Eight elite fighters – prisoners from maximum security prisons around the world – are united by a powerful underground gambling syndicate in a secret and brutal combat competition for survival. Prize: freedom for the champion… and a million dollar payment to the organizers. Except the syndicate doesn’t actually plan to let anyone walk free. Rich people and corrupt government officials will bet on the outcome, but one man decided to fight back. Undisputed III is the greatest of the prisoner-fight-to-the-death subgenres.
Shot digitally with the ever-popular RedOne, this is an incredibly smooth and rich presentation with practically no noise in tow, even in the image’s darker corners. The image is sharp as a tack with intricate detailing to match; the intricacies of individual rocks and pebbles at the mining site, and even the smallest textures in a cloth bandage are all immaculately rendered. Sweaty and bloody faces are probably the film’s greatest visual asset; close-ups reveal a depth and texture rarely found on even the best Blu-ray discs. It’s almost scary just how much detail there is to be seen here, and even this deep into the format’s life and with so many superb transfers on the market,
Undisputed III Redemption still manages to elicit that “wow” factor throughout. Colors are excellent, and blacks are deep and true. Only very slight blocking in some backgrounds brings this one down, but even then, Undisputed III: Redemption is still one of the finest looking Blu-ray discs on the market today.
Undisputed III: Redemption pounds sound systems into submission with a potent and hard-hitting DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack. This one’s plenty spacious with a sonic posture that seems to make the speakers disappear, delivering a consistently engrossing sound field that’s wonderfully open but at the same time tough-as-nails.
It offers plenty of back-channel information that’s clear and steady, even through the picture’s more rambunctious fighting segments. Atmospherics are superbly integrated into the track, placing the viewer in every hostile environment, whether dark and dank prisons where heavy doors slam shut or alarm klaxons blare in the background, or fight arenas where crowd noise and the thud of heavy punches and kicks echo through the soundstage. Sounds of an active casino in one scene, or other minor ambient effects, are of a lesser stature and power but are no less lacking in realism and immersion. The track’s real strength lies in the fighters’ punches and kicks;
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they’re often accompanied by a wonderfully potent thud, and when a combatant is hit, so too is the listener with a punishing blow of bass that rattles the senses and the soundstage, just in case the visuals of spewing blood, crunching bones, and flying bodies weren’t enough to convince the audience of the raw power on display throughout the film. Undisputed III: Redemption is a slight breath of fresh air for both the direct-to-DVD market and the mixed-martial arts action genre. Rounded out by steady and accurate dialogue reproduction, Undisputed III: Redemption makes for one coolest of a sonic ride.