Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.0

ffolkes Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 8, 2019

Andrew V. McLaglen's "North Sea Hijack" a.k.a. "ffolkes" (1980) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include a vintage trailer for the film and an exclusive new audio commentary by critics Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

Their man

It would have been very easy to explain Roger Moore’s appearance in Andrew V. McLaglen’s North Sea Hijack (also distributed under the alternative title ffolkes) if a year earlier the legendary actor had not played Agent 007 in Moonraker. And it would have been even easier to do so if he had not done the same in The Spy Who Loved Me a couple of years before Moonraker. And without having his name attached to The Man With the Golden Gun and Live and Let Die it would have been plain as day that Moore was just desperate to get noticed and get paid, which is why he would have teamed up with McLanglen. But in 1980, when North Sea Hijack was released, Moore was neither a nobody nor struggling to make ends meet, and yet for some reason he decided to do the film. It was a very odd, simply impossible to rationalize decision because North Sea Hijack is an awful film and the character that Moore plays might be the worst in his entire body of work. This isn’t an exaggeration. The film is a genuine stinker and does to Moore’s reputation what Battlefield Earth did to John Travolta’s in the early 2000.

When a group of international terrorists take over two massive oil rigs that are operated by the British government and declare that they will blow them up unless they are paid a huge amount of money, the prime minister (Faith Brook) holds an emergency cabinet meeting and one of her trusted advisors convinces her that the only man that can figure out a way out of the mess is Ffolkes (Moore). Shortly after, Admiral Brinsden (James Mason) travels to a remote area where Ffolkes and his men are training hard to stay fit and convinces him to do the job. In a matter of hours, Ffolkes then delivers a plan that would free the rigs from the terrorists and help the prime minister avoid a massive blow to her public image. Not too long after that, however, Admiral Brinsden becomes seriously concerned with Ffolkes’ working methods and dependence on alcohol.

The amount of utterly ludicrous and frankly flat-out amateurish material in North Sea Hijack is staggering, which is a real shame because the talent that was gathered for it is rather impressive. Consider this: The character that Moore plays is an unapologetic alcoholic who hates women and is proud of it but loves kittens and does a lot of knitting whenever he wishes to gather his thoughts. To make him appear even more idiotic, however, the script demands that he also fires off macho lines as often as possible and in a way that basically transforms his entire mission into a giant parody. But the people around him behave as if he is the most rational human being to ever put on a uniform, so the more flamboyant he becomes, the more convinced they become that they have the right man for the job.

Now consider this: The leader of the terrorists (Anthony Perkins) is another awful character that is out of his element as well. He is a psychopath with incredible instincts but awful strategist that cannot deconstruct properly a single risky situation. (Needless to say, he looks suspicious as a leader from the get-go). So, to impose and maintain his authority over everyone else, he does his best to look and sound scary. In other words, it is the reversed setting in which Ffolkes is left to impress, with this ‘scary’ terrorist doing just as much awful posturing to impress.

The long buildup and laughably short finale are just a mixture of various meaningless exchanges and occasional shootouts. Characters are simply wandering around the rigs and sporadically getting involved in pointless confrontations whose one and only purpose is to prolong the inevitable, and when eventually Ffolkes faces off his main nemesis, it all ends in a matter of seconds. Indeed, an instantly forgettable film.

ffolkes Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, North Sea Hijack arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from an old master that was supplied by Universal Pictures. Unfortunately, it has all of the shortcomings that we have come to expect from such masters that emerge from the studio's vaults. Indeed, the entire film has a very harsh digital appearance that has destabilized all of the key native qualities of the original cinematography. Clarity, depth, and delineation are very problematic, and on a large screen poor fluidity become a serious issue as well. Most fine nuance are essentially lost, so indoor and darker footage can especially problematic. Colors are stable and some of the supporting nuances are quite good, but the digital edge that the visuals exhibit has an effect on color balance as well. (In a lot of the darker footage, the blacks become very smeary and produce crushing effects). There are no distracting large debris, cuts, damage marks, warped or torn frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

ffolkes Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The audio is solid. It is clean, stable, and with a very nice range of dynamics. The action footage actually sounds really nice and makes it easy to tell that the film was probably done with a nice budget. The dialog is clear and very easy to follow. I did not detect any balance issues.

ffolkes Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary - film critics Howard S. Berger, Steve Mitchell and Nathaniel Thompson produce another very nice commentary with plenty of factual information about North Sea Hijack, its style and tone, and the era in which it emerged. I like the commentaries that these guys do quite a lot because they view and place these older genre films in the proper context, which is why their observations are typically spot on. The commentary was recorded exclusively for Kino Lorber.

• Trailer - a vintage trailer for North Sea Hijack. In English, not subtitled. (3 min, 480/60i).

• Additional Trailers - additional trailers for the following titles from Kino Lorber's catalog:
  
  1. Juggernaut
  2. When Eight Bells Toll
  3. The Man Who Haunted Himself
  4. Gold
  5. Street People
  6. The Naked Face

• Cover - reversible cover with vintage poster art.

ffolkes Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

North Sea Hijack is one of the worst films that you can find in Roger Moore's body of work. It is very poorly conceived, and Moore and the rest of his famous colleagues are completely wasted in it. I was barely able to finish it. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from an old and quite problematic master that was supplied by Universal Pictures, so if you have been planning to pick it up, my advice is to consider a rental first.