An Eye for an Eye (1981)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Scene Selection Anim & Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	1981
Running Time	96:43 (Case: 100)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Steve Carver
Studio Distributor	Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	Chuck Norris Christopher Lee Richard Roundtree Matt Clark Mako
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$19.95	Music	William Goldstein

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	Dutch	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

    Before action icons Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jean Claude Van Damme and Steven Seagal tore up the screen there was Chuck Norris. It’s easy to forget, thanks in no small part to the barely watchable television series Walker: Texas Ranger, that the bearded one was once a top box office draw. From 1979 to 1985 Norris stared in numerous action hits such as Good Guys Wear Black, A Force Of One, The Octagon, Lone Wolf Mcquade, Missing In Action and Code Of Silence. In fact, critics even gave old Chuck decent reviews. In the case of Lone Wolf McQuade and Code Of Silence, some notable reviewers even predicted imminent A-list status. All this would collapse, however, thanks to the talentless producing pair of Golan-Globus who made flop after flop during the 1980’s under the Cannon Group banner. Norris starred in numerous turkeys under Cannon's reign of mediocrity. Films such as The Delta Force, The Hero And The Terror, and Invasion USA turned a profit, but their inept nature and poor quality resulted in Mr Norris being content to release direct to video fodder during the nineties. An Eye For An Eye was released in 1981 and was one of the better films released during Norris' reputable period.

    Norris stars as Sean Kane, an undercover Narcotics officer for the San Francisco Police Department. During an undercover operation, Kane's partner is killed in what appears to be a set up. Linked to this is the murder of his ex-partner's reporter girlfriend (Rosalind Chao), who was investigating a drug smuggling operation involving the Chinese Tong. Resigning from the police, Kane joins forces with the reporter's father (Mako), and sets out to revenge those slain.

    Directed by Steve Carver, who made a name for himself during the early 1970's blaxploitation era, An Eye For An Eye is a well made, if limited, action film in the vein of Dirty Harry. The set pieces are well staged, with Chuck Norris displaying his martial arts prowess to best effect. The climactic shoot-out at the villain's mansion is a cracker, with faceless henchman getting their just deserts in a flurry of bloody squibs and bone cracking fist fights. Norris does his mono-syllabic best as the vigilante cop Kane, and is well supported by the always excellent Mako (Conan The Barbarian), Richard Roundtree (Shaft) as the police chief, and the great Christopher Lee as the evil drug kingpin. An Eye For An Eye as a film knows its limitations and plays to its strengths. The story is clichéd, and the acting passable, but with a high body count and an abundance of energy the film delivers plenty of B-grade thrills. So if you are in the mood for a cheesy yet well made exploitation revenge flick, slip on this early Chuck number - you won't be disappointed.

Video

    An Eye For An Eye is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1:85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced for widescreen viewers.

    Considering the age and budget label release status of this DVD, the transfer is in fact relatively sharp. There are a few spots of aliasing, mostly whenever the Golden Gate Bridge is in focus, but these are passable. There is adequate shadow detail with solid blacks and a minimum of grain. However, the majority of night sequences have slight low level noise interference, but nothing overly distracting.

    Colours are washed out but remain natural. They also showcase some absolutely dreadful fashion ensembles that for those my age will bring back some horrendous memories.

    There is a fair amount of dirt and other artefacts present in the transfer, but they are mostly minor flecks and don't annoy all that much.

    For the low price tag this transfer is very acceptable.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The film has been given a solitary Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack in English.

    Dialogue is clear and maintains a constant level during action sequences. There are several audio sync errors, but they are ADR changes to some of the foreign extras who were no doubt English challenged.

    The film's music is cheesy and sounds like it belongs in an episode of the A-Team, however it does tend to fit the film.

    Surround channel usage is minimal. There are a number of welcome directional effects, especially during automatic gun fire, but on the whole it is a mostly constant display of front speaker work.

    The subwoofer adds the required bass to the on-screen action.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Main Menu Introduction

Main Menu Audio & Animation

Scene Selection Animation & Audio

    The Region 1 version misses out on an anamorphic 1:85:1 transfer - it is a pan & scan presentation only.

    The Region 4 disc misses out on a pan and scan version.

    Clearly our disc is the one of choice.

    An Eye For An Eye is a non-taxing 90 minutes of early, quite violent 80s action fun. The disc has a decent transfer with no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall