Against All Odds: Collector's Edition
Columbia / 1984 / 117 Mins / Rated M15+

This Review is sponsored by 
Columbia/Tri-Star Home Video


MOVIE
Maybe it's me or maybe it's because I do not like remakes but I did not like this movie.

Against All Odds is the rambling story of Terry Brogan (Jeff Bridges). He is a Gridiron player who on his off time does a little detective work. After he is dumped as a player he takes on a job from his friend Jake Wise (James Woods). See Jake's girlfriend stabbed him and then ran off with 50K. He hires Terry to find her.

Of course Terry goes off and finds the girlfriend, Jessie Wyler (Rachel Ward). The obvious happens and they fall in love. Later they find that Jake has sent Terry's old friend on the football team to get her back, they struggle and Terry's friend ends up dead. Terry covers up the murder and Jessie flees.

Some time passes and Terry finds himself back in L.A. and Jessie is back with Jake. But things are not the same for Terry and he realizes that something is amiss and he must get himself out of the problem before it's too late. 

VIDEO
A movie that was made in 1984 and looks pristine. Even better than some of today's movies on DVD. The picture is very sharp and colors are well rendered, shadow detail was also superb.

There were no MPEG artifacts present. The original print did have some grain in it but this is expected in a movie of this age.

Against All Odds is framed at 1:85:1 and is 16:9 enhanced.

This is an RSDL disc. The change occurs at 84:58.

AUDIO

An interesting soundtrack set on this disc. There is an English Quad Surround format, Italian Stereo & 3 Mono soundtracks in French, German & Spanish. I listened to the Quad Surround track.

This is an interesting track with 4 channels of sound. There is a good use of the surrounds although they are not separated. There is no .1 channel use. This soundtrack is quite effective for this movie.

The center channel was clear and easy to listen to.

EXTRAS
A great selection of extras.

Extras Include:
Theatrical Trailer:
4:3 trailer of average quality.

2 Feature Length Directors Commentaries: There are 2 commentary tracks on this disc, 1 with the director and writer and the other with the director and main cast.

Deleted Scenes: 7 scenes taken out of the movie that you can play with or without directors commentary.

Music Videos: 2 music videos. One by Phil Collins and the other by Kid Creole & the coconuts. Phil sings the Oscar winning "Take A Look At Me Now" and Kid Creole beat out My Male Curiosity.

Subtitles Include:
Closed Captioned, French, Italian, Greek, German, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Hindi, Turkish, Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Icelandic, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Hebrew, Spanish

FINAL THOUGHTS
Boring movie, good video, great extras.

16:9 ENHANCEMENT DISC RATING

VIDEO:
AUDIO:
EXTRAS:
PLOT:
OVERALL:

REVIEW EQUIPMENT

Display: 48" Sony RPTV.
DVD Player:
Panasonic A350 Player using S-Video Cables.
Receiver:
Pioneer VSX-D508 Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround.
Speakers:
Accusound speaker system.

Copyright © 2000 by [Roger Ward].
Revised: 24 May 2000 14:56:44 +1100 .

DVD INFORMATION
Region Coding: Region 4
No of Discs: 1
OFLC Rating M15+
Running Time: 117 minutes
Case Type: Brackley Case
Release Date: 14/2/2000
Catalog Number: D10337
List Price: 34.95
Distributor: Columbia/Tri-Star
DISC SPECIFICATIONS
Disc Format: PAL
Disc Type: Label Only
Disc Format: SS-RSDL
Chapters: 28
Macrovision: Yes
Manufacturer: WAMO
VIDEO SPECIFICATIONS
Aspect Ratio: 1:85:1
Anamorphic: Yes
Film Format: 35mm
SOUND SPECIFICATIONS
Dolby Digital:

1.0

DTS: None
PCM Stereo: Yes
Other: Quad Surround
Languages:




English
Italian
French
German
Spanish
Subtitles: Yes
SPECIAL FEATURES
Audio Commentary: Yes (2)
Theatrical Trailer: Yes
Teaser Trailer: No
TV Spots: No
Dolby Trailer: No
Documentary: No
Cast & Crew Bios: Yes
Deleted Scenes: Yes (7)
Music Videos: Yes (2)
DVD Rom Content: No
Collectable Booklet: No
Scene Access: Yes
Animated Menus: No
Production Notes: No
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