Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		1.5

Direct Contact Blu-ray Movie Review

There goes an hour and a half I'll never get back...

Reviewed by Dustin Somner June 22, 2009

Dolph Lundgren’s acting career began back in 1985 when he played Captain Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. His streak as an action star continued through the early 90’s, with cult films such as Masters of the Universe, The Punisher (not the one starring Thomas Jane) and Universal Soldier. As we’ve seen before, Hollywood is not kind to the aging action star; especially if they have questionnable acting skills in the first place. Just look at the recent filmography of Jean Claude Van Damme, Steven Seagal, or Wesley Snipes, and it will become readily apparent who dominates the straight-to-video market. With that in mind, we’re given Dolph Lundgren’s newest production, which feels just as dated as anything he completed 20 years ago. Name recognition is an amazing thing when it comes to finding continued work, though that appears to be all Lundgren has left going for him. It will be interesting to see how Lundgren holds up in the upcoming Sylvester Stallone helmed release of The Expendables, since his continued involvement in films like Direct Contact will inevitably lead to an abrupt end to his acting career.

Wasting away for nearly a year in a Russian prison, Mike Riggins (Dolph Lundgren) has relied on his training and ability as a US Special Forces operative to endure beatings and intimidation from guards and fellow prisoners. One day, he’s approached by a man claiming to work for the U.S. government, with an offer of his freedom plus $100,000.00 to track down a kidnapped woman being held against her will by a ruthless warlord in Eastern Europe. After negotiating terms, Riggins sets out to free the girl and bring her to the U.S. embassy where she can be reunited with her family. However, things are not entirely as they seem, and it soon becomes apparent that Ana (Gina May) is actually the target of a money-making plot to obtain the millions left to her after the death of her oil baron father. Now it’s up to Riggins to save Ana’s life and bring the conspirators to justice.

I’ll avoid mincing words and just get straight down to the bottom line. This movie is awful. Not awful in a “could have been better” kind of way, but awful in a “I wanted to turn it off after 5 minutes” kind of way. Low production values don’t always translate into a poorly executed film and there are plenty of examples where a director was able to generate box office success out of a shoe-string budget, but Direct Contact doesn’t generate even an ounce of anything I’d deem as positive. As you can tell from the plot description above, the overall story is far from creative and sounds suspiciously close to the generic plotline of countless other B-grade movies. That would be forgiveable if there were other elements to make the production worth our time, but there’s simply nothing of value to take away.

The fight scenes border on comical, as the bad guys demonstrate their toughness by randomly shooting local peasants (for no apparent reason), and apparently took shooting lessons from Dick Cheney. There’s one scene where a sniper fires at Riggins as he walks away from a table, and the bullet hits a waiter standing twenty feet behind him (it made me chuckle, but I doubt that was the intended response). To make matters worse, I counted at least 3 gunbattles where Riggins walks right out into the open with multiple machine guns trained on him, and the only hit he takes is a conveniently placed fleshwound to create a tired set up for a love scene later in the film. Are you starting to catch my drift? Aside from the ridiculous gun battles, we’re given several brawl scenes where Lundgren’s expected to pull out some of his trademark long-legged kicks. I’m not sure if arthritis is setting in, or he was hoping it looks cool to grimace every time you throw a kick or punch, but it appeared downright painful for the guy to fight. Here’s hoping Lungren’s training regimen involves more stretches rather than ab workouts prior to his next “incredible” film.

Rounding out the review, it’s entirely appropriate to briefly touch on the acting in the film. Considering I’ve railed on the story and the action sequences thus far, it won’t be terribly surprising to hear the acting is equally dreadful from start to finish. Several actors have heavy accents, and appear completely untrained in the proper enunciation of the English language. It wouldn’t be a huge detriment if it hadn’t lead to some out-of-place comical moments in the film (I don’t know how the film crew kept a straight face listening to the dialogue). I even began to feel that all of the actors knew how bad the film was going to be, and just tried their hardest to get it over with. As the two main actors, Dolph Lundgren and Gina May exhibit zero chemistry between one another and it’s a little odd to portray the two of them in a romantic fashion when he looks old enough to be her father. I’m also not quite sure how they expect us to believe she’s going to fall for a guy that spends the first half of the movie punching her in the stomach or dragging her around like a ragdoll. If you absolutely must watch the film, be aware this could rank up there with the worst acting you’ve witnessed in years.

Direct Contact Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 26Mbps), Direct Contact offers a mediocre visual experience. Clarity is reasonably good during approximately 80 percent of the film, but wavers into non-distinct territory far too often to earn high marks. Some of the worst-looking scenes take place during vehicle chases, where motion-blurring rears its ugly head. Additionally, you'll notice a number of random shots strewn throughout the production that appear out of focus or slightly blurred. Aside from detail, color saturation is somewhat dull, with yellow and green tones dominating the majority of the runtime. Black levels are reasonably deep, but could have been much better in low-light interior shots, and contrast is less than stellar during scenes that take place indoors, with a noticeable loss of shadow detail in portions of the background. Lastly, there's a significant layer of noticeable grain which creates a noisy effect in several sequences and may bother those with a particular aversion to the peppered look of noise in the background. In the end, Direct Contact demonstrates a few sparks of hope along the way, but fails to generate visuals that rise above its low budget roots.

Direct Contact Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The primary audio offering on the disc is a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix in the native language of English. I'd typically be pleased with the inclusion of a lossless audio track, but this is a perfect example of little to no benefit in making the upgrade. The sound effects are cheesy, the musical score is laughable, and the delivery of dialogue can be downright atrocious. I wasn't entirely sure if I was having trouble making out the lines spoken by several characters because they had awful accents, or because of a muddled recording, but there are several awful dialogue sequences in the film. The effects are marginally better, with several action sequences that spread to the rear soundstage, but the repetitive slapping sound of kicks or punches, coupled with the hilarious sounds created for the engines of the vehicles make the entire experience less and less exciting. In all seriousness, the sport bike Lundgren zips around on during an early chase scene sounds more like a scooter than a motorcycle, and the Hummers driven by the bad guys are given an engine noise that could easily be mistaken for a tractor. On the positive side, there were a couple of impressive explosions that populate the LFE channel, and gunfire is surprisingly crisp and realistic.

In summary, If you're able to set your expectations to match the cheesy nature of the audio experience, you might be able to tolerate the track better than I did.

Direct Contact Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The only extra provided on the disc is a collection of five trailers for other films from First Look Studio (all presented in standard definition).

Direct Contact Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I'd imagine it's no secret by now that I despise this film. If I weren't reviewing the title, I likely would have shut it off within the first 10 to 20 minutes. I'm always one for giving a film a fair shake by sticking it out through the end, but Direct Contact easily earned a spot on my list of films that don't deserve an ounce of respect. With bad acting, a lazy plot and dismal production values, this is one action film that should be avoided at all costs. For any avid Dolph Lundgren fans that feel they might be able to look past the films shortcomings, I'd suggest you consider a rental instead of a purchase, since I doubt you'll ever choose to watch the film again.