Dogwatch (2000)

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General		Extras
Category	Thriller	Main Menu Audio & Animation Biographies-Cast & Crew Trailer-The Bank; La Spagnola; Mullet; Pi; Tackle Happy DVD Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	2000
Running Time	92:48
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Laurie McInnes
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Joel Edgerton Steven Vidler John Brumpton Russell Kiefel
Case	Click
RPI	$34.95	Music	Michael Atherton

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Auto Pan & Scan Encoded	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Set in the 60s during the Triad wars in mainland China, Dogwatch is the story of a ship called Arabella and her 5 crew. The captain has been ordered to take the 2,000 tonne ship to a spot above an ocean abyss and scuttle her. Captain William (Steven Vidler) overcomes his reluctance, no doubt due in part to his handsome payment to complete the task. The crew is aware of their mission but each individual has their own timetable and mission objective just to make things a little more interesting.

    Before the ship leaves port, she takes on a suspicious character that was seen at the local bar earlier in the night. No one knows why he came on board or what his personal agenda is.

    After watching Dogwatch it is not hard to see why cinemas passed this title over for the more interesting titles that were on offer in 1999. The title took a long time to get started, but if you can get through the first 40 minutes then things at least start to become more interesting.

Video

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is quite clear and sharp which was a nice surprise given that the entire feature has been authored onto a single layered disc. Shadow detail varies from acceptable to wonderful throughout the movie. There was one point at 11:00 where a little more detail could have been revealed, yet other areas like those seen at 5:13 and 5:29 are very well done considering the dim lighting used. There is mild low level noise.

    The colours were true to life but would not be classed as either rich or vibrant. A rusting ship is not a place you would expect to see strong contrasts and lively colours and the ragged crew are not the type to wear Hawaiian shirts... The cinematographer used the natural lighting and colours reflecting off the ship to good advantage with numerous magical scenes throughout the presentation.

    There were no MPEG artefacts to be seen. Aliasing is extremely rare and barely noticeable when it does occur. Film artefacts are also very rare and not distracting at all. Reel change markings start at 15:36 and reappear approximately every 15-20 minutes.

    There are no subtitle tracks on this single sided, single-layered disc.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is only a single English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded audio track present on this disc.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times with no apparent hiss. Audio sync was not a problem at all with this transfer, and was completely spot on.

    The musical score by Michael Atherton was unusual but worked well with this style of movie. Having said that, the composition rarely shined and ended up leaving a sterile impression on this particular listener.

    The surround channels were mildly utilized for ambience, music and for special effects. Directional effects were rare and naturally only heard from the front soundstage. It was not until 6:24 that I noticed that the surrounds were being used and even then there was a drought until 20:14 before they were heard from again.

    The subwoofer was gently used to support a mild hum coming from the ship's engines.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Biographies

    Biographies for the three main characters of the movie are shown here along with one for the director Laurie McInnes. Each biography is in textual form, complete with a photo.

• Laurie McInnes
• Steven Vidler
• John Brumpton
• Joel Edgerton

Madman Propaganda

    This section features a collection of trailers for other Madman titles available on DVD. The menu item for "Mullet" has been authored incorrectly and selecting it actually brings up the trailer for "La Spagnola". If you want to see the "Mullet" trailer you will need to manually select Title 6. All trailers are of good quality with very mild film artefacts and Dolby Digital 2.0 sound.

    The trailers available here are;

• The Bank (1:58)
• La Spagnola (2:09)
• Mullet
• Pi (1:30)
• Tackle Happy (2:46)

    I was unable to find any reference to a Region 1 version of this title at this time.

    Overall, I found Dogwatch to be a rather dull story that never really got out of first gear.

    The video quality was quite pleasing to the eye, if you can ignore the reel change markings.

    Whilst the audio is only Dolby Digital 2.0, the absence of a full 5.1 soundtrack is not really noticed. The audio is comprised predominantly of dialogue delivered in well-contained scenes with little motion. This does not require the detailed sound placement available with a full 5.1 mix. The surround encoding overcame any shortfalls and provided adequate ambient effects.

    The extras are limited, and come complete with a menu authoring error. The contents of the extras, like the movie, left a sterile impression on this reviewer.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall