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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Commando (1985)

Commando (1985)

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Released 14-Mar-2001

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Action Theatrical Trailer
Rating Rated R
Year Of Production 1985
Running Time 85:34 (Case: 88)
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Mark L. Lester
Studio
Distributor

Twentieth Century Fox
Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger
Rae Dawn Chong
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $36.95 Music James Horner


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.85:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles Czech
Danish
English for the Hearing Impaired
Finnish
Hebrew
Hungarian
Icelandic
Norwegian
Polish
Portuguese
Swedish
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes, at start of credits

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Commando opens with the murders of several seemingly innocent people. Later, we find out that they were all part of an elite commando strike team, trained by John Matrix (Arnold Schwarzenegger). Why they allowed themselves to be killed so easily is just one of several holes in the storyline.

    General Kirby (James Olson) goes and warns John that the members of his team are being murdered, which of course leads the killers right to John. They take John's daughter, Jenny (Alyssa Milano) as hostage and order John to kill the president of Val Verde. John knows his daughter is dead whether he kills the president or not, so he starts looking for his daughter. Along the way he enlists the help of Cindy (Rae Dawn Chong).

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The picture quality is great in all areas except for grain.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    Picture sharpness and detail is very good and is one of the better mid-80 film transfers I have seen in this regard. No low-level noise or edge bleeding was noticed. Only one short scene had some minor edge enhancement, but it was not the slightest bit distracting.

    The colour is great, with all objects being well-saturated, impressive for a mid 80s film.

    It is in the area of grain and pixelization that the transfer is a let-down. It affects both the foreground and background throughout the entire film, but overall it is still tolerable. Some of the more noticeable examples can be found at 0:00 - 0:20, 9:19, 22:10, 31:58 and 63:33.

    No MPEG, aliasing or moiré artefacts were noticed. There is some telecine wobble during the closing credits, but it is very minor.

    Film artefacts were surprisingly rare. They were almost always one-offs and small to medium in size. By far the worst film artefact can be found at 28:04, which looks like a string of Christmas lights! Really noticeable, but very pretty!

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

Audio

    There is only one audio track on this DVD, which is a 192Kb/s Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded soundtrack.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand, with no audio sync problems noticed.

    The musical score is by James Horner.

    This is pretty much your standard Dolby surround-encoded soundtrack, with some good use of the surround speakers. The front soundstage did collapse into the centre on a couple of occasions, but overall the sound was well spaced across the front soundstage. Highlights are at; 8:30, 18:28, 54:48, 58:25, 65:10 and 87:40.

    At no point was I actually aware of the subwoofer's presence. It was used during explosions and the like, but overall its use was limited and subtle. I must point out that the soundtrack still sounded just fine though. The soundtrack just doesn't have those earth-shaking explosions we have all come to love and expect from today's movies.

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

Extras

    One Theatrical Trailer is all we get.

Menu

    The Menus are 16x9 enhanced. The Main Menu selections are; Language Selection, Chapter Selection (24 with Index), Special Features and Play.

Theatrical Trailer (1:57 minutes)

    The theatrical trailer is of good picture quality and is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. There is some strong grain present at the start. The Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack sounds hollow and mono-ish, but is tolerable.

Censorship

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

R4 vs R1

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;     Picture-wise the R4 version is a clear winner over the R1. Sound-wise the two are equal, but the R1 is intact (no cut scenes), which makes this one a tough decision. Personally, I will be saving my money until a 16x9 enhanced uncut Australian version becomes available.

Summary

    For me, Commando is a reasonable action flick that has now dated a little.

    The picture quality is good, with only the noticeable grain/pixelization lowering its quality.

    The audio quality is good.

    The extras are extremely limited, consisting of just one theatrical trailer.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Paul Williams (read Paul's biography)
Saturday, February 24, 2001
Review Equipment
DVDSony DVP-725, using Component output
DisplaySony Projector VPH-G70 (No Line Doubler), Technics Da-Lite matt screen with gain of 1.0 (229cm). This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationOnkyo TX-DS989
SpeakersFronts: Energy RVS-1 (3), Rears: Energy RVSS-1 (2), Subwoofer: Energy EPS-150 (1)

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