Down Periscope (1996)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1996
Running Time	89:00
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (39:14)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	David S. Ward
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Kelsey Grammer Lauren Holly Rob Schneider Harry Dean Stanton Bruce Dern Rip Torn
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	Randy Edelman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	Danish Dutch English for the Hearing Impaired Finnish French German Italian Norwegian Spanish Swedish French Titling German Titling Italian Titling Spanish Titling	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, during credits

    Amongst the very rare films that I actually have seen at the cinema in the last fifteen years, there are very, very, very few that I have actually seen more than once. Amongst those films would only be Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones and one other film - Down Periscope. Even if I went back thirty years, I could probably only add the three original Star Wars films to the list.

    So why did Down Periscope manage to make it into that company? Well, I am a Kelsey Grammer fan (a long time Cheers and Frasier fan) and certainly have no objection to Lauren Holly at all (Picket Fences was a series that I loved). But this was one of those times when I actually wanted to see the film after seeing the trailer, as it seemed like something that suited my sense of humour down to the ground. It sure ended up being something that suited my sense of humour, and so it was that I watched it two consecutive weeks on the big screen - about the entire length of time the film actually was on release in Perth. So you might just get an idea that I may not entirely give an unbiased view of the film, and that I certainly will not be joining the usual throng of reviewers and critics who roundly panned the film.

    Of course, when I do take my rose-coloured glasses off, I have to admit that it is not the greatest film ever made. Far from it, but hey - let me live with my rose-coloured glasses please!

    Lieutenant Commander Tom Dodge (Kelsey Grammer) has dedicated much of his life to the silent service in the United States Navy and is very close to command of his own nuclear submarine. Unfortunately, he also has a reputation for being rather unorthodox and rather atypical of your average nuclear submarine commander. He also happens to have a tattoo on a certain part of his anatomy, with the cheery greeting of Welcome aboard! So, this rather unconventional commander is given a rather unusual assignment - to take the U.S.S. Stingray out into the Atlantic Ocean and then attempt to lay (war game) siege upon first Charleston harbour and then the naval base at Norfolk. The fact that the U.S.S. Stingray is a World War Two veteran diesel submarine makes thing slightly interesting. Even more interesting is the crew that Dodge has been given, handpicked by Admiral Graham (Bruce Dern). Executive Officer Martin Pascal (Rob Schneider) is a straight by-the-book officer who cannot stand Dodge's style of command, whilst a new programme has been initiated with respect of women serving on submarines - so the Stingray's new dive officer is Lieutenant Emily Lake (Lauren Holly). The rest of the crew are the biggest bunch of misfits that the United States Navy can muster. This completely misfit bunch are the group upon which Tom Dodge's entire career in the United States Navy depends. Do the misfits match the unorthodox Dodge well enough for them to win the war game - and thus ensure Dodge's elevation to his command of a nuclear sub?

   Aside from the fact that the always obnoxious Rob Schneider manages to overact like crazy in an attempt at humour that completely fails to match the tone of the film and nearly single-handedly sinks the film entirely, most of what we find here is reasonable enough. Kelsey Grammer never quite convinces us that he will ever be anything but Frasier Crane, but is still quite effective as the captain of this voyage. Lauren Holly is, as ever, Lauren Holly - beautiful and reasonably effective in a role that frankly could have been fleshed out a bit more. Just about everything to do with the film is little better than average but I am quite happy with that in this instance.

    I guess that you need a certain sense of humour to really enjoy this film, and so it is definitely something that you need to bear in mind if you are checking this one out. If the humour is to your taste, then this is enjoyable stuff but otherwise you might sit scratching your head wondering why you indulged in it.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, in accordance with its theatrical aspect ratio, and it is 16x9 enhanced.

    There is some stock footage used during the film and this is noticeably grainier and less sharp than the rest of the film. There is also some rather obvious effects work that also is noted as being a little less sharp than the rest of the transfer. Otherwise, the transfer is most obviously noted for a degree of light grain that is found throughout, some rather ordinary shadow detail at times and a softish look that does rob the transfer of some sharpness. However, it is overall reasonably decent and nothing to really dismiss as unwatchable - and some of the issues I recall from the theatrical presentation, so can hardly be blamed on the DVD. Still, I cannot help but feel a little better could have been achieved with just a modicum of additional work on the source material.

    The colours are decent enough without being truly exciting. The only time they truly shine is in the metallic look inside the nuclear submarines, when they actually get something close to vibrant. Otherwise, this is good but nothing to rave about. Blacks are pretty well handled and have some consistency, and there is nothing to suggest any issue with oversaturation or colour bleed.

    There is a nothing significant in the way of MPEG artefacting in the transfer. Surprisingly there was nothing significant in the way of film-to-video artefacting either, although there are some hints at edge enhancement, such as at 11:35. Film artefacts are a little more common, not entirely unexpected in a modest budget film that barely made a ripple at the box office and would hardly rank amongst anyone's choice for major league storage. The most obvious issue is a degree of film dirt that to varying degrees is noted throughout the transfer.

    This is an RSDL formatted DVD with the layer change occurring rather early at 39:14. It is a bit obvious but has been well enough placed so that whilst you know it is there, it does not really disrupt anything.

    There is a decent enough selection of subtitle options on the disc, although I of course stuck only to the English for the Hearing Impaired efforts. I was a little disappointed in them as they seemed to chop bits of dialogue here and there for no reason - often running to two lines which some might find annoying, an odd word or two would be dropped or changed, yet there was plenty of space (and time) for the full, correct dialogue.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There are five soundtrack options on the DVD, all of them six channel efforts. The English Dolby Digital 5.1 effort is a full 448 Kb/s bitrate effort, whilst the others - French, German, Italian and Spanish - are at the lower 384 Kb/s bitrate. I of course only listened to the English soundtrack, as listening to a foreign language dub is not the way I intend to spend an afternoon.

    There is nothing really wrong with the soundtrack and the dialogue comes up well enough and is easy enough to understand. There is nothing obviously wrong with the audio sync in the transfer.

    Randy Edelman contributed the original score. It is serviceable enough but hardly elevates to any great heights - the unkind would say that it therefore serves the film exceedingly well. The truth is, it probably does enough but was never expected to anything more like actually lift the film.

    The six channel soundtrack is also serviceable but hardly anything more. The surrounds and the subwoofer get a work out but it is hardly the best thing you will ever hear. The bass is a little too obvious when it does kick in, which admittedly is not often, and the surrounds are hardly the stuff of subtlety. Basically, the whole thing lacks panache and definition. Otherwise, there are not too many issues with what is just your average, serviceable soundtrack.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    Absolutely nothing, even though deleted scenes certainly do exist for the film as the trailer contains stuff that definitely is not in the film.

Menu

    Aside from the obligatory differences in the soundtracks and subtitles, the only appreciable difference with the Region 1 release is that it is a double-sided disc with a Full Frame version of the film on the second side. I have this and it is a slightly better transfer than the Region 4.

    I am guessing that the Region 2 releases will be similar to the Region 4, although I have not seen any reviews of any Region 2 releases yet. There is really nothing overwhelming in favour of the Region 1 release, but with a slightly better transfer and the extra version of the film, it would be the preferred version.

    This is definitely a film that will polarise opinion - those with the necessary, somewhat warped (or even better, low brow) sense of humour will love it, those with no sense of humour will loathe it. The presentation on DVD is barely better than average overall, which is not entirely unexpected at the pricing point.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall