Double Team Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Double Team Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman June 19, 2019

“You look like a carrot with earrings” is the “funniest” line Jean-Claude Van Damme's Jack Paul Quinn -- husband, father, terrorist hunter, and tiger fighter extraordinaire -- can muster when he’s teamed with ex-NBA star Dennis “The Worm” Rodman’s colorfully quaffed and plentifully pierced Yaz in Double Team, Director Tsui Hark’s (Knock Off, also starring Van Damme) insufferable 1997 Action film. Better a carrot with earrings than a rotten tomato with a Belgian, though. The picture is humorously awful in all areas but has matured into something of a cult favorite, anyway, about the only avenue to saving grace for an otherwise laughable farce.

A truck out of Croatia containing plutonium was stolen by a rogue organization run by a man named Stavros (Mickey Rourke). He’s one of the world’s most-wanted criminals and secret agent Jack Paul Quinn (Van Damme) is tasked with retrieving the deadly plutonium before it is sold to the Iraqis. He succeeds in his mission, but Stavros escapes at the expense of his wife and son who are killed in the crossfire. Quinn is granted full retirement, a life away from bullets, bombs, and the business of saving the world. Three years later, he’s enjoying the easy life with his wife Kathryn (Natacha Lindinger) who is pregnant with the couple’s son. But when Quinn learns Stavros is back in the game, he finds himself in harm’s way one more time. When he is critically wounded in the pursuit, he awakens in a secretive resort called “The Colony” for incarcerated secret agents. To save his family, he has no option but to escape the inescapable island prison and team up with a black market arms dealer named Yaz (Rodman) in pursuit of his arch nemesis who seeks revenge on Quinn for his family’s death.

Double Team is a revenge picture, with Rourke’s Stavros’ primary drive shifting from international criminal antics to eventually trying to avenge his son’s death by pitting Quinn against a tiger with his own newborn baby in the middle of a minefield. It’s manufactured absurdity that might prove passable if not for the abysmal acting (the film’s first minutes in particular are an exercise in cringe-worthy line reading of poorly scripted trash) and action that emphasizes splash over purpose. But the film does include a montage featuring Van Damme performing makeshift stretching and strength training routines which involve him dangling off walls and hoisting a bathtub filled with water. The movie is otherwise a flat and floundering horror that is one of the worst in Van Damme’s career, a career that spans a surprisingly diverse range between solid Action movies and absolute rubbish, like this.

Double Team Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Double Team's 1080p transfer isn't bad, but the occasional problem prevents it from ascending to "very good." Random pixelation appears at the 23:36 and 25:31 marks. A couple of stray vertical lines pop up now and then, random pops of dirt and debris interfere at times, and a little edge enhancement makes an appearance here and there. Fortunately, macroblocking is not a major problem, but grain sometimes appears more frozen in place than organically complimentary and natural. But for the most part, the image is fairly healthy. It's suitably film-like, with relatively crisp and well defined details across the board, including skin tones and environments. Colors enjoy sufficient boldness, whether considering Rodman's hair or intense fiery explosions. Blood pops and black levels are decent enough. Skin tones appear fairly accurate. Overall, this is not a poor effort by Mill Creek, but nor is it the peak of catalogue transfers.

Double Team Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Double Team indeed. The front left and right speakers are the only ones engaged via this DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 presentation. Though the track is but a two-channel presentation, but it is surprisingly robust. It takes full advantage of the stage's entire front width in its delivery of high-octane music and its generous amounts of gunfire and vehicle movements that sonically shape Quinn's mission in the opening minutes. An explosion at the 7:48 mark sends flaming power and flying debris across the entire front. Dance beats moment later enter the stage with good depth and detail. Music throughout is nicely defined and presents with a fair feel for heft. Ditto action scenes, which frequently offer a fairly stout feel for full-frontal engagement and surprising depth, even without an accompanying subwoofer channel in support. Dialogue images well to the center. Clarity and prioritization are fine. The track plays larger than its configuration; fans will enjoy it despite the channel limitations.

Double Team Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This Blu-ray release of Double Team contains no supplemental content. The main menu screen contains only a "Play" button and a subtitle toggle. The menu image is a reproduction of the one seen on the Blu-ray case (not the slipcover).

The release is perhaps most notable as being amongst the first in Mill Creek's line of "I Love the 90s" Blu-rays to ship with updated, and more colorful, "Retro VHS" slipcovers. From a base layout perspective, it's similar to Mill Creek's 80s-style slipcovers. Aesthetically, it's more colorful. The front image is at least different than the artwork on the Blu-ray case proper. A sticker proclaiming the film to be an "Action" title is affixed to the front (as if it wasn't obvious already), appearing just to the left of Dennis Rodman's green hair. The front also features Van Damme holding up a pistol. Mill Creek's "I love 90s" labeling appears top-left. The box includes a Los Angeles Times quote at the bottom. The VHS tape, which is sliding out the right side of the case, is a bright green color and the window that covers the tape is purple. Very Yaz-like. It looks fresh and relatively new. There's no real handling wear on it or any of the stickers, including the title sticker in the middle or either of the two off to the sides: a "to play is human, to rewind is divine!" notice on the left and a generic looking black-on-white "R" rating sticker slapped over the tape window. The right hand spine continues the illusion with the film's title, in blue and green colors, appearing on a white sticker along the VHS tape's spine, humorously with a Blu-ray logo at the bottom. Of note is that the little tab that allows or prevents recording over a tape is intact. The bottom half of the tape is blue in color rather than green. The slip's rear side shows the bottom (blue) of the VHS tape sticking out from a fairly standard back cover layout that caters to the Blu-ray, not a VHS box.

Double Team Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Double Team's climax involves a Coca-Cola vending machine saving the day, allowing four characters to survive raging fires and massive explosions unscathed merely by hiding behind it (with Yaz propping it, to be fair), all while other machines are blown away. Coke is it! It's a ridiculous climax to a stupendously awful movie that's as pointless as it is brainless. The movie does have value as a party flick but it's not exactly one for cinephiles to absorb with any kind of serious attention given. Mill Creek's featureless Blu-ray is up to the challenge of delivering a satisfactory viewing experience, offering surprisingly decent video and solid two-channel lossless audio. For fans only.