Raptor Island (2004)
Picture: C Sound:
C+ Extras: D Telefilm: D
When The
Sci-Fi Channel first launched some time ago, it was one of the best cable
channels on TV. The people running the
channel loved good programming, broadcast ever TV show they could get their
hands on (especially those that did not last long, an excellent idea) and came
up with other surprises. Those were the
good old days.
In recent
years, the station has become a waste bin of colorless filler programming,
mostly new and almost always awful. The
heart and soul of the network is gone and has been replaced with bombs like
Stanley Issacs’ Raptor Island (2004),
a military operation TV movie that quickly turns into a dinosaur flick. Lorenzo Lamas and Steven Bauer lead the cast
of unknowns and are among the cut-rate Starship Troopers without ships or many
troops.
Except
for yo9ung children, the dinosaur thing is more played out than an episode of Renegade, yet here we are with another
awful production featuring 88 minutes (minus commercials fort this disc, though
some of them are probably more entertaining) where you are rooting for the
dinosaurs to eat the cast so this will all end.
It feels like many hours longer and is best skipped.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image was shot in some kind of High Definition
and has a softer appearance than usual, with micro-digititis throughout. Color is poor and visual effects are some of
the worst we have seen in a while. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has no surrounds and is not that well mixed to begin
with. Dialogue is not as clear as it
should be for a recent production and the combination probably looked better
analog on the channel. There are no
extras and for good reason.
- Nicholas Sheffo
