The Coalition

Worst film I've seen in a decade, hands down. With a title like 'The Coalition,' you'd think you were getting into some type of action movie or dramatic thriller, that's what I initially thought when I saw the title. I was completely wrong. Instead, the pure waste that is spewed out is a cross between the worst of reality shows about cheaters and socialites, mixed with a hint of Steve Harvey's 'Think Like A Man.' As I was watching this poor excuse for a film, my constant thought was that I wanted all of these characters to meet their untimely doom in gruesome ways, because not one of them is likable or redeemable.

And of course, the movie opens with the text reading 'Inspired' by actual events.' I'm sure bickering with the opposite sex is true for anyone. The film centers on a guy named Prime Alexander, a famous basketball player who is constantly surrounded by his close group of guy friends who label themselves as the 1080 crew, all of whom are very successful and wealthy in different job sectors. (I was hoping they were referencing 1080p.) This pathetic crew spend their days working and nights partying at lavish clubs only reserved for the highest level of douchebags. Each night, everyone of the guys has a different or multiple girls on their arms and as we see later on, tend to have relationships with all of them, but never tell the women of their playeristic ways.

In the opening scene, we see one of these scorned women walk into the club and be refused entry into the VIP section. She has a complete meltdown, as she knows now of Prime's other girlfriends, causing everyone at the club to stare. Prime himself is not phased as he has a new girl by his side, who seems to be the innocent and nice girl of the club, who takes care of her grandmother more than having a social life. This is pretty much the story with all of the guys in the 1080 crew.

However, after Prime is seen by one of his girlfriend's at his kid's birthday party with his fiance, all of the scorned women sit at a table poolside with giant wine glasses and decide these guy's need to be taught a lesson. One would think that these women would have some class and confront their guys about the situation in private, but no. Instead they post videos of their guys having sex on the internet and send them to their families, cancel their credit cards, have their expensive cars towed, and place calls to journalists and law enforcement about sexual diseases they carry, amongst other things. I guess we are supposed to have feelings for these women, but since they're so awful and act like the cast of 'Jersey Shore' the whole time, I only wished it ended bad for them. One would think that if these women wanted a decent guy, they would stop going to these clubs, getting drunk beyond repair, and trying to pick up famous actors, athletes, and businessmen. There's no remorse from anyone in this movie as they all do awful things to one another and are completely unrelatable.

However, after realizing that Terrell Suggs, a linebacker for the Ravens wrote this script, I came to wonder if this movie, like it stated at the beginning, was in some form or fashion true to Suggs' life. Despite Suggs decent career in football, his personal life is the lowest of low. Allegedly, he beat his wife constantly and dragged her from a car with his two kids inside as well as threatening to pour bleach on his own children. Recently, he had to surrender numerous guns to the police including an AK47. After all of this, this woman still married the guy. I was in shock. My only thought was that he wrote this as some homage to his wife an apology letter to all of his teammates.

The movie itself is grossly shot on a low budget and always feels like a soft-core porn flick is about to start, but it never does. The dialogue is the worst I've ever heard characters deliver. I've also seen better acting from every Troma film, as the actors here are just reading cue cards and have blank expressions the entire time. The music is horrific as well, as it has the latest top 40 R&B and hip-hop mixes that try to relate to what's happening on film. The entire experience from top to bottom was sincerely dreadful.

'The Coalition' comes with a sub-par 1080p HD transfer presented in 1.78:1 aspect ratio. As with most low-budget films are made these days, this one was made digitally, but due to its lack of talent and low-budget, the film suffers in it's image quality. While the detail is very sharp in some scenes, most come across very soft and blurry. Maybe because someone didn't know how to focus. The black levels aren't deep and inky, and are actually much lighter than they should be for most of the time. The flesh tones don't seem natural or smooth either, as it looks as if everyone is spray painted a lighter color. There is aliasing and banding as well.

This release comes with a lossless DTS-HD 5.1 audio mix that does just enough to pass a sound test. As this is a dialogue driven film, those elements actually sound very clear and easy to understand, even in the club scenes with the music blaring. The dialogue is centered on the fronts quite nicely, but the directionality is never used with the actors. Pretty basic. The ambient noise is mostly there with the club-goers and background chatter of the clubs coming through the rears and surrounds, but is fairly soft. And when the "hip" music is playing, I didn't hear my sub come on at all. What gives? This is clearly better than the video portion, but not by much.

• Audio Commentary -Terrell Suggs, Monica Mingo and Rich Volin provide a boring commentary as they talk about aspects of the filmmaking and some of the stories. Not a whole lot here. You can skip this.
  
• Baltimore Screening Q&A and Audience Interviews (HD, 21 mins) - Here, Suggs and Mingo answer questions at the Baltimore premiere. Nothing great here either or worthwhile.
  

• Interview with Executive Producer and Co-Writer Terrell Suggs (HD, 10 mins) - Suggs talks about his involvement with the film and story.
  

• Interview with Director and Co-Writer Monica Mingo (HD, 38 mins) - Mingo discusses in great length her move from corporate America to making her first film in her 40s with this movie. It was kind of cool how it came about, but too long.
  

• Interview with Producer and Editor Rich Volin (HD, 5 mins) - Volin talks about meeting Mingo long ago and getting involved with the film studio.
  

• Interview with Associate Producer Tarik Dickens (HD, 5 mins) - Dickens just talks about his work on the film and how he managed to get everything done for the movie.
  

• Blooper Reel (HD, 3 mins) - I'd call this more of a music video than a blooper reel as most of it is music draped over the actors dancing or making faces. There are a couple of the usual flubbed lines, but nothing is funny.
  

• Alternate Ending (HD, 2 mins) - Not necessarily an alternate ending, but rather a different outcome to one of the other characters. Pure awfulness.
  

• Trailers (HD, 7 mins) - A few trailers for other films are here.
  

'The Coalition' a terrible film on every possible level, with sub-par audio and video presentations and extras that are a bore. I wouldn't wish this viewing experience on my worst enemy, and if you have friends or a loved one that actually enjoys this film, I'd consider getting new friends and breaking it off with your loved one. Stay far away from 'The Coalition.'