Review by John Delia
Not bad, but not great the Crime action thriller Trauma Center comes to Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD. It starts out slow, but then takes you on a ride from alleys to the trauma center of a local hospital where most of the film takes place. If you are into crime flicks that draw out the suspense to the very end, than this one should do the trick.
Two bad cops Det. Pierce (Tito Ortiz) and Sgt. Tull (Tacas Battle), kill an informant who has the dope on their illegal dealings. They take his cell phone for the chip that has all the information on the police who have been involved in graft. Long time police detective Lt. Steve Wakes (Bruce Willis) is just getting off for the day when his partner Det. Tony Martin (Tyler Jon Olson) notifies him that he got a message from the informant to meet them at a designated location. Not thinking it’s that important, the two split up with Tony going to the rendezvous.
In the meantime, waitress Maddie Taylor (Nicky Whelan) is at work and her sister Emily gets a breathing attack from her Asthma. Maddie rushes her to the trauma center where they decide to keep her overnight so they can check her again in the morning. Back at the restaurant Maddie is bringing some garbage to the ally dumpster, when two men open fire at Tony and wounding Maddie in the leg. Rushed to the hospital, Maddie gets some care, but has to stay overnight as a witness.
Director Matt Eskandari does of good job of setting up the plot before moving everything along at a fast pace. The four major roles. Maddie, Pierce, Tull and Wakes may be a bit lacklustre, but the story does take a few twists and Maddie has to go through a lot before things get under control. Eskandari spills a lot of blood, choreographs many fights and puts Maddie through a maze of rooms and even a morgue in the hospital. It’s the kind of action that kept Bruce Willis in the top tier, but Whelan’s Maddie’s the one who has all the glory here with her exciting role.
I did like the performance of Nicky Whelan who has to deliver Maddie Taylor who gets caught up in locked floor as a couple of vicious cops try to kill her. Crawling, climbing, hobbling and hiding to get to safy, the actress probably retired each night very sore and beat up after every scene. If it weren’t for her performance howver, the movie would have been much lower on the rating scale.
Trauma Center has been rated R for violence and language. It gets brutal at times and some scenes have a lot of blood flowing. Not for the immature or meek.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A pretty good film for crime action fans. (2.5 out of 5 Stars)
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Bruce Willis, Nicky Whelan, Steve Guttenberg, Heather Johansen, Tito Ortiz, Tacas Battle,
Directed by: Matt Eskandari
Genre: Thriller
MPAA Rating: R for violence and language
Running Time: 1 hr. 28 min.
Video Release Date: February 4, 2020
Original Theatrical Release Date: December 6, 2019
Language: English
Reviewed Format: Blu-ray
Audio: DTS-HD Master audio 5.1
Video: 1080p Widescreen, 16×9, Aspect Ratio 2.39:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Number of Discs: 1 disc
Distributed by: Lionsgate
Released on: Blu-ray, DVD