2002 (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

The GEN-X guys team up once again for a supernatural sci-fi thriller!

TITLE: 2002

CAST: Nicholas Tse, Stephen Fung, Sam Lee, Daniel Graham and more.

DIRECTED BY: Wilson Yip

DURATION: 97 minutes

COMPANY:  Golden Harvest DVD version with Burned in English subtitles (All Region)

Special Unit “2002″ is a designated task force of SPI (Spirit & Paranormal Investigation) in the law enforcement department, ridding the human world of evil deeds of haunting spirits via an exeution team comprised of a man and a ghost. Being a psychic, TIDE (Nicholas Tse) is joined by SAM (Sam Lee) to the cause of law enforcement, but SAM’s time for reincarnation is approaching. TIDE is learning that WIND (Stephen Fung), a human being with the psychic power of supernatural vision, is destined to be..?

After watching “2002″, the first thing that came into my mind was “Silent Mobius” meets “Blade” meets “Men in Black”.

The plot is about a ghost hunter named “TIDE” of the special unit “2002″, a task force of SPI (Spirit and Paranormal Investigation). Tide believes he is cursed and that anyone close to him will die. Thus he has no friends and he can’t have a girlfriend. He teams up with a ghost named SAM (Sam Lee) who helps him out but since reincarnation is approaching, it is time for TIDE to find a new partner and so he finds WIND. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to WIND…to be a partner of TIDE, one will have to be dead.

The concept of cool ghostbusters or spirit hunters is pretty nice. The movie has nice special effects and really awesome fight scenes but the problem with the movie is that it tries to be serious and it tries to be humorous (like a manga). Although it’s nice to have the humor, for a movie like this…sometimes the humor seemed a bit out of place.

There are some parts of this movie that may confuse the viewer as well, so pay attention to the movie. A bright spot to this movie is to see the three guys from GEN-X Cops together again. Although their time together is limited, it was still pretty fun. Also, to see model Daniel Graham in this movie was pretty awesome and she did ok for her supporting role.

As for the DVD, The Golden Harvest DVD features a making of (Chinese subtitles only) that lasts around 10 minutes, a trailer and a character guide.

All in all a pretty solid DVD that was pretty fun to watch. Although it deals with the supernatural, there are no sick parts in the movie.

Check it out!

 

THE ROCK – THE CRITERION COLLECTION #108 (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

TITLE: THE ROCK: THE CRITERION COLLECTION #108

CAST: Sean Connery, Nicholas Cage, Ed Harris, John Spencer, David Morse, Vanessa Marcil and more

DIRECTED BY: Michael Bay

WRITTEN BY: David Weisberg, Douglas Cook

TYPE OF MOVIE: Thriller, Action

DURATION: 135 minutes

A group of renegade marine commandos seizes a stockpile of chemical weapons and takes over Alcatraz, with 81 tourists as hostages. Their leader, a former highly-decorated U. S. general, demands $100 million to be paid in ransom, as restitution to families of soldiers who died in covert operations and were thereby denied compensation. Otherwise, he is threatening to launch 15 rockets carrying deadly VX nerve gas into the San Francisco Bay area. An elite SEAL team, with support from an FBI chemical warfare expert (Stanley Goodspeed) and a former Alcatraz escapee (John Mason), is assembled to penetrate the terrorists’ defenses on Alcatraz and neutralize the rocket threat before time runs out. (IMDB)

DVD EXTRAS:

• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, DTS Surround Sound, Widescreen, Dolby
• Commentary by director Michael Bay, stars Nicolas Cage, Ed Harris, technical advisor Harry Humphries, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer
• Two Disc Set
• Disc Two:
• Analysis of the dive sequence by Hoyt Yeatman of Dream Quest Images
• “Movie Magic” episode on the film’s special effects
• Outtakes selected by Michael Bay
• Production Stills
• Storyboards
• Production design drawings
• Do’s and Don’ts of Hollywood gunplay with Harry Humphries and Marshall Teague
• Interview with Jerry Bruckheimer
• Excerpts from “Secrets of Alcatraz” documentary
• “The Rock” world premiere on Alcatraz
• Widescreen anamorphic format
• Number of discs: 2

KNOWN DVD SECRET(S): None that I know of

The Criterion edition of “The Rock” is finally here and it doesn’t disappoint.  The movie is full of action and explosions that the only way to watch this movie is through the Criterion Collection which includes the latest in DTS sound.

The movie is so full of action that you don’t want to get up off your seat for a second.  The visuals are great and the sound is awesome through DTS.  I’ve watched many movies on DTS and this is the first time I seen my receiver with the “OVERLOADED” message.  Many explosions and your subwoofer will have a good workout.

As for the special features, there are so many.  Although not as much as “Armageddon” (Criterion), this DVD still doesn’t disappoint because you get other cool features like the excerpt from the “Secrets of Alcatraz” documentary.  The world premiere at Alcatraz and “Do’s and Don’t of Hollywood Gunplay”.  You also see outtakes and a good behind-the-scenes look at Ed Harris as an actor.  Very serious guy!  I don’t want to be sitting next to him when he messes up a line.  Intense!

If there was any negative, it was the fact that the color selection bars on the menu sometimes worked on my DVD player.  So, sometimes I didn’t know which part of the menu was highlighted and would have to count and guesstimate where I was going into.  That could be my player though…

If you enjoyed the movie and want it on DVD, this version is the only way to go.  Highly recommended!

THE MOVIE: A-
THE DVD EXTRAS: A
THE DVD OVERALL: A