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Navy SEALS
MGM
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 19881 DVD
- Running time: 109 minutes
- Year: 1990
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 16 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby ProLogic (Dolby Digital 2.0)
- Languages: 5 languages available
- Subtitles: 12 languages available
- Widescreen: 1.66:1
- 16:9-enhanced: No
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Booklet, Trailer, Audio Commentary
Director:
- Lewis Teague
(Navy Seals)
Producers:
- Brenda Feigen and Bernard Williams
Screenplay:
- Chuck Pfarrer and Gary Goldman
Music :
- Sylvester Levay
Cast :
- Ens. Dale Hawkins: Charlie Sheen
Lt. James Curran: Michael Biehn
Claire Varrens: Joanne Whalley
Dane: Bill Paxton
Leary: Rick Rossovich
Rexer: Cyril O’Reilly
Chief Billy Graham: Dennis Haysbert
The Navy SEALS are so-called because in 1962 President John F. Kennedy created a group of elite men to fight the enemy when they were on their own turf and to engage across SEa, Air and Land.
The plot, such that it is, sees a bunch of gung-ho, gun-toting, one-liner-delivering men, led by Ens. Dale Hawkins (Charlie Sheen), Lt. James Curran (Michael Biehn) and Dane (Bill Paxton) rescuing U.S. aircraft crew from Middle Eastern terrorists who have hold of big bad Stinger missiles. Ex-wife of Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, plays journalist-cum-love-interest Claire Varrens.
The information on the back of the box is confusing: “1.85:1, Widescreen Version, 4:3”, when it’s only one of the three. It’s widescreen, so the “4:3” must denote ‘non-anamorphic’ for some reason, while the ratio isn’t 1.85:1, it’s 1.66:1, so if zoomed in to fill a widescreen TV you’ll lose some picture at the top and bottom. It also has a constant level of grain, the usual flecks on the print and it shimmers at times. So, not what it could have been then. The average bitrate is a surprisingly high 8.22Mb/s, not that it appears to provide any benefits, rather like WarGames.
The Dolby Pro Logic sound does what it needs to do, but won’t particularly set your speakers on fire.
Extras :
Chapters : MGM DVDs usually contain 32 chapters… So why does this only have 16? The Region 1 DVD contains 24.
Languages & Subtitles : Dialogue comes in five languages: English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. Subtitles in 12: English and German (both have hard of hearing alternatives), as well as French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese and Polish.
And there’s more… : A 2-minute Trailer and that’s it.
Menu : All the menus are static and silent with no frills.
Overall, this is a piece of entertaining fluff, but it’s a back-catalogue title that’s more suited to a Friday night rental, not a DVD purchase worth £19.99, particularly given the tech.specs and lack of extras.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL 
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.