Diamond Dogs (2007/Sony DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: C Film: C+
Dolph
Lundgren is back kicking and punching people all over Asia in Diamond Dogs, an Indiana Jones-modeled
romp with less humor and more blood as he eventually goes from a con involving
extreme fighting to looking for an ancient Buddhist artifact. The story is as thin as the air in some of
the high elevations he crosses, but this works for Lundgren enough and you
wonder if he may lowly make some kind of comeback.
His best
work in years of what I have seen, which is more than most, he really gives it
his all and is a little bit of a better actor than I think he has received
credit for and the sense of humor helps.
The fight scenes are better than many we have seen lately, but best of
all, that Lundgren is a more viable action hero than most of the new oafs they
keep pushing on us who have limited talent is the best reason to give this a
look.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image was shot in Super 16mm by Xiaobing Rao
and the image is styled down a bit as color can be dulled, but this still looks
much better than many HD or even 35mm such productions we have suffered through
of late so much so that a Blu-ray version would be interesting. The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix has some good
surrounds and the dialogue is recorded well.
Extras include a making of featurette and two bonus features of slicker
interest. One is the ability to go on
the web and download a digital copy of the film complete with sound in low-def
for portable devises, good until 7/29/08. The other, if you can get it, is a paperboard
slipcase with a 3-D lenticular version of the cover art.
The only
odd thing about it is that Lundgren is so airbrushed, he looks like Heath
Ledger’s cousin!
- Nicholas Sheffo
