless duel, which the killer tries to fight not only on a physical, but also on a psychological level.

Standoff - The Only Witness starts off promisingly. The scene where Bird observes the murders in the graveyard give hope for a thriller full of breathless suspense. Also the fact that the girl wants to find safety with a completely broken man, who has to break out of his trance in the face of the threat in order to be able to save Bird and himself, has a lot of suspense potential. And first-time director Adam Alleca (screenwriter of the remake of Last House on the Left, among others) exploits it well at the outset. When the story turns into a chamber-play-like duel, Laurence Fishburne's undercooled acting in particular makes for some really good moments.

But unfortunately the script isn't strong enough to get 90 exciting minutes out of this good starting point. At some point, the dialogue ceases to be a psychological cat-and-mouse game and is simply empty banter that does little to advance the plot. The appearance of a young police officer, which is still prepared quite extensively, turns out to be way too short overall and only pushes the tension curve up again for a short time. Only in the last minutes the whole thing picks up again and offers a predictable, but nevertheless conciliatory finale.

Standoff - The Only Witness would have had potential for more, but even so it is a solid little thriller with good moments of suspense. The middle part has to offer too many lengths and weak dialogue duels to be able to convince all along the line. But if you don't expect 90 minutes of breathless suspense, fast-paced action or wild shootouts and if you can overlook some little hangs, you'll get some good entertainment here. And for that there is then also a satisfied: worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The Blu-ray's picture is absolutely clean and has a very good overall sharpness that brings out smaller details well, even in dark scenes. The color scheme feels very atmospheric, but this does accentuate the slightly dirty look of the film. The DTS-HD 5.1 mix provides pleasantly powerful movement on the surround channels, especially during the various gunfights, but at the same time transports the many dialogues out of the speakers in a well intelligible manner. Good.

Extras: As a bonus there is a short making of (approx. 6:45 min.), as well as the trailer for the film.

Conclusion: Standoff - The Only Witness is a very tense thriller in places, with its almost chamber-play-like staging and good actors, it has a lot of potential, but it is undermined by some lengths and clichés. However, despite some flaws, this two-man thriller is well worth watching. On the Blu-ray, the film presents itself in good picture and sound quality and also has a short making of on board as an extra. Recommendable

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp