Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Sudden Death Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 22, 2013

Peter Hyams' "Sudden Death" (1995) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Studios-UK. There are no supplemental features on this release. In English, with optional English SDH, French, Spanish, Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Japanese, German, Italian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Before the game

In the film's short prologue, fireman Darren McCord (Jean-Claude Van Damme, Cyborg, Nowhere to Run) gets trapped in a burning house while trying to save a little girl. Before help arrives, the girl dies in his arms. A long close-up then shows McCord looking devastated.

Some years later. McCord is now a security guard in a sports arena in Pittsburgh. He is also the divorced father of a beautiful girl and a boy who loves hockey. And today is a big day for hockey fans -- the Pittsburgh Penguins are hosting the Chicago Blackhawks in the decisive Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. McCord has two tickets for the game, one for his daughter, and one for his son. He is also going to see the game while working inside the arena.

Also attending the big game is the Vice President of the United States (Raymond J. Barry, Year of the Dragon, Training Day). He is in the VIP suite together with Pittsburgh’s mayor and a group of bodyguards.

A terrorist named Joshua Foss (Powers Boothe, Southern Comfort, Tombstone) and his heavily armed men enter the arena and quietly begin killing the bodyguards monitoring the area. Then they reach the VIP suite using the elevator in the arena’s underground kitchen. After the Vice President’s personal bodyguards are killed, Foss announces that he will blow up the building unless the U.S. government transfers a billion dollars to his multiple private accounts before the end of the game.

Meanwhile, McCord’s daughter disappears while talking to one of Pittsburgh’s mascots. While looking for her, he encounters Foss’ men.

Director Peter Hyams’ Sudden Death was obviously inspired by the first two Die Hard films, but it has an identity of its own. Not necessarily a convincing one, but the film definitely tries hard not to rehash old clichés.

Van Damme looks handsome and fit. Naturally, he is easy to like as the divorced father who has to become a hero to prevent a big tragedy. Admittedly, there are a couple of sequences where he tries too hard to impress -- such as the one where he decides to help the struggling Penguins -- but at least this time around the words he utters make sense.

Boothe is very good as the maniac who tries to manipulate the U.S. government. He is appropriately mean and looks determined to make a point if necessary. His dismissive statements inside the VIP suite belong to some of the best sequences in the entire film. Unfortunately, Barry is never believable as the Vice President.

The film’s pacing remains steady. The action sequences are all well choreographed and the transitions between them never seem to drag. There is also footage with some real hockey players that is carefully used to create the type of atmosphere a real Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final is likely to have.

Sudden Death was directed and lensed by Hyams. A year before completing Sudden Death, Hyams collaborated with Van Damme on the futuristic action thriller Timecop.

Sudden Death Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with VC-1 and granted a 1080p transfer, Peter Hyams' Sudden Death arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Universal Studios-UK.

The disc's main menu can be set in one of the following languages: Japanese, English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Spanish (Latin America), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Swedish, Thai, Turkish, and Mandarin.

The high-definition transfer has been struck from an older master, one that Universal Studios most likely used for previous DVD releases of Sudden Death. As it was the case with Hard Target, there are traces of light filtering corrections that affect clarity and image depth, though the overwhelming majority of them are not too obvious. There are, however, stronger sharpening adjustments on this high-definition transfer (see screencapture 6). Generally speaking, contrast levels are stable. Color reproduction is decent, but there are parts of the film where it is easy to see that select primaries and supporting nuances are not as healthy as they should be (see screencaptures #7 and 9). There are no large debris, cuts, damage marks, stains, or warps to report in this review. To sum it all up, Sudden Death look slightly better than Hard Target, but it is easy to tell that the film could far more convincing on Blu-ray. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Sudden Death Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are eight standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit), French DTS 5.1, German DTS 5.1, Spanish DTS 5.1, Japanese DTS 5.1, Portuguese (Brazil) DTS 5.1, Italian DTS 2.0, Spanish (Latin America) DTS 2.0. For the record, Universal Studios has included optional English SDH, French, Spanish, Spanish (Latin America), Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Japanese, German, Italian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Korean, Mandarin (Traditional), Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish subtitles for the main feature.

The lossless English track is very strong. It has a very good range of nuanced dynamics, and overall intensity during the action scenes is terrific. John Debney's music score, in particular, benefits a great deal during the final third of the film. The dialog is stable, clean, and easy to follow. For the record, there are no pops, audio dropouts, or distortions to report in this review.

Sudden Death Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most unfortunately, there are no supplemental features to be found on this Blu-ray release.

Sudden Death Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sudden Death looks marginally better than Hard Target, but this is yet another catalog Blu-ray release from Universal Studios without any supplemental features. If you wish to replace your DVD release of Sudden Death, look around and see if you could find the Blu-ray release on sale. If you can't, RENT IT.