DVD REVIEWS
Robocop
With a director like Paul Verhoeven behind the lens of a Sci-Fi/Action Flick, there are several things one can expect....gore, over-the-top violence and one hell of a movie. Robocop is certainly no exception. This movie is fashioned like a comic book in every sense and doesn't let up. The characters in this movie could have been so 1 dimensional if not in such capable hands, both on and off screen, but everyone puts 110% effort into their respective roles and it really shows.
So the story to Robocop, A Major Corporation, OCP, has created the latest weapon in Law Enforcement, ED-209, A machine gun totting gargantuan of a robot. Upon demonstration of this evolutionary jump in Robotics, ED-209 malfunctions and kills (obliterates is probably more appropriate) an employee. The project is promptly scrapped and replaced with the backup plan, ROBOCOP. As Luck would have it, a Cop(Murphy, played by Peter Weller) is brutally killed by a drug lord (Boddicker, Kurtwood Smith) and his gang, and so becomes the donor for the program. His memory is erased and rewritten with the intent of making him the ultimate defender of the Law, one who is free of emotion and bias. Suffice to such, things don't go according to plan, and Murphy's memory start to seep back into is present consciousness and he seeks revenge on those who killed him.
Okay, so how does this DVD transfer hold up? Image Entertainment has presented this movie in its 1.85:1 theatre format, but only in wide- screen, and not anamorphic. Interestingly, I read an article about Paul Verhoeven in which he said he hates viewing a letterboxed movie on TV. But seeing as this is NOT the directors cut of the film, It's R-Rated for the USA and has been quite cut, but done well, this may explain why.
Don't be surprised if an Unrated, Anamorphic, DD5.1 version comes out before too long. Even in saying this the soundtrack holds up very well for DD2.0 and has a very nice surround presence, which is utilized well. The sound is very clean and comes across nicely. So good in fact that at one point, in the board room after ED-209 goes berserk, I kept hearing this buzzing sound coming out of my RHS front speaker. "Oh god, what's up?" But it turned out to be a fax machine, or the like in the background office. It's the subtle things in this soundtrack that really work a treat, not to mention the excellent score by Basil Poledouris (Starship Troopers).
As for the picture quality....If you can put up with the first 20 minutes (just watch a Roadshow title before hand :-), you'll be drooling. For some reason it is quite grainy. For most part the image is still sharp, and colours very good, but many of the shots are full of grain, probably dirt. This seems to cause a few problems in the transfer as it causes a bit of pixilation, particularly with the blacks. But once the first twenty odd minutes passes, the image is great. You look at Robocop's armour and it just shines, and talk about the detail WOW!! This DVD features ONLY the movie.
There are no trailers, additional languages or subtitles. Seeing as this is one of the few code free titles that IMAGE has released, I find it surprising that these features haven't been included. They have however included 24 chapters to access the movie, the only problem with the menus here is that its very hard to tell which chapter you have highlighted. The reason....when highlighted, the edges of the picture are dark grey, when not highlighted, they are grey. If you up or down on the remote you can see the movement though. It's nothing too drastic, but still it seems a bit stupid to do that.
Anyways, at US$23.95 it's a tiny bit step considering you can get a movie like CONTACT for $19.95 and is packed with features, but it's such a good movie that I didn't mind paying a bit more (I just wish the Aussie dollar was better), besides it's a code free movie so anyone in the world can play it.
PICTURE QUALITY (4/5...Damn that first 20 minutes)
SOUND QUALITY (4/5...Very good for Dolby Stereo)
Features: Letterbox, Audio: English (DD2.0), Subtitles: None, Region Code: None, Chapters: 24.
Review Equipment: TV: Mitsubishi DIVA 68cm TV, DVD: Samsung DVD905, Receiver: Marantz SR870, Speakers: B&W 602's (front), Sony (rears). Cinema Chairs (Gilberton Recliners....okay so there not REALLY cinema chairs but they're very comfy.)