Command Performance (2009/First Look Blu-ray + DVD)
Picture: B/C+
Sound: B/C+ Extras: C- Film: C-
Dolph Lundgren is back directing and starring in another
one of a cycle of projects that he is getting backing on independently and now
directing on a regular basis. Not that
they are that good, but they can be really bad in an unintentionally funny
way. Command Performance (2009) begins with text reminding us of how in
1991, a hardline communist take over of the Russian Government by former USSR
leaders happened and almost meant that the USSR would continue in some new,
possibly dangerous form. This is true,
but then the film tires to tie this in with its plot and that never works.
Neither does most of the film. Lundgren is a drummer who used to be a killer
and military man who lands up being in the “wrong place at the wrong time” in
one of the worst, silliest take-offs of the Die Hard formula we have seen of late. A carbon copy pop tart singer (Melissa Ann
Smith in the Britney Spears mode) is touring Russia, the two daughters of the
new leader is a fan, they will go as a family and they will be attacked. Needless to say the security is on the weak
side.
Between gruesome/dumb killings, bad fight scenes and the
new gimmick of digital spurting blood, this is a total wreck, the supposed
‘Hard Rock’ music is as bad as the teenier-bopper sugarless bubblegum pop and
it is a silly, long 93 minutes to the end of every cliché we have seen since
the action films of the 1980s. Lundgren
seems to be obsessed with this point long after that time has ended to the
point that he co-wrote this train wreck.
Sad he is just rehashing the old when he could still be capable of
something new.
The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on the
Blu-ray was shot in Super 35mm film and is not great, but not bad. Too bad too many shots look substandard and
we get noise we should not get. However,
that is a huge improvement over the anamorphically enhanced DVD that is weak
and makes the film look cheaper than it is.
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 on the Blu-ray is rich and has some good surrounds,
but dialogue is on the weak side and the limits of the budget affected the
recording in ways you can tell throughout.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 on the DVD has a surprisingly weaker soundfield
and is no match for the TrueHD.
Extras include a trailer and making of featurette, while Midnight adds an audio commentary track
(try not to laugh), Outtakes (you will not laugh), Deleted Scenes and
Storyboards.
- Nicholas Sheffo
