National Security (2003) |
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National Security (2003) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Action |
Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Director Deleted Scenes-2 Alternate Ending-1 Music Video-N.S.E.W., Disturbing Tha Peace Trailer-National Security, I Spy, Charlie's Angels : Full Throttle |
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| Rating | ? | ||
| Year Of Production | 2003 | ||
| Running Time | 84:41 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (49:22) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Dennis Dugan |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Sony Pictures Home Entertain |
Starring |
Martin Lawrence Steve Zahn Eric Roberts Colm Feore Bill Duke Timothy Busfield |
| Case | ? | ||
| RPI | $39.95 | Music | Randy Edelman |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Czech Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Hungarian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Russian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English Arabic Bulgarian Croatian Czech Danish Finnish Greek Hebrew Hindi Hungarian Icelandic Norwegian Polish Romanian Russian Serbian Slovenian Swedish Turkish English Audio Commentary English Audio Commentary |
Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
I missed seeing National Security at the movies and was very much looking forward to watching it this time around. Martin Lawrence movies aren't rocket science, but they are usually entertaining and humorous. I had thought that his movies had gradually been improving after the sudden decline in quality suffered post Bad Boys . Unfortunately, the decline continues.
National Security was a major disappointment from beginning to end. The storyline is thin and the acting is only average. 90% of the jokes, which usually revolve around racial humour, are not funny and are poorly timed. The character of Earl Montgomery, played by Martin Lawrence, is so arrogant and has such a big chip on his shoulder that he has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. Half-way through the movie I was hoping that he would be killed off, and killed off quickly. He was so annoying.
Police Officer Hank Rafferty (Steve Zahn) has not had a good time of late. His partner and best friend was murdered before his very eyes. He was also falsely accused and convicted of beating Earl Montgomery (Martin Lawrence), an African-American. When finally released from prison, the only work he can get is as a security guard, the lowest rung in the law enforcement industry.
However, Officer Rafferty is a man on a mission. He is out to find the crime gang that killed his partner and convict the man that pulled the trigger. As fate would have it, Rafferty runs into his accuser, Earl Montgomery, who by this time has also become a security guard. Together, these two mismatched would-be cops set off to find the elusive killer.
The video transfer is excellent and could rarely be faulted.
The transfer is presented in the original aspect ratio of 1:85.1 and is 16x9 enhanced.
The transfer is clear and sharp from beginning to end. Perception of objects within shadows is excellent, with all details clearly visible. Low level noise was well controlled with no noticeable occurrences.
The colours are clear and constant with no colour-related artefacts evident. The blacks were very black and did not waver.
There were no MPEG artefacts present and film-to-video artefacts were also non-existent. Film artefacts were kept to a minimum with only a couple of occurrences throughout the entire movie. When they did occur, they were very minor and did not distract.
There are an impressive number of subtitle options on the disc. In all there are 22 choices, including; English, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Swedish, Turkish and two English Audio Commentary subtitle tracks. I sampled the English and the English commentary subtitle options. These appeared to be accurate and correct.
This is an RSDL disc with the layer change plaaced at 49:22. It is almost invisible.
| Sharpness |   |
| Shadow Detail | |
| Colour | |
| Grain/Pixelization | |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall | |
The audio quality is good, but not quite up to the standard of the video.
There are five audio tracks on this disc. They include; English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) which is the default track, Czech Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), Hungarian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), Russian Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) and an English Audio Commentary track in Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s). I listened to both the English and the English commentary offerings.
The dialogue for the most part is clear and easily understood, but on occasion Martin Lawrence is a little hard to understand and when excited his voice occasionally cracks. I also noticed that around the 76:00 minute mark the sound appeared to be a little soft and muffled. Audio sync was not an issue with this disc.
The music score was composed by Randy Edelman and suits the movie well. It does not telegraph the on-screen action as much as other movies, merely complementing what is happening. There is a substantial amount of Rap and Hip-Hop music throughout the movie, so if you are into that style of music you will enjoy it.
The surround speakers are used to good effect, but as expected with this style of film, are not in constant use. They tend to be used aggressively for short periods of time and then fall silent.
The subwoofer gets a fair amount of use both with the soundtrack and with special effects and explosions. As with the surround speakers, it tends to be used in short spurts and then falls silent.
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| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use | |
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| Overall | |
The introduction to the menu has a small selection of snippets from the movie.
This is one of the more unusual menu animations I have seen. It has a blurred, unrecognisable image spinning around like a wheel .When it stops, an image of one of the major characters is selected at random. No matter which character appears, they all have a strange expression on their face.
The audio commentary by director Dennis Dugan is informative but a little boring. You would have to be a die-hard fan to listen to this commentary.
This deleted scene is a waste of time. It is obvious why is was cut from the movie - it's just not funny.
There is no sound during this deleted scene and it does not add anything of interest.
This is a totally different ending to the one included in the main feature. It does not bring any closure to the movie and the ending selected for the main feature was the more suitable.
This is a rap/hip hop video clip supposedly from the movie. I did not hear this song during the movie but it may have featured during the credits.
This is a trailer for the main feature on this disc. It is 16x9 enhanced and has a 5.1 (384 kbps) Dolby Digital audio track. It shows most of the funnier moments of the movie out of context and in seemingly random order.
This is a trailer for the movie I Spy staring Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson. It is 16x9 enhanced and has a 5.1 (384 kbps) Dolby Digital audio track.
This is a trailer for the latest Charlie's Angles movie. It is 16x9 enhanced and has a 5.1 (384 kbps) Dolby Digital audio track.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;
The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;
The Region 1 and Region 4 versions of this disc are nearly identical. There is no compelling reason to recommend one version over the other (PAL and NTSC differences aside).
National Security is not a good movie. The plot is thin and the humour just doesn't cut it. By half-way through the movie you are hoping that Martin Lawrence's character gets hit by a car and dies...quickly! However, it has a near flawless video transfer, a very good audio transfer and a typical lot of extras. Definitely rent before you buy.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Sony DVP-S525, using S-Video output |
| Display | Bang & Olufsen BeoVision Avante 82cm 16:9 Widescreen. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Denon AVR-1803. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. |
| Amplification | Denon AVR 1803 |
| Speakers | Paradigm: Phantom V. 3 Front, Paradigm CC270 V. 3 Centre, Paradigm: Titan V. 3 Rear, Yamaha YST-SW305 Sub |