Submerged (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Trailer-Art Heist, Doing Hard Time, Shackles, Trois: The Escort Trailer-Wild Things 3
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	92:10 (Case: 95)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	Anthony Hickox
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Steven Seagal Christine Adams William Hope Nick Brimble Vinnie Jones Alison King P.H. Moriarty Gary Daniels Ross McCall Stephen Da Costa Peter Youngblood Hills Adam Fogerty Nikolai Sotirov
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	Guy Farley Michael John Bateman Alain Jakubowicz

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Dutch French	Smoking	Yes, numerous instances of smoking being shown.
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Submerged is a typical Seagal movie, in the same vein as Under Siege. This movie is action-packed from start to finish and I must say that I enjoyed it - I found myself wondering what the next twist would be. The basic premise of the plot is to recruit a crack team of people  from a military prison, with the offer of a pardon for their crimes, who will do anything to get the job done. They must destroy a secret laboratory in a foreign country, retrieve any American military being held captive, and neutralise the people behind it whilst gathering information that may be useful.

    Of course the title of the movie would have you believe that this is a submarine movie, but in fact this is not the case. There is a submarine involved, however it is certainly not the main focus of the movie. This is a very simplistic overview of a plot which has many twists to it - I intentionally do not want to spoil the movie experience by detailing these twists; I would rather you watch the movie and encounter them for yourself. I will say, however, that the plot is an engaging one.

    Even though Seagal has definitely seen better days, body-wise he can still make his presence felt throughout the movie, portraying the highly experienced Navy Seal which pretty much is his signature role.

    Be aware that this movie uses extreme levels of violence and there is quite a lot of strong language used throughout - this is definitely not a movie that should be viewed by young children.

Video

    This is how all DVDs should be mastered! We have here an exceptionally good transfer of the highest quality.

    The movie is transferred in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The transfer is 16x9 enhanced.

    The video transfer is crystal clear. There is no low level noise, no grainy look, and there is a great use of colour. Anthony Hickox, who directed the movie, obviously wanted to incorporate a modern artistic feel to it with his use of singular toned, overexposed colour scenes and timeshift camera work. I am still not sure if this style of filming is for me but it does make for some interesting viewing. I think if I had to make a criticism of this style it would be that the timeshifting was probably a little overdone, but that is just my point of view. I am sure that there would be others who would say that it suited the movie's fast pace.

    I was unable to see any MPEG artefacts in this transfer, which is a real credit to the video production team. I only wish they had done a little better job with the CGI in some scenes, especially the exterior views from the helicopter carrying the initial assault team.

    The English subtitles for the hearing impaired were very accurate to the spoken word. They were also nicely placed on the screen and some thought has been used to alter the position of the subtitling so as not to clash with the on-screen titles in the first few minutes of the movie. I found the subtitles to be easy to read without interfering with the overall picture. There are also subtitles in French and Dutch, but as I am not conversant in these languages I am unable to comment on their ability to follow the spoken word.

    I was unable to find the layer change in this movie despite viewing it with three separate DVD players.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    Like the video transfer, the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio tracks are very well mastered. It was a real pleasure to watch a movie and be immersed in a lively sound field.

    The dialogue was as clear as a bell and there were no hints of any audio sync slips or drop-outs.

    Guy Farley, Michael John Bateman, and Alain Jakubowicz have jointly composed a music score that adds to the excitement of the movie. The score is made up purely of instrumental pieces and brings an added depth which manages to set the mood of the scenes whilst not becoming overbearing.

    The surrounds are used constantly and with great detail to ensure the direction of sound placement is correct.

    As you would imagine with such a well mastered action DVD, the subwoofer has been used extensively and again it is a real treat to "feel the noise".

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    The only extras on this DVD are a few trailers for upcoming movies. I viewed each trailer, all of which were presented in 16x9 and with Dolby Pro Logic audio. The trailers were for Art Heist, Doing Hard Time, Shackles, Trois: The Escort, and Wild Things 3.

    As I have not viewed the R1 version of this movie I am unable to comment on which version is the better.

    This was a real surprise of a movie. I was expecting just another so-so production but it turned out to be one of the best produced DVDs that I have seen in a long time. Okay, the extras are a little thin on the ground, however if you like action movies then this is a must-see movie.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall