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Dom Robinson reviews

Raw Deal

Distributed by

Cat.no: 74321 671649
Cert: 18
Running time: 100 minutes
Year: 1986
Pressing: 1999
Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
Chapters: 29 plus extras
Sound: Linear PCM Stereo
Languages: English
Subtitles: None
Pan-and-scan: 4:3 (original ratio: 2.35:1 J-D-C Scope)
16:9-enhanced: No
Macrovision: No
Disc Format: DVD 5
Price: £15.99
Extras : Scene index, trailer, filmography, biography, stills gallery

Director:

City of Industry, The Dogs of War, Next of Kin, Widows Peak, TV: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Producer:

Martha Schumacher

Screenplay:

Gary M. Devore and Norman Wexler

Music:

Cinemascore

Cast:

Mark Kaminsky: Arnold Schwarzenegger

Batman and Robin, Dave, Eraser, I Am Legend, Jingle All The Way, Junior, Kindergarten Cop, The Last Action Hero, On Wings As Eagles, Red Heat, Terminator 1 & 2, Total Recall, True Lies, Twins

Monique: Kathryn Harrold

TV: Chicago Hope

Patrovita: Sam Wanamaker

Always Remember I Love You, Baby Boom, Guilty By Suspicion, Private Benjamin, Superman 4: Quest for Peace, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines

Max: Robert Davi

Blind Justice, Cops and Robbersons, Die Hard, Licence To Kill, Showgirls

Lamanski: Steven Hill

TV: Mission: Impossible, Street Hawk

Raw Deal stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as ex-FBI agent Mark Kaminsky who was booted out for being too violent and brutal. Now they need his help as three other agents, guarding a key witness whose testimony will end the Chicago crime organisation, are all slaughtered in an early morning raid. If Kaminsky can go in and penitrate the organisation, run by Luigi Patrovita (Sam Wanamaker), from inside and destroy it, he can have his old job back.

What then proceeds is a part-buddy-buddy flick with Arnie and Kathryn Harrold as Monique, a woman he met whilst at the casino, in which they either get on famously or go their separate ways, despite the fact that he's married and his wife isn't keen on him getting so involved again since they've spent the last five years in exile as a result of him being fired from the job. At other times he's seen schmoozing with chief villain Patrovita - who gives off some charm as he goes about his business - and sidekick Max (Robert Davi, probably best known as the baddie in Licence To Kill). Then throw in a few punch-ups and shoot-outs to cover up the gaps in the script.

Apart from the film itself, the major disappointment is the picture. Like all other BMG releases to date it's not anamorphic, but then unlike all the others the reason for this is because it's a straight-forward pan-and-scan print, cropping approximately 43% of the screen image off the sides. Add to this the fact that the background contains a mixture of occasional artifacts, plenty of grain and the usual dropouts that show up in a print in severe need of a re-mastering and you really have nothing to write home about.

Even the American region 1 release has a 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen print if nothing else. On a widescreen TV, the picture can be zoomed into 14:9 without too many ill effects even if this is cropping the content further. On the plus side, the average bitrate is a good 5.78Mb/s, regularly peaking over 7Mb/s.

The sound is in stereo, but is just a Linear PCM soundtrack and not the Dolby Digital 2.0 that graces the American DVD release. About the best thing that can be said is that it can be loud, during gunfire, without distorting. The score is indicative of a typical 80's cheesy action movie.

Extras :

Chapters :

29 chapters cover the 100 minutes, which is a very good number for a film that has little to offer. There is no trailer though.

Languages & Subtitles :

The film is in English only, with no subtitles. This seems to be the case for all of the current batch of BMG releases.

Biography & Filmography :

Brief notes about Arnie's career plus a filmography for him alone.

Stills Gallery :

5 black-and-white stills from the film can be viewed together or one at a time.

Menu :

The menu works fine but is silent and static with a picture of Arnie gracing the main menu. You can't skip past the copyright info at the start, unless you've already bookmarked a scene in which you can instantly access that part.

For some reason, there's no "Play Movie" option. If you've already been viewing part of the film and have come back to the main menu, "Back to video" will take you back, but to start the film from scratch, you'll either need to select the first scene yourself, or reboot the DVD altogether since it will begin after the copyright info has been displayed.

Thirteen years on, this film appears as nothing more than predictable and has been surpassed many times since. Normally, I'd suggest this is the type of film that would find its audience as a low-rent Friday-night actioner, mainly watched by a bunch of lads staggering back from the pub, looking for a bit of entertainment when there's nothing on the TV, but even a few beers wouldn't improve the lame script and acting. I have to mention that the shoot-outs feature men dying in the most unrealistic of ways, each one trying to out-overact the other as they spin about, but the award clearly goes to the puppet who 'falls' into the boulder-crusher at the building site. Yes, this is a film that even Channel 5 would think twice about screening.

I have to ask though, why are we getting non-anamorphic widescreen transfers from BMG when it's standard for them to release 16:9-enhanced anamorphic versions in Germany, also with plenty of extras ?

Let's presume you're a die-hard fan of Arnie films and have to have everything he's ever made in your collection. Should you still buy this on DVD? All you'll gain over the £5.99 pan-and-scan video release is a few notes about Arnie you'll already know about and a handful of still pictures, so the full asking price of £15.99 seems rather a raw deal...

FILM	 		: ½
PICTURE QUALITY 	: *
SOUND QUALITY		: **
EXTRAS			: **
-------------------------------
OVERALL			: *½

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1999.

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