With some popular actors having been marketed for their generally smaller roles in some crappy films lately, it’s refreshing when actors actually like the project, itself! Such seems to be the case with “13,” a disturbing, albeit, daring sort of thriller that’s actually an English remake of Director Géla Babluani's “13 Tzameti.” While some minor roles, particularly that of 50 Cent and Mickey Rourke aren’t given enough depth and make one wonder why these two are even in the film, Jason Statham, Ray Winstone, and Sam Riley give impressive, thoughtful performances.

Sam Riley stars and carries a great amount of the film as Vincent, a young man working hard to take care of the substantial medical bills weighing down his sick father. While doing electrical work at a client’s home, he overhears a conversation relating to what appears to be a potentially large sum of a payout tied to secrecies and an envelope. Desperate for a chance to make a lot of money, fast, Sam steals the envelope and using its information winds up in a deadly situation, with no way to turn back, other than following through with what he’s locked himself into,…a private, large scale game of a variation of Russian Roulette. Various wealthy psychopaths are betting on individual contestants, and now Sam is one of them. If he wins, he stands to make millions. However, as with every one of the participants who isn’t the ultimate survivor, he more likely stands to have his brains blown out.

“13” is extremely intense. Occasionally, even extremely talented actors don’t seem right in their roles, as is the case with Michael Shannon as the host of the Game. Or, in finding Emanuelle Chriqui given a thankless and completely unnecessary part as the daughter to the character whose note is stolen. Still, the main cast is terrific and Statham and Winstone really push their craft and comfort zone with their depiction of troubled brothers, having embarked on a dangerous ploy together.

IMAGE has provided the correct 2.40:1 aspect ratio for this AVC MPEG-4 1080p blu-ray release. Colors are intentionally restrained, given the bleak winter-time atmosphere of the film’s setting. Detail is excellent, and blacks while not inky, are still deep enough to retain much of the depth in some of the darker sequences. Grain is present, but it’s never intrusive and provides the exact kind of “film-like” quality desired for this presentation. Even on a BD-25 release, there are no signs of compression artifacts. A terrific looking image!

IMAGE has provided a DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix. For the majority of the film, surrounds are sparse. Separation effects are focused on the front soundstage and the center channel commands most of the film. Still, ambient effects open the film up when necessary, especially during the brutally intense roulette scenes, and discrete/panning effects are employed to create an even rougher environment, with a disturbingly effective payoff. Overall fidelity is impressive and dialogue is always intelligible and free of distortion.