A group of 13-year-old friends play an innocent game of Capture the Flag in the neighborhood woods, arming themselves with nothing more than sticks, their imagination and a simple set of rules. One afternoon the game takes on a more serious tone and the quest for victory pushes the boundaries of friendship, as their imaginations take them beyond the rules of the game.

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[youtube https://youtu.be/-0tp–NanF4?t=2859]

Video Quality

I Declare War returns to Blu-Ray in a 1080p presentation that looks very nice from beginning to end. The film operates almost exclusively in the daytime with the bright natural world radiating off the screen. The beautiful, forest landscapes impress with an incredible amount of detail. From the bark on the tree to the objects that make up their forts, this transfer is rife with distinct textures on display. The colors are natural to the environment with a deep saturation in this transfer. The skin tones look very detailed and natural all around. The white levels are perfectly steady without veering into blooming, not to mention the strong black levels in the few shadowy moments that never appear to suffer from any compression artifacts. There are no instances of unsightly digital noise in the presentation. This film has been given a great quality release.

Audio Quality

The film comes to Blu-Ray with a pretty decent DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track in the original English. Judging from the reviews of a previous release, it appears it was released with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track, so it is uncertain why there was a downgrade. The film is not an action powerhouse, but there are some heightened moments that come through when the fantasies are in full swing. These are moments that could have been more fully fleshed out with the addition of surround channels.

This 2.0 track does a decent job of realizing the environmental effects such as insects noises and some of the weapon sounds. The dialogue and sound effects are appropriately balanced so no one element gets overshadowed in the track. The low end provides a bit of texture in the more intensive moments, but not as much as would be afforded with a dedicated channel in the 5.1 setup. This track is effective enough, but it feels a bit disappointing to know we could have had a more immersive experience. There are optional English SDH subtitles provided.

Special Features

Trailer: The two-minute trailer is provided here.

Final Thoughts

I Declare War is a really inventive young adult drama which personifies the intense realities of youth in a visceral manner. The balance between the childhood innocence of playing in the woods and the imagery of full blown warfare is a masterstroke. The young performers are very natural and leave very little room for criticism. The level of production value this creative team was able to get out of this low budget is admirable. This movie is funny, thrilling and poignant in equal measure, and it is one that will stick with you for some time. Giant Pictures and MVD Entertainment have released a Blu-Ray featuring a fine A/V presentation and next to nothing in the way of special features. If you missed this film the first time around, be sure to check it out now. Recommended

I Declare War is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray and DVD.

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Giant Pictures and MVD Entertainment have supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.