Sony has added one more release to the summer theatrical calendar, Stage 6 Films’ Knights of the Zodiac on May 12.
Produced by Toei Animation and based on the international anime sensation, Knights of the Zodiac brings the Saint Seiya saga to the big screen in live-action for the first time. Seiya (Mackenyu), a headstrong street teen, spends his time fighting for cash while he searches for his abducted sister. When one of his fights unwittingly taps into mystical powers he never knew he had, Seiya finds himself thrust into a world of warring saints, ancient magical training and a reincarnated goddess who needs his protection. If he’s to survive, he will need to embrace his destiny and sacrifice everything to take his rightful place among the Knights of the Zodiac.
Pic is directed by Tomek Baginski off a script by Josh Campbell & Matt Stuecken and Kiel Murray. The feature is...
Produced by Toei Animation and based on the international anime sensation, Knights of the Zodiac brings the Saint Seiya saga to the big screen in live-action for the first time. Seiya (Mackenyu), a headstrong street teen, spends his time fighting for cash while he searches for his abducted sister. When one of his fights unwittingly taps into mystical powers he never knew he had, Seiya finds himself thrust into a world of warring saints, ancient magical training and a reincarnated goddess who needs his protection. If he’s to survive, he will need to embrace his destiny and sacrifice everything to take his rightful place among the Knights of the Zodiac.
Pic is directed by Tomek Baginski off a script by Josh Campbell & Matt Stuecken and Kiel Murray. The feature is...
- 3/15/2023
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Director and documentarian Mark Hartley scores both a film history and comedy success with this ‘wild, untold’ account of the 1980s film studio that was both revered and despised by everyone who had contact with it. The ‘cast list’ of interviewees is encyclopedic, everybody has a strong opinion, and some of them don’t need four-letter words to describe their experience!
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
On a double bill with
Machete Maidens Unleashed!
Blu-ray
Umbrella Entertainment (Au, all-region
2014 / Color / 1:77 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date April 4, 2017 / Available from Umbrella Entertainment / 34.99
Starring: Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus, Al Ruban, Alain Jakubowicz, Albert Pyun, Alex Winter, Allen DeBevoise, Avi Lerner, Barbet Schroeder, Bo Derek, Boaz Davidson, Cassandra Peterson, Catherine Mary Stewart, Charles Matthau, Christopher C. Dewey, Christopher Pearce, Cynthia Hargrave, Dan Wolman, Daniel Loewenthal, David Del Valle, David Paulsen, David Sheehan, David Womark, Diane Franklin, Dolph Lundgren, Edward R. Pressman,...
Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films
On a double bill with
Machete Maidens Unleashed!
Blu-ray
Umbrella Entertainment (Au, all-region
2014 / Color / 1:77 widescreen / 106 min. / Street Date April 4, 2017 / Available from Umbrella Entertainment / 34.99
Starring: Menahem Golan, Yoram Globus, Al Ruban, Alain Jakubowicz, Albert Pyun, Alex Winter, Allen DeBevoise, Avi Lerner, Barbet Schroeder, Bo Derek, Boaz Davidson, Cassandra Peterson, Catherine Mary Stewart, Charles Matthau, Christopher C. Dewey, Christopher Pearce, Cynthia Hargrave, Dan Wolman, Daniel Loewenthal, David Del Valle, David Paulsen, David Sheehan, David Womark, Diane Franklin, Dolph Lundgren, Edward R. Pressman,...
- 4/8/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A news blast went out today, with some updates in regards to the Anchor Bay/Scream Factory Blu-ray release of Halloween: The Complete Collection. This news blast, also included a screenshot comarison, pitting the old bootleg edition of the Producer’s Cut of Halloween 6, against the new HD transfer. Also included was some updates in regards to the extras that are included with the set. Even though I’ll likely receive some form of review copy of this title, I already have my Deluxe Edition Pre-ordered, just in case. You should probably click here to do that yourself. Check the updates out below.
Updates are listed below in Red:
Disc 1 – John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
Bonus Features:
HD transfer supervised and approved by cinematographer Dean Cundey New Audio Commentary With Director Of Photography Dean Cundey, Editor Tommy Lee Wallace And The Shape, Nick Castle Audio Commentary with Co-Writer/Director John Carpenter...
Updates are listed below in Red:
Disc 1 – John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
Bonus Features:
HD transfer supervised and approved by cinematographer Dean Cundey New Audio Commentary With Director Of Photography Dean Cundey, Editor Tommy Lee Wallace And The Shape, Nick Castle Audio Commentary with Co-Writer/Director John Carpenter...
- 8/11/2014
- by Shawn Savage
- The Liberal Dead
Scream Factory and Anchor Bay’s Halloween The Complete Collection Blu-ray box set was recently announced to come out on September 23rd. The 15-disc collection includes all of the Halloween movies together for the first time, including the rare producer’s cut of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. An updated list of special features have been revealed that should please fans of genre favorite Tom Atkins and Sean Clark’s Horror’s Hallowed Grounds.
“Now that the Michael Myers have returned from Comic Con, work resumes on Anchor Bay Entertainment’s and Scream Factory’s Halloween Complete Collection Blu-ray™ set. While the finishing touches are being made as of this writing, we are still adding new bonus features and supplemental materials to the release. Also, as a small taste of what to expect, please see the comparison photos below from an previously unauthorized VHS release of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers...
“Now that the Michael Myers have returned from Comic Con, work resumes on Anchor Bay Entertainment’s and Scream Factory’s Halloween Complete Collection Blu-ray™ set. While the finishing touches are being made as of this writing, we are still adding new bonus features and supplemental materials to the release. Also, as a small taste of what to expect, please see the comparison photos below from an previously unauthorized VHS release of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers...
- 8/11/2014
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
For many years the producer's cut of Halloween 6 has been the holy grail of the Halloween franchise. That's about to change.
Scream Factory/Anchor Bay's release of Halloween: The Complete Collection Blu-ray set is finally giving the movie back to fans.
While the finishing touches are being made as of this writing, the powers-that-be are still(!) adding new bonus features and supplemental materials to the release.
Also, as a small taste of what to expect, see the comparison photos below from a previously unauthorized VHS release of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and a screengrab from the all-new high-definition master from the Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers Producers’ Cut Blu-ray, available for the first time on September 23rd!
Below you'll also find updated special feature and tech specs. The new additions are noted.
Halloween Box Set Release Details
Anchor Bay Entertainment and Scream Factory proudly announce the...
Scream Factory/Anchor Bay's release of Halloween: The Complete Collection Blu-ray set is finally giving the movie back to fans.
While the finishing touches are being made as of this writing, the powers-that-be are still(!) adding new bonus features and supplemental materials to the release.
Also, as a small taste of what to expect, see the comparison photos below from a previously unauthorized VHS release of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers and a screengrab from the all-new high-definition master from the Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers Producers’ Cut Blu-ray, available for the first time on September 23rd!
Below you'll also find updated special feature and tech specs. The new additions are noted.
Halloween Box Set Release Details
Anchor Bay Entertainment and Scream Factory proudly announce the...
- 8/11/2014
- by Steve Barton
- DreadCentral.com
Apparently, it took more than one Michael Myers to help spread the word regarding September 23rd's Halloween Complete Collection Blu-ray set at the San Diego Comic-Con, and once they got together... well, have a look. You certainly don't see this every day!
Halloween Box Set Release Details
Anchor Bay Entertainment and Scream Factory proudly announce the bonus features and technical specifications for the September 23rd Halloween Complete Collection Blu-ray™ set.
This new set boasts a wealth of New bonus features including 7 brand New featurettes, 3 brand New commentaries, 4 brand New interviews – with many of the participants sharing their thoughts about the franchise for the first time -- and New transfers and audio specs on selected titles.
Disc 1 – John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
Bonus Features:
HD transfer supervised and approved by cinematographer Dean Cundey New Audio Commentary With Director Of Photography Dean Cundey, Editor Tommy Lee Wallace And The Shape, Nick Castle Audio...
Halloween Box Set Release Details
Anchor Bay Entertainment and Scream Factory proudly announce the bonus features and technical specifications for the September 23rd Halloween Complete Collection Blu-ray™ set.
This new set boasts a wealth of New bonus features including 7 brand New featurettes, 3 brand New commentaries, 4 brand New interviews – with many of the participants sharing their thoughts about the franchise for the first time -- and New transfers and audio specs on selected titles.
Disc 1 – John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
Bonus Features:
HD transfer supervised and approved by cinematographer Dean Cundey New Audio Commentary With Director Of Photography Dean Cundey, Editor Tommy Lee Wallace And The Shape, Nick Castle Audio...
- 7/28/2014
- by Steve Barton
- DreadCentral.com
Scream Factory was at comic con this past weekend trying to get the message out about their upcoming release of the Halloween Complete Collection. With so much going on in San Diego during convention, you really have to get creative to make an impression. Enter 10 dancing Michael Myers right across the street from the convention center. (Jump ahead to the 1:30 mark.)
Oh, and the box set they were promoting? It is massive! Check out all of the extras and specs on the 15 disc collection.
Disc 1 – John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
Bonus Features:
HD transfer supervised and approved by cinematographer Dean Cundey New Audio Commentary With Director Of Photography Dean Cundey, Editor Tommy Lee Wallace And The Shape, Nick Castle Audio Commentary with Co-Writer/Director John Carpenter and Actress Jamie Lee Curtis. “The Night She Came Home” Featurette“ On Location: 25 Years Later” Featurette TV Version Footage Television Spots Theatrical Trailer...
Oh, and the box set they were promoting? It is massive! Check out all of the extras and specs on the 15 disc collection.
Disc 1 – John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
Bonus Features:
HD transfer supervised and approved by cinematographer Dean Cundey New Audio Commentary With Director Of Photography Dean Cundey, Editor Tommy Lee Wallace And The Shape, Nick Castle Audio Commentary with Co-Writer/Director John Carpenter and Actress Jamie Lee Curtis. “The Night She Came Home” Featurette“ On Location: 25 Years Later” Featurette TV Version Footage Television Spots Theatrical Trailer...
- 7/28/2014
- by Chris Connors
- FEARnet
In honor of Scream Factory/Anchor Bay's Halloween: The Complete Collection Blu-ray set, the powers-that-be unleashed The Shape on Comic-Con in a big-ass way, and we were right there to catch the fun! Check it out!
Halloween Box Set Release Details
Anchor Bay Entertainment and Scream Factory proudly announce the bonus features and technical specifications for the September 23rd Halloween Complete Collection Blu-ray™ set.
This new set boasts a wealth of New bonus features including 7 brand New featurettes, 3 brand New commentaries, 4 brand New interviews – with many of the participants sharing their thoughts about the franchise for the first time -- and New transfers and audio specs on selected titles.
Disc 1 – John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
Bonus Features:
HD transfer supervised and approved by cinematographer Dean Cundey New Audio Commentary With Director Of Photography Dean Cundey, Editor Tommy Lee Wallace And The Shape, Nick Castle Audio Commentary with Co-Writer/Director John Carpenter...
Halloween Box Set Release Details
Anchor Bay Entertainment and Scream Factory proudly announce the bonus features and technical specifications for the September 23rd Halloween Complete Collection Blu-ray™ set.
This new set boasts a wealth of New bonus features including 7 brand New featurettes, 3 brand New commentaries, 4 brand New interviews – with many of the participants sharing their thoughts about the franchise for the first time -- and New transfers and audio specs on selected titles.
Disc 1 – John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
Bonus Features:
HD transfer supervised and approved by cinematographer Dean Cundey New Audio Commentary With Director Of Photography Dean Cundey, Editor Tommy Lee Wallace And The Shape, Nick Castle Audio Commentary with Co-Writer/Director John Carpenter...
- 7/24/2014
- by Steve Barton
- DreadCentral.com
Listen up, trick-or-treaters! Right now we have the skinny on the single most eagerly anticipated home video release of this year, Scream Factory/Anchor Bay's Halloween: The Complete Collection Blu-ray set.
Loomis once proclaimed that we "don't know what death is." That may bet true, but after this we'll at least we know we'll die smiling!
Halloween Box Set Release Details
Anchor Bay Entertainment and Scream Factory proudly announce the bonus features and technical specifications for the September 23rd Halloween Complete Collection Blu-ray™ set. This new set boasts a wealth of New bonus features including 7 brand New featurettes, 3 brand New commentaries, 4 brand New interviews – with many of the participants sharing their thoughts about the franchise for the first time -- and New transfers and audio specs on selected titles.
Disc 1 – John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
Bonus Features:
HD transfer supervised and approved by cinematographer Dean Cundey New Audio Commentary With Director Of Photography Dean Cundey,...
Loomis once proclaimed that we "don't know what death is." That may bet true, but after this we'll at least we know we'll die smiling!
Halloween Box Set Release Details
Anchor Bay Entertainment and Scream Factory proudly announce the bonus features and technical specifications for the September 23rd Halloween Complete Collection Blu-ray™ set. This new set boasts a wealth of New bonus features including 7 brand New featurettes, 3 brand New commentaries, 4 brand New interviews – with many of the participants sharing their thoughts about the franchise for the first time -- and New transfers and audio specs on selected titles.
Disc 1 – John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
Bonus Features:
HD transfer supervised and approved by cinematographer Dean Cundey New Audio Commentary With Director Of Photography Dean Cundey,...
- 7/21/2014
- by Steve Barton
- DreadCentral.com
Scream Factory and Anchor Bay recently announced that they’ve teamed up for Halloween The Complete Collection Blu-ray box set. Due out on September 23rd, the 15-disc collection includes all of the Halloween movies together for the first time, including the rare producer’s cut of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. Here’s a look at the official list of specs and bonus feature for the entire set:
“Anchor Bay Entertainment and Scream Factory proudly announce the bonus features and technical specifications for the September 23rd Halloween Complete Collection Blu-ray™ set. This new set boasts a wealth of New bonus features including 7 brand New featurettes, 3 brand New commentaries, 4 brand New interviews – with many of the participants sharing their thoughts about the franchise for the first time — and New transfers and audio specs on selected titles.”
Disc 1 – John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
Bonus Features:
HD transfer supervised and approved by cinematographer...
“Anchor Bay Entertainment and Scream Factory proudly announce the bonus features and technical specifications for the September 23rd Halloween Complete Collection Blu-ray™ set. This new set boasts a wealth of New bonus features including 7 brand New featurettes, 3 brand New commentaries, 4 brand New interviews – with many of the participants sharing their thoughts about the franchise for the first time — and New transfers and audio specs on selected titles.”
Disc 1 – John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978)
Bonus Features:
HD transfer supervised and approved by cinematographer...
- 7/21/2014
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
The sci-fi B-movie returns with "A Sound of Thunder", a gloriously lead-footed excursion into time travel with all the accoutrements of 1950s science fiction: an absurd plot, cliched characters, corny effects and a race against time to save mankind. They don't make 'em like this anymore. There is a reason, of course. World-class filmmakers have long ago pushed the boundaries of story, theme and special effects in science fiction from the B to A level.
Unintended laughs and overheated melodrama transform "Thunder" into something approaching a comedy. Think "Back to the Future" meets "The Time Bandits" meets "Jurassic Park". The retro nature of this enterprise and Warner Bros. Pictures' apparent lack of enthusiasm in marketing the film portend a brief theatrical release. The film could develop a cult following in ancillary markets.
The screenplay, based on a 1952 Ray Bradbury short story and written by Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer and Gregory Poirier, plays with the common time-travel notion that even a tiny change in the historic past has grave consequences for the future, meaning today. All the elements for catastrophe are in place during opening scenes in 2055 Chicago.
A greedy industrialist, Charles Hatton (Ben Kingsley), has stolen an insufficiently tested time-travel technology from scientist Dr. Sonia Rand (Catherine McCormack). An otherwise honest scientist, Dr. Travis Ryer (Edward Burns), uses the technology for enough scientific research to justify his involvement in Hatton's get-filthy-rich-quick scheme.
Hatton runs Time Safari Inc., which offers wealthy men the opportunity to go Really Big Game hunting in the Cretaceous Era. Using a fixed timeline and a magical path into the distant past, city slickers can shoot a dinosaur and hot-foot it back to the present. Somehow Hatton's scientists have figured out that this prehistoric death cannot change evolution: The critter was about to die in a large tar pit, moments before an exploding volcano dumps Molten Lava over the area.
One day, as two hunters and their scientist minders step from the time machine, things feel wrong. Balmy weather invades Chicago in November. Fish beach themselves. Plant life bursts through walls. As Ryer discusses this with Rand, the first time wave hits Chicago, turning the city into a primordial jungle with a really bad bug problem.
Time waves hit every 24 hours with the evolutionary changes working their way up the food chain in each subsequent pass. Humans will be last. So in a race against time -- literally -- the scientists journey across this antediluvian landscape, battling ape-like lizards, winged creatures and sea dragons, to reach the two hunters to determine what they did that changed evolution. (Scientifically speaking, it's hard to attribute the survival of dinosaurs and demise of homo sapiens to the tiny event this turns out to be.)
As the aggressive music pounds away and the city grows more feral and darker -- what, the sun stops to evolve too? -- the movie grows increasingly corny. You've got to love lines like "This can't be good" when chaos reigns, or the fierce beasts hunting men lifted directly from "Jurassic Park".
Director/cinematographer Peter Hyams has done sci-fi before -- "Outland", "Capricorn One", "2010: The Year We Make Contact" and "Timecop". So why he feels like a stranger in a strange land is puzzling. Certainly, effects are not state of the art. At times, the print reviewed looked murky, as if it were second or even third generation. Creatures and sets are unusually fake. But his actors, to their credit, do not look embarrassed. A straight face always is a sign of genuine camp.
A SOUND OF THUNDER
Warner Bros. Pictures
Franchise Pictures presents an Apollomedia -- QI Quality International -- MFF (Sound of Thunder) Limited -- Film Group 111 -- Coco co-production in association with Crusader Entertainment, a Scenario Lane/Jericho Production
Credits: Director/director of photography: Peter Hyams
Screenplay: Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, Gregory Poirier
Screen story by: Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer
Based on a short story by: Ray Bradbury
Producers: Moshe Diamant, Howard Baldwin, Karne Baldwin
Executive producers: Elie Samaha
Romana Cisarova, John Hardy, Rick Nathanson, Jorg Westerkamp
William J. Immerman, Breck Eisner
Production designer: Richard Holland
Music: Nick Glennie-Smith
Costumes: Esther Walz
Editor: Sylvie Landra
Cast:
Travis Ryer: Edward Burns
Charles Hatton: Ben Kingsley
Sonia Rand: Catherine McCormack
Jenny Krase: Jemima Rooper
Dr. Lucas: Wilfried Hochholdinger
Clay: August Zirner
Christian: Corey Johnson
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 101 minutes...
Unintended laughs and overheated melodrama transform "Thunder" into something approaching a comedy. Think "Back to the Future" meets "The Time Bandits" meets "Jurassic Park". The retro nature of this enterprise and Warner Bros. Pictures' apparent lack of enthusiasm in marketing the film portend a brief theatrical release. The film could develop a cult following in ancillary markets.
The screenplay, based on a 1952 Ray Bradbury short story and written by Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer and Gregory Poirier, plays with the common time-travel notion that even a tiny change in the historic past has grave consequences for the future, meaning today. All the elements for catastrophe are in place during opening scenes in 2055 Chicago.
A greedy industrialist, Charles Hatton (Ben Kingsley), has stolen an insufficiently tested time-travel technology from scientist Dr. Sonia Rand (Catherine McCormack). An otherwise honest scientist, Dr. Travis Ryer (Edward Burns), uses the technology for enough scientific research to justify his involvement in Hatton's get-filthy-rich-quick scheme.
Hatton runs Time Safari Inc., which offers wealthy men the opportunity to go Really Big Game hunting in the Cretaceous Era. Using a fixed timeline and a magical path into the distant past, city slickers can shoot a dinosaur and hot-foot it back to the present. Somehow Hatton's scientists have figured out that this prehistoric death cannot change evolution: The critter was about to die in a large tar pit, moments before an exploding volcano dumps Molten Lava over the area.
One day, as two hunters and their scientist minders step from the time machine, things feel wrong. Balmy weather invades Chicago in November. Fish beach themselves. Plant life bursts through walls. As Ryer discusses this with Rand, the first time wave hits Chicago, turning the city into a primordial jungle with a really bad bug problem.
Time waves hit every 24 hours with the evolutionary changes working their way up the food chain in each subsequent pass. Humans will be last. So in a race against time -- literally -- the scientists journey across this antediluvian landscape, battling ape-like lizards, winged creatures and sea dragons, to reach the two hunters to determine what they did that changed evolution. (Scientifically speaking, it's hard to attribute the survival of dinosaurs and demise of homo sapiens to the tiny event this turns out to be.)
As the aggressive music pounds away and the city grows more feral and darker -- what, the sun stops to evolve too? -- the movie grows increasingly corny. You've got to love lines like "This can't be good" when chaos reigns, or the fierce beasts hunting men lifted directly from "Jurassic Park".
Director/cinematographer Peter Hyams has done sci-fi before -- "Outland", "Capricorn One", "2010: The Year We Make Contact" and "Timecop". So why he feels like a stranger in a strange land is puzzling. Certainly, effects are not state of the art. At times, the print reviewed looked murky, as if it were second or even third generation. Creatures and sets are unusually fake. But his actors, to their credit, do not look embarrassed. A straight face always is a sign of genuine camp.
A SOUND OF THUNDER
Warner Bros. Pictures
Franchise Pictures presents an Apollomedia -- QI Quality International -- MFF (Sound of Thunder) Limited -- Film Group 111 -- Coco co-production in association with Crusader Entertainment, a Scenario Lane/Jericho Production
Credits: Director/director of photography: Peter Hyams
Screenplay: Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer, Gregory Poirier
Screen story by: Thomas Dean Donnelly, Joshua Oppenheimer
Based on a short story by: Ray Bradbury
Producers: Moshe Diamant, Howard Baldwin, Karne Baldwin
Executive producers: Elie Samaha
Romana Cisarova, John Hardy, Rick Nathanson, Jorg Westerkamp
William J. Immerman, Breck Eisner
Production designer: Richard Holland
Music: Nick Glennie-Smith
Costumes: Esther Walz
Editor: Sylvie Landra
Cast:
Travis Ryer: Edward Burns
Charles Hatton: Ben Kingsley
Sonia Rand: Catherine McCormack
Jenny Krase: Jemima Rooper
Dr. Lucas: Wilfried Hochholdinger
Clay: August Zirner
Christian: Corey Johnson
MPAA rating PG-13
Running time -- 101 minutes...
- 9/19/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Badly in need of more humor and humanity, like that found in his best Hong Kong features, Tsui Hark's long-awaited big-budget debut "Double Team" is doubly problematic.
Beyond a few sequences with some of the Hark magic and the formidable presence of NBA superstar Dennis Rodman, the Columbia Pictures release is not exactly an airball, but it bounces around the rim and finally fails to go in.
The track record of emergent Hong Kong filmmakers working with Jean-Claude Van Damme and producer Moshe Diamant is anything but inspiring -- John Woo's "Hard Target" and Ringo Lam's "Maximum Risk" were both tepidly received by fans and failed to generate much heat in the marketplace. The same will happen to "Double Team", although action-film devotees might pump up the opening-weekend numbers.
Hark has made some of the finest Hong Kong features of the past 20-odd years ("Peking Opera Blues", "Once Upon a Time in China"), and he's been involved with more than 50 features as director, producer, writer and/or actor.
But Hark struggles with the material here, and Van Damme plays another cold, barely articulate hero. There is a halfhearted attempt to personalize the mayhem, with Van Damme's crack counterterrorist on the verge of retirement and looking forward to quieter days with his wife (Natacha Lindinger).
"Double Team" tips off with a big chase scene as Quinn (Van Damme) drives a "super truck" with stolen plutonium through and over numerous obstacles. Not long after, by the pool with his pregnant mate, Quinn is called upon to vanquish a ruthless international terrorist and is told: "You can't retire until he dies".
This perfunctory setup leads to an early showdown with said terrorist Stavros (Mickey Rourke) at an amusement park, after Quinn visits a funky arms dealer played by Rodman. In the elaborate firefight with Stavros, the villain's wife and child are killed and Quinn is nearly blown to bits. The bad guy lives on and the good guy is sent to the Colony, a think tank/prison for spies who are removed from active service but deemed too dangerous to be left alone in the world.
Unhappy with the turn of events -- his wife thinks he's dead and she's vulnerable to Stavros' revenge -- Quinn sets out to escape from the Colony. He accomplishes this by hitching a ride on a C-130 cargo plane in a wild sequence that's arguably the best in the film. Hooking up again with Rodman's character, the duo agree that the "best defense is offense."
Jokes alluding to basketball and Rodman's colorful costumes and comic asides are the extent of the film's stabs at humor.
DOUBLE TEAM
Sony Pictures Releasing
Columbia Pictures and
Mandalay Entertainment present
a Moshe Diamant production
a One Story Pictures production
a Tsui Hark film
Director Tsui Hark
Producer Moshe Diamant
Writers Don Jakoby, Paul Mones
Exec producers Don Jakoby, David Rodgers
Co-producers Rick Nathanson, Nansun Shi
Director of photography Peter Pau
Editor Bill Pankow
Production designer Marek Dobrowolski
Music Gary Chang
Costume designer Magali Guidasci
Casting Penny Perry, Illana Diamant
Color/stereo
Cast:
Quinn Jean-Claude Van Damme
Yaz Dennis Rodman
Stavros Mickey Rourke
Goldsmythe Paul Freeman
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Beyond a few sequences with some of the Hark magic and the formidable presence of NBA superstar Dennis Rodman, the Columbia Pictures release is not exactly an airball, but it bounces around the rim and finally fails to go in.
The track record of emergent Hong Kong filmmakers working with Jean-Claude Van Damme and producer Moshe Diamant is anything but inspiring -- John Woo's "Hard Target" and Ringo Lam's "Maximum Risk" were both tepidly received by fans and failed to generate much heat in the marketplace. The same will happen to "Double Team", although action-film devotees might pump up the opening-weekend numbers.
Hark has made some of the finest Hong Kong features of the past 20-odd years ("Peking Opera Blues", "Once Upon a Time in China"), and he's been involved with more than 50 features as director, producer, writer and/or actor.
But Hark struggles with the material here, and Van Damme plays another cold, barely articulate hero. There is a halfhearted attempt to personalize the mayhem, with Van Damme's crack counterterrorist on the verge of retirement and looking forward to quieter days with his wife (Natacha Lindinger).
"Double Team" tips off with a big chase scene as Quinn (Van Damme) drives a "super truck" with stolen plutonium through and over numerous obstacles. Not long after, by the pool with his pregnant mate, Quinn is called upon to vanquish a ruthless international terrorist and is told: "You can't retire until he dies".
This perfunctory setup leads to an early showdown with said terrorist Stavros (Mickey Rourke) at an amusement park, after Quinn visits a funky arms dealer played by Rodman. In the elaborate firefight with Stavros, the villain's wife and child are killed and Quinn is nearly blown to bits. The bad guy lives on and the good guy is sent to the Colony, a think tank/prison for spies who are removed from active service but deemed too dangerous to be left alone in the world.
Unhappy with the turn of events -- his wife thinks he's dead and she's vulnerable to Stavros' revenge -- Quinn sets out to escape from the Colony. He accomplishes this by hitching a ride on a C-130 cargo plane in a wild sequence that's arguably the best in the film. Hooking up again with Rodman's character, the duo agree that the "best defense is offense."
Jokes alluding to basketball and Rodman's colorful costumes and comic asides are the extent of the film's stabs at humor.
DOUBLE TEAM
Sony Pictures Releasing
Columbia Pictures and
Mandalay Entertainment present
a Moshe Diamant production
a One Story Pictures production
a Tsui Hark film
Director Tsui Hark
Producer Moshe Diamant
Writers Don Jakoby, Paul Mones
Exec producers Don Jakoby, David Rodgers
Co-producers Rick Nathanson, Nansun Shi
Director of photography Peter Pau
Editor Bill Pankow
Production designer Marek Dobrowolski
Music Gary Chang
Costume designer Magali Guidasci
Casting Penny Perry, Illana Diamant
Color/stereo
Cast:
Quinn Jean-Claude Van Damme
Yaz Dennis Rodman
Stavros Mickey Rourke
Goldsmythe Paul Freeman
Running time -- 93 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
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