Going In Style is a 2017 American heist comedy film that was directed by Zach Braff and written by Theodore Melfi. It is a remake of the 1979 film of the same name and it stars Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Alan Arkin, Joey King, Matt Dillon, Christopher Lloyd, Ann-Margaret, and John Ortiz, and follows a trio of retirees who plan to rob a bank after their retirement pensions are cancelled.

The film made its original premiere at the SVA Theatre on March 30, 2017 and was released in the United States on April 7, 2017. Overall, it received mixed reviews from film critics and ended up grossing $84 million worldwide against its $25 million operating budget.

The Film Itself (2.5/5):

Going In Style was, well it was entertaining; but, it wasn’t anything spectacular by any means.  The story that we’re given with this movie is basically Oceans Eleven with the retirement twist added as motive.  That said, the performances we got with Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin were absolutely phenomenal.  These three gentlemen worked really well together in this film and their overall chemistry and amount of fun that they had in making this movie was definitely picked up on as my wife and I watched through this.  There were occasional bits of humor sprinkled throughout that helped to alleviate the moments of the plot that I would normally welcome distractions to look away.

Picture Quality (5/5):

Overall, the visual presentation that the Blu-ray release of Going In Style had to offer looked really great on my living room television.  Not only does it offer some really great scenery of the city and the variety of training that the trio went through in preparation for their eventually larger scale heist.  From what I could tell as we watched this movie, there wasn’t any noticeable distortion in the picture and everything was clean and clear and able to be seen and understood.

Audio Quality (4/5):

Packaged with an English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 audio track, Going In Style really tries to offer an immersive experience for its viewers.  Power-housing through the front and rear channels, the audio was clean and clear.  Additionally, the bass track really did a great job at emphasizing the seriousness in some of the more high octane sequences.  One of the more notable sequences that played out was actually during the beginning of the film.  The heist that gave Michael Caine’s character the inspiration to try and rob a bank really sounded great through my home theater system and made it feel as if we were sitting right there in the middle of the floor while the bank was being robbed.

The Packaging (2.5/5):

Going In Style comes packaged in your standard two-disc Blu-ray amaray case.  Within that case is the standard Blu-ray copy of the film as well as the standard DVD copy of the film.  Neither disc feature any artwork whatsoever that’s relative to the film outside of the standard release text and generic solid color background.  There is a digital copy redemption pamphlet included as well as a slipcover.  My copy doesn’t have the slipcover as I purchased it second-hand.

 

Special Features (2/5):

There are only a couple of additional items included on the Blu-ray release of Going In Style.  Unfortunately, the content that’s been provided doesn’t really offer much in terms of an expanded view on the story that’s being presented; but, there are some pieces that Braff does explain.  Included with this release is:

• Feature Audio Commentary With Zach Braff
• Deleted Scenes

Technical Specs:

Video

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC (31.81 Mbps)

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1

Original Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1

Audio

English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)

French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1

Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)

Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1

English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)

Subtitles

English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish

Runtime

Original Film: 96 minutes

Final Thoughts:

Overall, Going In Style wasn’t terrible.  But it really wasn’t all that great.  This movie is one that you can sit down without an absolute care in the world, occasionally miss a piece or two and not really mind.  The story that we’re given was a fun one, despite it being a remake of the 1979 feature film that starred George Burns, Art Carney, and Lee Strasberg.  The overall chemistry that formed between the three title characters really made for a fun experience, and overall, made this a nice popcorn flick.  The visual and audible presentation of the Blu-ray was really nicely done and presented everything about the film cleanly.  Unfortunately, there’s only a couple of items that have been included in addition to the film, and those two items are definitely worth checking out if you watch this movie.  If you’re considering grabbing this release for your collection, I’d definitely recommend picking it up.  But, wait for it to either go on sale or pick it up second-hand somewhere because it really isn’t worth paying retail for.