Nothing to Lose (Remastered) (1997)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1997
Running Time	93:51
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Programme
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Steve Oedekerk
Studio Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	Martin Lawrence Tim Robbins John C. McGinley Kelly Preston Giancarlo Esposito Rebecca Gayheart
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	Robert Folk

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.0 (384Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English Dutch Swedish Norwegian Danish Finnish Portuguese Serbo-Croatian English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    Nothing to Lose was produced in 1997 and was Lawrence's second movie after his smash hit with Will Smith, Bad Boys.

    I have in my DVD collection the previous version of this DVD (bought on sale) and was able to do a direct comparison with this newly re-mastered version.

    Even though Nothing to Lose is not a very original story and I have seen the movie a couple of times, it still had a couple of laugh-out-loud moments this time around.

    The plot of Nothing to Lose revolves around two main characters, Nick Beam (Tim Robbins) and Terrance (my friends call me T) Davidson (Martin Lawrence). Nick and T meet on a day when both their lives have hit new lows. Nick thinks he just caught his beautiful wife Ann (Kelly Preston) cheating on him and T can't find a job no matter how hard he tries and resorts to armed robbery. They both think they have nothing more they can lose, including their dignity.

    Nick, while reeling from supposedly discovering his wife cheating on him is aimlessly driving around when T jumps in his car and attempts to rob him. Nick has had enough, and refuses to hand over the cash. Instead, he throws his wallet out the window, locks T in the car with him and takes off for the desert. To cut a long story short, these two guys from different sides of the tracks discover neither are the stereotypes they envisaged. They soon become friends, and plan to rob Nick's boss PB (Michael McKean). Anything that can go wrong does, but everything turns out for the best eventually.

    This is a 'check your brain at the door before entering' type of movie. Thinking during this movie will actually lessen your enjoyment of it. The plot and character development, what of this there is, is adequate but predictable. I get the impression that Martin Lawrence is acting how he thinks Eddie Murphy would if he was in this role, but always falls short. A good performance is put in by Tim Robbins, but the stand-out in this movie was one of my favorite character actors, John C. McGinley as Davis 'Rig' Lanlow, a violent thief.

Video

    The video transfer is exactly the same as on the previous version of this title and is only adequate. The same faults appear in the same places and the transfer is lacking in precisely the same areas.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. This is not quite the original theatrical aspect ratio which was 1.85:1 nor the ratio advised on the back cover of the DVD which again is 1.85:1.

    The transfer is clear and sharp with only minimal grain present occasionally. Shadow detail is also good, with all objects clearly visible. Low level noise was well controlled and only noticeable on rare occasions such as at 20:25.

    The colours were clear and constant with no untoward variations evident, although they were not overly bright (except during the opening credits). This was not particularly distracting but they could have been so much better.

    There were no MPEG artefacts present. There was some minor edge enhancement at the 28:00 minute mark which is found on the jacket shoulder of Tim Robbins. There were no film-to-video artefacts. Film artefacts were numerous. For the most part they were small and not distracting except for the white line that appears in the middle of the screen at 29:00.

    There are nine subtitle options available on this disc. They include English, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Portuguese, Serbo-Croatian and English for the Hearing Impaired. I sampled the English subtitles which appeared accurate and in sync with the action on screen.

    This is a single layered disc and therefore it has no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio track is adequate, and to my ear sounds very similar to the audio track found on the previous version of this title.

    There are three audio tracks present; English Dolby Digital 5.0 (384Kb/s), German Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded (192Kb/s) and Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded (192Kb/s), the default track being English. I listened to the English default track.

    For the most part, the dialogue was clear and easily understood. The only times this was not the case was when Martin Lawrence's character was speaking fast and in slang. Audio sync was not an issue with this disc.

    The musical score was written by Robert Folk and suits the movie extremely well. It is entertaining and adds to the overall comedic atmosphere, but at times it does pre-empt the action on screen.

    This is mainly a dialogue-driven comedy with few special effects and no big scenes sound-wise. There is therefore little use for the surround channels. As there is no LFE channel present in the audio track, the subwoofer remains silent throughout.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are no extras on this disc. Well, not unless you call scene access an extra.

    The Region 1 version of this DVD misses out on;

• 16x9 enhanced transfer
• German and Spanish audio tracks

    The Region 4 version of this DVD misses out on;

• French audio track
• Production notes
• Movie trailer

    With the Region 1 disc missing 16x9 enhancement, I would have to recommend the Region 4 offering.

    Nothing to Lose is a reasonably entertaining Martin Lawrence comedy with a couple of laugh-out-loud moments. The video transfer is average. The audio transfer is average and there are no extras to speak of. Overall, this is a very average disc that could have been presented a lot better. If you own the previous version there is no point upgrading.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall