Eraser


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Details At A Glance

General
Extras
Category Action Theatrical Trailer(s) Yes, 1
Rating Other Trailer(s) None
Year Released 1996 Commentary Tracks None
Running Time 110 minutes Other Extras Cast & Crew Biographies
RSDL/Flipper No/No
Cast & Crew
Start Up Movie
Region 4 Director Charles Russell
Studio
Distributor

Warner Home Video
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
James Caan
Vanessa Williams
James Coburn
Robert Pastorelli
Case Snapper
RRP $29.95 Music Alan Silvestri

 
Video
Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None MPEG None
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Dolby Digital 5.1
16x9 Enhancement Yes Soundtrack Languages English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Italian (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
Miscellaneous
Macrovision ?
Subtitles English
French
Italian
Dutch
Arabic
Spanish
Portuguese
English for the Hearing Impaired
Italian for the Hearing Impaired
Smoking Yes

Plot Synopsis

    Eraser is basically a good action flick. The plot is slightly flawed in places, but this can be overlooked once the action starts happening. Arnold Schwarzenegger is U.S. Marshal John Kruger who works with the witness protection program. He is the best of the best. He is assigned to protect Lee Cullen (Vanessa Williams) who has uncovered a conspiracy to sell a devastating top-secret high-tech weapon to the Russian Mafia.

    Unfortunately, John's boss, Robert Deguerin (James Caan) is in on the conspiracy, and he sets his sights on eliminating John and Lee.

    One particular highlight of Eraser is the worst one-liner in Arnie's history, and he's had a lot of them - "You're luggage". It's so bad you just have to love it. Go, Arnie, Go.

    The special effects generally look pretty good, though a few of them look fake. The rail gun effects in particular are very impressive. Nonetheless, the few cheesy special effects do not detract from the enjoyment of this film at all.

Transfer Quality

Video

    The video transfer of this movie is generally quite good, with only some aliasing issues to be concerned about. This is an earlier Warner Brothers effort, during a period when they had problems with this artefact.

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer was very sharp and clear at all times. Shadow detail was superb, and there was no low level noise.

    The colour is perfectly saturated throughout.

    No MPEG artefacts were seen. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of a moderate amount of aliasing, but this remained at an acceptable level. It was certainly more prominent than more recent Warner Brothers transfers. Film artefacts were non-existent.

Audio

    There are three audio tracks on this DVD; an English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, a French Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and an Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. I listened to the default English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.

    Dialogue was always clearly audible, other than the odd word here and there from Arnie, but that was certainly not the fault of the mix.

    There were no audio sync problems with this disc.

    The musical score was by Alan Silvestri. It suited the on-screen action without being particularly remarkable. Occasionally it seemed a little low in volume compared with the special effects, but this was a trivial issue.

     The surround channels were very aggressively used by the soundtrack throughout the special effects. Explosions were LOUD and enveloping, gunshots were LOUD and enveloping. In short, this was a superbly enveloping soundtrack - demo quality in fact.

   The .1 channel gets a MAJOR workout with the soundtrack with massive explosions, crashes, gunshots, and assorted other sound effects. This will rattle you and your house to the bone.

Extras

    There are only a basic set of extras on this disc.

Menu

    The main menu is plain and functional. It is 16x9 enhanced. Only certain scenes can be selected from the main menu.

Cast & Crew Biographies

    These are of average length.

Theatrical Trailer

    This is a rather good theatrical trailer, presented at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded sound. This gives a good idea of the aggressive nature of the film's soundtrack.

Summary

    Eraser is a good action flick which will give your home theatre a decent workout. You can forgive Arnie's acting because, well, because he's Arnie.

    The video quality is generally very good except for some moderate aliasing.

    The audio quality is reference quality.

    The extras present are basic.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Michael Demtschyna
20th May 1999

Review Equipment
DVD Pioneer DV-505, using S-Video output
Display Loewe Art-95 95cm direct view CRT in 16:9 mode, via the S-Video input. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder Denon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital AddOn Decoder, used as a standalone processor. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Amplification 2 x EA Playmaster 100W per channel stereo amplifiers for Left, Right, Left Rear and Right Rear; Philips 360 50W per channel stereo amplifier for Centre and Subwoofer
Speakers Philips S2000 speakers for Left, Right; Polk Audio CS-100 Centre Speaker; Apex AS-123 speakers for Left Rear and Right Rear; Yamaha B100-115SE subwoofer