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- Cat.no: CDR 96295
- Cert: 18
- Running time: 90 minutes
- Year: 1997
- Pressing: 1998
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 28 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
- Languages: English, German (both DD 5.1)
- Subtitles: 14 different languages available
- Widescreen: 2.35:1
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer, Filmographies
Director:
- Tsui Hark
(The Blade, A Better Tomorrow 3, A Chinese Ghost Story 3, Knock Off, Once Upon A Time In China 2 & 3)
Producers:
- Moshe Diamant
Screenplay:
- Don Jakoby and Paul Mones
Music:
- Gary Chang
Cast:
- Jack Quinn: Jean-Claude Van Damme (Bloodsport, Double Impact, Kickboxer, Knock Off, Last Action Hero, Maximum Risk, Nowhere To Run, The Quest, Street Fighter, Sudden Death, Timecop, Universal Soldier)
Yaz: Dennis Rodman
Stavros: Mickey Rourke (Angel Heart, Another 9½ Weeks, Body Heat, 9½ Weeks, The Rainmaker, Rumblefish, Wild Orchid, Year of the Dragon)
Alan Goldsmythe: Paul Freeman (Aces: Iron Eagle 3, The Dogs of War, Just Like a Woman, Power Rangers: The Movie, Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Shanghai Surprise, Without a Clue)
Kathryn: Natacha Lindinger
Double Team is another in the long line of no-brainers with the “Musclesfrom Brussels”, this time pitching him as the nation’s top counter-terrorist,Jack Quinn. He wants to get out of the spy game, but on his final mission hehesitates on killing the bad guy, Stavros (Mickey Rourke), resultingin the deaths of several colleagues as well as himself…
Well, not quite, but only in a “Nikita”-style way. He’s not dead, but hiswife and family believe he’s now a professional daisy pusher-upper. When heawakes, he finds himself inside “The Colony”, a think tank for spies who are toodangerous to roam the world, but too valuable to be killed… so like Nikita,but on a larger scale.
With Stavros still on the loose and out to kill Quinn’s family, his only hoperests in gun dealer Yaz (Dennis Rodman in his first motion picture).
Van Damme is his usual self, but comes across better in a moreinteresting story than the lacklustreMaximum Risk.Mickey Rourke is fine as the bad guy of the picture but it doesn’tparticularly stretch his acting abilities and Paul Freeman makes a decentjob as the leader of the colony. Dennis Rodman isn’t the first sportsstar to cross over into acting and won’t be the last, but it’s clear he’smodelled himself on Wesley Snipes.
Aside from the typically-contrived action plot, one thing this film can’t befaltered on is the picture quality. From the gorgeous locations, to the sleekand stylish explosion-filled action scenes, the film is a joy to watch. Anyregular reader of my reviews will know how picky I am with artifacts, but Icould not spot a single one.
The film is presented in its original widescreen ratio of 2.35:1, is enhancedfor 16:9 widescreen televisions – thus allowing for higher resolution – andthe average bitrate is a good 5.59 Mb/s.
The sound comes in Dolby Digital 5.1 – which will benefit all of those with thesuitable hardware – and Dolby Surround for everyone else. Explosions, loudand plenty, plus an occasional bit of guitar rock. Cover your ears…
Extras : Chapters/Theatrical Trailer :There are 28 chapters spread throughout the 90 mins of the film which issuperb, the last one bringing together the final explosion and the end credits.The theatrical trailer is also included. Languages/Subtitles :There’s two languages on the disc, English and German, both available inDolby Digital 5.1, with a Dolby surround option also offered in English.As for subtitles? Take your pick from the following FOURTEEN languages :English, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Icelandic, Hindi, Hebrew, German, Turkish,Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Greek and Norwegian. Filmographies :Brief filmographies are available for Van Damme, Mickey Rourke, Paul Freemanand director Tsui Hark. Menu :The menu is static and works well. On playing the disc you see the ColumbiaTriStar logo before the main menu appears.
Upon selecting the “Start Movie” option, you’ll first see a “Sony PicturesDVD Center” logo, followed by the Dolby Digital helicopter demo, thecopyright logo and then the film itself.
Overall, this film will not worry the likes of Titanic and ShakespeareIn Love in the Oscar stakes, but it’s easily a thoroughly enjoyable pieceof entertainment. Alas, there are scant extras (but the same fate befell theRegion 1 DVD too, unless for call a P&S version an “extra”) and the packaginghas been changed from the sturdy keep-cases to a plastic – easily breakable -casing as used since day one by Polygram.
FILM : ****PICTURE QUALITY: *****SOUND QUALITY: *****EXTRAS: *½——————————-OVERALL: ****
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.