Armored

In "Armored" a crew of officers at an armored transport security firm risk their lives when they embark on the ultimate heist...against their own company. Armed with a seemingly foolproof plan, the men plan on making off with a fortune with harm to none. But when an unexpected witness interferes, the plan quickly unravels and all bets are off. (Gary Reber)

Special features include commentary with Producer Dan Farah, Skeet Ulrich, and Milo Ventimigia: "Planning The Heist"—a making-of featurette (HD 15:19); the "Armed And Underground: Production Design" featurette (HD 06:47); a "Crash Course: Stunts" featurette (HD 11:30); up-front previews; BD-Live functionality; plus a digital copy of the film.

The 1080p 2.40:1 AVC picture is nicely rendered with a dramatic realism and shadowy composition. Due to the picture's darker nature, a darkened viewing environment, preferably a black room, will result in the best contrast. Blacks are deep and solid and shadows are effectively delineated, though, at times a bit too dark. Colors are naturally hued, though, seemingly depicted in grays, blues, and blacks with moments of more vivid hues. Fleshtones are naturally rendered. Resolution is excellent, and image detail reveals fine textures and facial features. The armored trucks and uniforms are realistically portrayed, which creates gripping realism to the production design, which depicts a shadowy color scheme devoid of brightness. The picture is cinematic and impressively realistic. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is impressively dynamic, with a solid, low-frequency foundation that is dramatically enhanced with strong .1 LFE response to below 25 Hz. The bass is particularly strong during scenes with truck movements, placing one extremely near the motors and exhaust rumbles. Bass is used to accentuate the tension, as are strong transients, for dramatic effect. The low frequencies are spread throughout the soundfield, and combined with sound effects create an aggressively dimensional holosonic® experience. The well-recorded music score is supportive throughout and enhances the tense storytelling. Atmospheric sound effects are just as realistic and are directionalized in the soundfield. Dialogue is integrated spatially and sounds perfectly natural, both during intense action scenes and during quiet interior scenes. Even during the quiet interior scenes the sense of an urban setting with freeway and street sounds enhances the realism. This is a terrific holosonic soundtrack with a powerful and sustained low-frequency foundation that keeps the excitement throttle revved. (Gary Reber)