Sheldon Lettich directs Jean-Claude Van Damme in the action film Double Impact, which comes to DVD with a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Surround. Spanish and French subtitles are accessible, and the soundtrack is closed-captioned. Supplemental materials include the original theatrical trailer. This is a solid release from MGM/UA that will please any fan of the Muscles From Brussles.
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Deran Sarafian directs Jean-Claude Van Damme in the action film Death Warrant, which comes to DVD with a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. English and French soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital Surround. Spanish and French subtitles are accessible, and the English soundtrack is closed-captioned. Supplemental materials include the original theatrical trailer. This MGM/UA release boasts excellent picture quality and should satisfy any fan of the Muscles from Brussels.
This reviewer is a member of the Best Buy Tech Insider Network Program. This invitation-only program provides BestBuy.com reviewers with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews. Outside of receiving products to test and review, Best Buy Tech Insider Network Reviewers are not compensated in any other way.
This decent Van Damme film will likely be enjoyed by fans, but probably not too many other viewers. Displayed nicely here in anamorphic widescreen, no bonus features.
A suicidal loner finds a new lease on life when his beloved motorcycle is stolen by a vicious gang in this Columbia /TriStar release. Viewable in either 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen or 1.33:1 pan and scan, this release also offers a closed captioned English Dolby Digital Surround soundtrack and optional English, Spanish and French subtitles. Extra features include talent files, theatrical trailers, a Van Damme featurette and production notes.
This reviewer is a member of the Best Buy Tech Insider Network Program. This invitation-only program provides BestBuy.com reviewers with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews. Outside of receiving products to test and review, Best Buy Tech Insider Network Reviewers are not compensated in any other way.
Robert Harmon directs the muscles from Brussels, Jean-Claude Van Damme, in Nowhere to Run, which comes to DVD with a pair of transfers. The widescreen anamorphic image preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is far superior to the standard full-frame transfer. English and French soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital Surround. Subtitles are available in both of these languages as well. Supplemental materials include theatrical trailers. The disc does a good job of capturing the film and should please Van Damme's fans as well as genre enthusiasts.
This reviewer is a member of the Best Buy Tech Insider Network Program. This invitation-only program provides BestBuy.com reviewers with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews. Outside of receiving products to test and review, Best Buy Tech Insider Network Reviewers are not compensated in any other way.
Tsui Hark directs Jean-Claude Van Samme and Dennis Rodman in the action film Double Team, which comes to DVD with a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. A closed-captioned English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital 5.1. Spanish, French, and English soundtracks have also been recorded in Dolby Digital Surround. Subtitles are accessible in all three of those languages. Supplemental materials include the theatrical trailer. This is a solid disc that will please genre enthusiasts.
This reviewer is a member of the Best Buy Tech Insider Network Program. This invitation-only program provides BestBuy.com reviewers with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews. Outside of receiving products to test and review, Best Buy Tech Insider Network Reviewers are not compensated in any other way.
Hong Kong action genre craftsman Tsui Hark directed this martial arts tale, his second collaboration with actor Jean-Claude Van Damme after Double Team (1997). Van Damme stars as Marcus Ray, a Hong Kong fashion designer who specializes in "knock-offs," cheaply produced jeans and sneakers meant to look like major-label merchandise. With his new partner Tommy Hendricks (Rob Schneider), Marcus hopes to go legit and put his shady past behind him, but Tommy is really an undercover CIA agent investigating the smuggling of mini-bombs in Marcus' products. An unwitting pawn in a scheme concocted by the KGB and Tommy's CIA superior Johanson (Paul Sorvino), Marcus must clear his name and save his company. His quest to do so becomes even more complicated when local authorities link him to a murder and a vice-president, Karen (Lela Rochon), arrives from Marcus' parent company to investigate discrepancies in his bookkeeping. Knock Off is based on a script by Steven E. de Souza, author of 48 Hrs. (1982) and Die Hard (1988).
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Jean-Claude Van Damme's Maximum Risk comes to DVD with a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves director Ringo Lam's original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1. A closed-captioned English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital 5.1. Spanish, French, and English soundtracks have also been recorded in Dolby Digital Surround. Subtitles are accessible in all three of those languages. There are no special features on this release, but Van Damme fans and genre enthusiasts will enjoy the fine picture and sound quality.
This reviewer is a member of the Best Buy Tech Insider Network Program. This invitation-only program provides BestBuy.com reviewers with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews. Outside of receiving products to test and review, Best Buy Tech Insider Network Reviewers are not compensated in any other way.
'Maximum Risk' is one of Van Damme's better outings, supported by a storyline that is better than, well, most of the movies Jean Claude has appeared in. Good acting and the lovely Natasha Henstridge help this film as well. No longer available on dvd in its now out-of-print 2.35:1 widescreen ratio, fans will have to settle for this cropped 1.33:1 full-screen transfer.
John Woo directs the Muscles from Brussels, Jean-Claude Van Damme, in the action film Hard Target, which comes to DVD with a widescreen anamorphic transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. An English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital 5.1, while a French soundtrack has been recorded in Dolby Digital Surround. Spanish subtitles are accessible, and the English soundtrack is closed-captioned. Supplemental materials include production notes, biographies of people associated with the production, and production notes. This is a fine disc Universal that will satisfy genre enthusiasts and fans of Van Damme.
This reviewer is a member of the Best Buy Tech Insider Network Program. This invitation-only program provides BestBuy.com reviewers with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews. Outside of receiving products to test and review, Best Buy Tech Insider Network Reviewers are not compensated in any other way.
'Hard Target,' while fairly succesful at the box-office, is one of Van Damme's more mediocre films, with some really good action sequences, and some really poor ones. Overall, the anamorphic widescreen transfer pleases on this bare-bones disc.
Darkman is up to his old tricks. He's robbing from the criminals and keeping for himself so he can further perfect his synthetic skin which dissolves after 99 minutes in the light. His old arch-nemesis, Robert Durrant (Larry Drake) returns, having survived the helicopter crash in the first film. Durant attempts to rebuild his crumbling empire by devising a new particle gun to sell on the market. After Durant kills a young scientist for his warehouse, Darkman goes on a rampage, vowing to destroy Durant once and for all. Darkman concocts masks of his enemies and infiltrates Durant's gang, turning everyone on themselves. This sequel is above the typical direct-to-video quality and director May has captured Raimi's comic-book style, but the energy that propelled the original is sorely missing here. Welcome back is Drake who once again astonishes with a gleefully maniacal performance, rightfully stealing the show. Replacing the title character is Arnold Vosloo, who coolly plays Darkman without the enraged melodramatics Liam Neeson brought to his portrayal of the tormented hero. This sequel was actually filmed after Darkman III: Die, Darkman, Die but was released on video first despite the fact that Universal thought it looked good enough to release into theaters.
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'Darkman II' is a film that is nowhere near the quality of its predecessor. The dvd is bare bones and offers no bonus, which the film doesn't deserve anyway. Skip it.
This reviewer is a member of the Best Buy Tech Insider Network Program. This invitation-only program provides BestBuy.com reviewers with manufacturer-supplied products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased and usage-based reviews. Outside of receiving products to test and review, Best Buy Tech Insider Network Reviewers are not compensated in any other way.
this full-screen dvd version alters the original theatrical aspect ratio of the movie from 2.35:1 to 1.33:1, giving a picture in which you lose almost 50% of the image on each side. If you need to own this piece of garbage movie, at least waste your money on the widescreen version instead.