Starring: Casper Van Diem and Dina Meyer
Directed by: Paul Verhoeven
Movie Review **
Columbia
Tristar Region 1 (plays on pin-snipped region 2)
Extra scenes and screen tests
Effects breakdowns
It grieves me to put four stars next to this particular movie, but there it is. Forget the content, feel the quality and the extras.
Picture and sound are both exemplorary. With a running commentary and foreign language soundtracks available, and a running time of 2hrs 10 min, that's a lot of info Columbia have crammed in. The aspect ratio is the original 1.85:1 only.
Flip the disc over to find an embarrasment of extras. The documentary (from Touchstone, bizarely) is one of those mercifully short ghastly promotional ones with a deep voiceover and flash frame editing, and the extra scenes are there for those who just can't get enough of bad writing and acting. A few curiosities lurk here also, including early camcorder screen tests and a couple of effects breakdowns, with Verhoeven hilariously attempting the impossible task of describing every shot of an action sequence in real time. That's worth the cost of the disc alone.
Like the film itself, this is no marvel of subtlety and insight, but there again if you liked the film, this probably won't bother you overmuch. Indeed, if you did love the film, then this is just about all you could wish for.
All reviews / articles copyright Guy Rowland (1998).