Attack on the Queen (Counterstrike) (Rental) (2001)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	86:23
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jeff London
Studio Distributor	Lions Gate TV Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Rob Estes Joe Lando Rachel Blakely Marie Matiko Carmen Duncan Kevin Fry
Case	?
RPI	Rental	Music	Gary McDonald Lawrence Stone

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes, Very brief - one small scene.
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Attack on the Queen is a US-made TV movie that was released in America as Counterstrike. It was actually produced at our own Warner Bros studio on the Gold Coast, as a matter of interest. Let me first say that I'm not averse to the occasional TV movie, despite the lower production standards and acting that is usually associated with them. I have to confess that I even find some TV movies to have better stories and actors than what can pass for acceptable in the blockbuster Hollywood world. Unfortunately, this film doesn't come into that category.

    The Kellogg brothers are your all-American, clean-cut, football-playing, action heroes. Older brother Vince (Joe Lando) is the conservative Secret Service agent who acts as a bodyguard for US president Elinor Shaw (Carmen Duncan), while younger brother Thomas (Rob Estes) is an ATF special agent who likes to push the boundaries when it comes to risk-taking. It's established in the opening minutes that there is some ill-feeling between the brothers, and Thomas believes it's because Vince blames him for the death of their youngest brother in a climbing accident.

    Anyway, their jobs cause them to cross paths when the US and Chinese presidents choose an almost empty QE-2 as the location for some arms treaty talks (hence the title of the film - the "Queen" being the famous ocean liner). Vince is along as bodyguard, and Thomas has to ensure no terrorists/bombs get onto the boat before it leaves port. Of course, he's not 100% successful, and before you can say "I saw that coming", the ship is captured by disgruntled Taiwanese terrorists who want the launch codes for the Chinese nuclear arsenal. These terrorists are being helped by renegade Americans led by an ex-submarine commander, now at the helm of a stolen Chinese sub. The only people that can stop them are Vince, the ship's plucky security officer - Britanny (Rachel Blakely), and Thomas - once he's made his dramatic arrival on the boat. Oh, and of course the US Navy sub shadowing the QE-2, with its Navy Seals on board, lends a bit of a helping hand at the end.

    Now that's just a very brief outline, avoiding a lot of plot points, but if it is starting to sound a little convoluted to you, then that's because plotwise it is. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, since some of my favourite action movies have very convoluted plots, but they have to be executed well, and sadly that isn't the case here. I'm quite able to turn the brain down and ignore plot holes to a certain extent if need be, but there were just too many to let slip in this film. In the end I found myself getting frustrated by just how laughably unrealistic so much of this story was, to the point where it just seemed like lazy writing. I notice it is an adaptation from a book, but I suspect there has been a lot of "adapting" when writing the screenplay to fit it into the relatively short 86 minute runtime.

    The action scenes weren't bad as such, but they never really got out of the low gears. The highlight was probably Thomas' HALO jump onto the QE-2, which was very short.

    The acting on a whole was what you'd expect from this sort of production, but I did find the president unconvincing as a woman in authority, and also Britanny didn't seem to quite cut it as the tough girl. On the other hand, I thought the two lead men did pretty good jobs, with Rob Estes looking like he could almost pass as a "bigscreen" actor. Marie Matiko, who played Monica Chang, was also suitably evil as the leader of the ship-based terrorists.

    All-in-all, Attack on the Queen is a fairly forgettable poor-man's Under Siege, with more plot holes than you can poke a stick at, and fairly average action scenes.

Video

    The video quality is pretty good for a TV movie. I was unable to find out how it was originally shot, so I'm not sure what the source was, but the quality of the transfer is comparable to some that are taken from decent film stock, although it is by no means of reference quality.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, which I would imagine would be the original aspect ratio considering its intended medium. At the worst though it may have been 1.85:1, meaning we'd lose a minuscule amount of image. It is 16x9 enhanced.

    This isn't a crystal clear transfer, and there are problems with a lack of sharpness in some of the interior scenes. This may be due to the source material, but it was the most noticeable problem with the picture. There are a number of night-time and dark underwater shots which had decent blacks and didn't display any obvious low level noise. However, these scenes did display other problems mentioned below.

    Colour was acceptable, with the opening barbecue scenes being reasonably bright. There did seem to be a lack of richness though, and skin tones seemed slightly dulled. Once again I'm not sure how much of this was due to the source. A lot of the film took place in shadowy/dark areas as well, so I certainly wouldn't call it a colourful movie.

    There was some distracting pixelization in some of the darker scenes mentioned above - especially the underwater shots at 49:24, 54:05, 61:35. There was also the occasional edge-enhancement visible in some of the exterior shots, like around the ship's outline at 23:07, but it was very minor and not a distraction. Also in some of the outdoor scenes there was a little bit of aliasing (13:31 is a good example), but nothing like what I was expecting from a TV movie. I didn't notice any film artefacts.

    There were no subtitles on this DVD.

    This is a single layered disc, hence there is no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio transfer on this disc was a pleasant surprise and in some aspects surpassed my expectations.

    There is just the one track on this disc: English Dolby Digital 2.0, with surround encoding.

    The dialogue was the weakest aspect of the audio. It was occasionally smothered by the surrounding action, and unclear. There were also some really obviously badly-synced lines, showing poor ADR work - for example the lines at 4:12, 19:19 and 66:38. It wasn't like you couldn't hear any of the dialogue though, so it was passable ... just.

    At first I thought the music was just going to be your generic action movie score, but it turned out to be suitably dramatic, and actually quite catchy (I can hear it in my head now!). It really added something to the movie, and I'm sure it made some scenes seem better than they actually were.

    The surround channels are where this soundtrack really shone. If you have a Pro Logic capable receiver then you're in for an unexpected treat from your surrounds. Right from the opening credits it is obvious that they're going to be getting a lot of action, and they don't have that many silent moments, providing ambient sounds in the quiet scenes and engulfing you in the music/action of the louder portions.

    The subwoofer on the other hand does not get nearly as much use, and only occasionally comes to life during some of the louder effects. My subwoofer actually turned itself off for a lengthy period during the first third of the movie, but once the second act got going it turned back on for the remainder.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    This is a rental version of the film, and there's not much to speak of in the way of extras.

Menu

    The main menu is static, 16x9 enhanced and has part of the score playing in a loop.

Trailer - 1:24

    Not a bad trailer actually - it manages to pique your interest in the film, and also picks most of the best bits to make things seem more exciting than they actually are. The trailer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is therefore not 16x9 enhanced.

    As far as I can tell there is no current Region 1 version of this movie available, which is not too surprising when you consider the lack of a market if it is being played on TV with any sort of regularity.

    I found Attack on the Queen to be a sub-standard action film, even by TV movie standards. The many plot holes really ruined what could have been an OK story.

    The video quality is mediocre - not startlingly good, but certainly not bad.

    The audio is quite good for a Dolby Digital 2.0 track, and makes extensive use of the surrounds.

    There are no extras to speak of.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall