6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Houston cop Jack Caine is a not-by-the books police officer investigating the death of several people, including his partner, by a gang called the "White Boys." All the victims seemed to have died of drug overdoses, but Jack thinks that there is something more sinister afoot. His investigation reveals a plot by aliens who use the bodies to extract a chemical that is sold to addicts on their home planet.
Starring: Dolph Lundgren, Brian Benben, Jim Haynie, Michael J. Pollard, Jesse VintSci-Fi | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English, English SDH
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
There’s a lot of talk about the “global drug epidemic”, but Dark Angel takes that idea to extremes by positing a universal drug epidemic. Dark Angel was originally released stateside under the title I Come in Peace, the intentionally ironic statement that is croaked by an incredibly vicious alien who shows up on our troubled little planet and who rather strangely steals a huge supply of heroin that has been spirited out of a police evidence locker. This giant mutant with glassy white eyes and hair that would be the envy of any eighties' rock god then goes on a seemingly inexplicable foray where he seemingly randomly attacks people with a strange device that first injects something into their hearts and then extracts something from their craniums. Meanwhile, rule breaking cop Jack Caine (Dolph Lundgren) has stumbled into the bloody aftermath of the alien’s first attack site—where he (it?) purloined the stash of heroin—to find his partner dead. The two had been arranging a big sting operation that was intended to bring down Victor Manning (Sherman Howard), the local drug kingpin. Instead, Manning had figured out that Jack’s partner was an undercover cop and had dispatched him while Jack was busy stopping a convenience store robbery which had inconveniently broken out next door to where the drug drop was taking place. But after Manning left the premises, the behemoth alien showed up and put the kibosh on Manning’s henchmen. All of them have seriously severed necks, and Jack and nerdy FBI agent Smith (Brian Benben), who has been foisted on him as a putative partner, can’t figure out what could have caused such injuries. They find a weird vibrating disc—kind of like a CD with Parkinson’s Disease—wedged into a subwoofer in the club where all the mayhem has taken place. Jack starts to think that maybe they’re not dealing with just your everyday ordinary drug thief.
Dark Angel is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout! Factory with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is generally a nice looking transfer from Shout!, but it has a couple of small anomalies which may bother some videophiles. While there is absolutely a fine layer of rolling grain throughout this presentation, I was just a little surprised by how minimal it seemed to be at times, especially since so much of this film exploits low light sequences. This is not meant to imply any DNR was applied, since grain is definitely in evidence, but serves only as an observation of something that piqued my curiosity. More problematic are a couple of just flat out soft moments that suddenly crop up, sometimes in the middle of otherwise quite sharp looking sequences, perhaps signs that an older master was utilized. One of these can be seen in the third screenshot (with Lundgren and Betsy Brantley). Aside from these admittedly fairly minor distractions, the rest of this presentation looks very good, with nicely saturated color and good contrast, something which helps this film's tendency toward rather dark or dimly lit scenes. Fine detail is good in close-ups. The BD-50 provides more than enough room for this feature and the minimal special features, and no compression artifacts were in evidence. While this may not be reference quality, it is certainly a major step up from the previously available MOD DVD.
Dark Angel was released theatrically in Ultra Stereo, and this Blu-ray offers both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS- HD Master Audio 2.0 versions of the soundtrack. The 5.1 mix definitely has distinctive channel separation and good surround activity in some of the most hyperkinetic action sequences, but it tends to focus mostly on the front channels. The sound seems fairly widely splayed in the 5.1 mix, with some at times slightly overpowering foley effects and less than pleasing amplitude in the dialogue. Things are much more cohesive in the 2.0 mix, which seems to prioritize dialogue a bit better. Jazz-rock guru Jan Hammer's score sounds great in both versions. Minimal midrange distortion pops up now and again but is not a major distraction.
Dark Angel is just goofy as all get out, at least when it doesn't devolve into Schwarzenegger-lite theatrics. The first half of this film is really artfully structured, providing just enough information to captivate the audience's interest without giving away too many revealing plot details. Unfortunately, the second half of the film tends to lose steam as things get into more of a predictable rut. Lundgren is a surprisingly affable star, incredibly agile in the action sequences and at least decently believable in the emoting department. This Blu-ray features generally very good video and audio and comes with one really worthwhile supplement. Recommended.
Collector's Edition
1988
Slipcover in Original Pressing
1977
Limited Edition to 3000 - SOLD OUT
1985
Limited Edition - 2,000 copies
1983
1989
Roger Corman's Cult Classics | 30th Anniversary Special Edition
1980
1987
Universal Essentials Collection
1953
1964
Warner Archive Collection
1958
Enemy From Space
1957
1959
10th Anniversary Special Edition
2008
1957
1959
1958
1990
1967
40th Anniversary Special Edition
1979
2+5: Missione Hydra
1966