Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

The Final Option Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov March 10, 2022

Ian Sharp's "Who Dares Wins" a.k.a. "The Final Option" (1982) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the disc include an archival audio commentary with producer Euan Lloyd and director Ian Sharp; the documentary feature "The Last of the Gentleman Producers"; and vintage trailers. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

The pros

The main character in Who Dares Wins, Peter Skellen (Lewis Collins, Der Commander), is a man who loves his country. He is also a good husband and father, as well as a member of the SAS, the British Special Air Services. Peter has an outstanding record, which is why his superiors have a great deal of respect for him.

When one of Peter’s comrades is assassinated by a radical group of leftists, he is immediately ordered to infiltrate it. Peter quickly approaches the female leader of the group, Frankie Leith (Judy Davis, Children of the Revolution), and becomes her lover. He moves in her lavish apartment and soon after is given a key position in the group.

Things get complicated when Peter discovers that the leftists are getting ready to kidnap a number of political leaders and dignitaries, and demand that the British government nukes an area of Scotland for the world to see and finally realize that in a nuclear war there would be no winners. Peter begins forwarding crucial information about the group's preparations to his superiors, but is quickly exposed by one of Frankie’s ex-lovers. Nevertheless, she decides to keep him alive and use his SAS expertise when negotiations with the British government begin.

Soon after, Frankie's men take over the U.S. Embassy and capture a number of important guests who have gathered to celebrate a special event. Peter is also there. The leftists announce their demands and negotiations begin. A couple of hours later, the SAS raids the U.S. Embassy and, with Peter's invaluable assistance, free the hostages.

Ian Sharp’s Who Dares Wins was inspired by the notorious besieging of the Iranian Embassy in London in May, 1980 and its focus is solely on the SAS and the mechanics of its tactical operations. Rather predictably, its narrative is fairly simple and free of surprising twists.

There are, however, a number of really awkward political statements in this film that could potentially surprise some viewers. The more prominent ones emerge during the second half of the film and address the U.S. and British foreign policies, as well as political activism in general. Practically all of them, however, feel extremely dated.

Collins, who rose to popularity with the British TV series The Professionals and at one point was amongst the prime candidates to play James Bond, looks decent as an undercover SAS agent, but his lines could have been a lot better. Predictably, he is at his best during the final twenty or so minutes, where he rarely speaks.

Davis looks fantastic and is at ease with her lines. The sequence where she delivers her revolutionary speech in front of the dignitaries at the U.S. Embassy is amongst the best in the film. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about her comrades, as they usually look and sound as if they are auditioning for an upcoming project.

The directing is a mixed bag. Most of the action footage for instance is quite well done, but the leftist concert with the planned provocations looks utterly ridiculous and seriously hurts the film's credibility. Surprisingly, the music score, featuring original tunes by Jerry and Marc Donahue, is very good.

Note: In the United States, Who Dares Wins has previously been released on VHS under the alternative title The Final Option. To the best of my knowledge, it was never made available on DVD.

The Final Option Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Final Option arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

More than a decade ago, we reviewed this Region-B release from Arrow Video, which was sourced from a pretty old master and introduced the film as Who Dares Wins. This recent release is sourced from a different but again older master that introduces the film as The Final Option.

The technical presentation has a lot in common with the technical presentations of from the recent rerelease of the F/X and F/X2 films. What this means is that it reveals various obvious limitations that give the entire film a dated appearance with prominent video-esque qualities. For example, the dynamic range of the visuals is frequently below average and as a result very large parts of the film can look quite dark and flat. Indoor and nighttime visuals, in particular, can look quite problematic on a larger screen because the grain begins to collapse and evolves into noisy mush. Rather predictably, shadow definition begins to suffer as well, so most fine nuances are lost (see example in screencaptures #4, 15, and 17). The good news is that density levels can gravitate around acceptable, which means that there is still some pleasing detail, occasionally even depth. Image stability is good, too. Unfortunately, color reproduction isn't convincing because neither the primaries nor the supporting nuances appear properly saturated and balanced. A few blemishes and dark spots can be seen, but there are no distracting large 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).

The Final Option 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 lossless track is solid and very healthy. To be honest, I did not encounter any issues or traces of ageing anomalies to report in our review. I thought that dynamic balance was very solid as well, so I am unsure if there is any room for meaningful optimizations. At best, I would say that a new remix could introduce some cosmetic rebalancing adjustments.

The Final Option Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer One - a vintage trailer for Who Dares Wins, which crops the film to 2.35:1. In English, not subtitled. (3 min).

• Trailer Two - a vintage trailer for The Final Option in the proper 1.85:1 ratio. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• The Last of the Gentlemen Producers: The Life and Works of Euan Lloyd - this archival program offers an in-depth look at the life and legacy of producer the legendary producer Euan Lloyd. Included in it are clips from interviews with Roger Moore, Ingrid Pitt, Kenneth Griffith, and John Glen, amongst others. In English, not subtitled. (39 min).

• Commentary - this archival audio commentary was recorded by producer Euan Lloyd and director Ian Sharp. It offers a wealth of information about the production history of Who Dares Wins, the events that inspired it, its message and characters. Mr. Lloyd's comments, in particular, are outstanding. (The discussion about the real attack on the Iranian Embassy in 1980 are particularly interesting).

The Final Option Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I have often wondered whether the success of The Professionals effectively destroyed any chances Lewis Collins might have had of becoming a legit James Bond contender. I suspect that the macho personality he conveyed in the TV series convinced some very important people that he would not have been able to evolve into the iconic spy in an appropriately classy manner, which was a huge error of judgement because Collins undoubtedly would have been a better fit for the part than Timothy Dalton. Watch how Collins seduces Judy Davis' terrorist and you will realize that he would have been an incredibly confident and impressive James Bond, quite possibly one of the best. Anyhow. Even though The Final Option looks pretty dated now, I enjoy it quite a lot. Kino Lorber's release is sourced from a shaky old master, but back in the days this film did not even get a proper North American DVD release, so if you wish to own a copy of it in your library, I suggest you consider grabbing the Blu-ray release. RECOMMENDED.