6.3 | / 10 |
Users | 3.9 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.2 |
The Navy's elite SEAL (Sea, Air and Land) squad is made up of the best of the best: supreme warriors who take on dangerous missions no other fighting force would dare attempt. Sent to rescue the crew of a U.S. aircraft held hostage by mideast terrorists, the SEALs know that their skills will be put to the test. But when they discover that the terrorists have seized the plane's arsenal of deadly Stinger missiles, they're thrust onto the frontlines of the battle of a lifetime.
Starring: Charlie Sheen, Michael Biehn, Joanne Whalley, Rick Rossovich, Cyril O'ReillyAction | 100% |
War | 45% |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-2
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
French: Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
English SDH, Spanish, Cantonese, Korean
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
With you guys it's always bad timing.
More than any poster, more than its star power, more than any trailer, more certainly than
word-of-mouth, Navy Seals' most memorable "promotion" comes from a line in Kevin
Smith's Clerks as a video store patron expresses his excitement at finding a copy of the
("intellectually devoid") film
on the shelf. Navy Seals, by extension, is best known as a punch line in a far superior
movie, but that doesn't mean that it lacks as a standalone Action offering. Sure, it's
far-fetched,
predictable, clichéd, and probably the butt of more than a few jokes by America's real SEALs, but as
a straight
genre picture with no real purpose other than sheer brain-dead entertainment, it's not a bad way to
spend two hours.
Whatcha gonna do when they come for you?
Navy Seals swims onto Blu-ray with a 1080p, MPEG-2 encoded, 1.85:1-framed transfer. While this isn't a top-notch, reference-grade transfer, there's no single egregious problem, either. There's some blatant telecine wobble over the opening credits, and grain seems to come and go as it pleases, but there's nothing too terribly bad to report with this one. Fine detail is adequate throughout, though close-up shots of human faces reveal little texture and a somewhat smooth appearance. The best detail comes in the final act in Beirut. The war-torn city lacks color, consisting of varied shades of gray and all obscured by smoke, but the rubble on the ground and damaged building façades tend to impress. Navy Seals looks consistently flat throughout. Black levels are nice and dark, and flesh tones never waver too far towards an unnatural shade. A watchable but underwhelming transfer, Navy Seals looks fine for a bargain basement catalogue Blu-ray release.
Navy Seals' DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless soundtrack fares a bit better than the video presentation. Dialogue, though usually delivered with nary a hiccup, once or twice becomes garbled underneath overzealous music and sound effects. The score plays neatly and without room for complaint throughout. Ambience neither wholly impresses nor completely disappoints; an early beachside scene features gentle waves rolling across the front of the soundstage, and at several other junctures throughout the track picks up a fair sense of environmental immersion. Gunfire, too, is delivered crisply. Ricochets bounce around the soundstage and shell casings rattle around on the floor to decent effect. The highlight, however, comes from several shots of a .50 caliber sniper rifle that pack a fair bit of heft and liven up the excitement another notch. The surround speakers come alive during several firefights with gunshots cracking and explosions rocking the listening area from all directions. Navy Seals is certainly not the end-all, be-all of Action movie lossless soundtracks, but longtime fans should appreciate the increased oomph and presence the DTS track provides.
Navy Seals' Blu-ray disc contains only the film's theatrical trailer (1:54) and additional previews for The Terminator, Windtalkers, and Mad Max. Disc two, a standard-definition DVD release of Navy Seals, also features the film's trailer but no additional extras.
The butt of a popular culture joke, bathed in cliché, populated by stereotypes, and overly long, Navy Seals survives a long list of negatives and remains a halfway decent genre picture that's still entertaining at almost 20 years old. It's not Die Hard but it doesn't have to be; as a mid-level Action movie it does its job well enough and while no one aspect of the movie stands out, nothing really makes it look atrociously bad, either. MGM's Blu-ray title is technically sound but sadly lacks in the supplemental section. Fans get a standard definition DVD copy free of charge to go along with the photoshopped cover art that's a far cry from the nice looking original poster art. Recommended for fans considering the disc's bargain-basement price point.
1986
Forces spéciales
2011
2017
1985
1988
2018
2012
2013
2018
2009
2017
2014
Director's Cut
2005
Rambo
1982
2012
2006
2002
1992
4K Restoration
1984
2006