Now Here's a Not-So-Hot DVD Review: WB's Demolition Man

[John Beresford]

Always a fan of this film, I incorporated Warner Bros' snap-cased DVD edition into my collection fairly early into buying a surround system. I remember not being particularly knocked out by the audio or video quality of the disc from the last time I viewed it, which was a good few years back. With a friend over last night (the same lad who brought over the excellent T3 for us to view) who had never seen "Demolition Man" and after picking his drunk ass up from the train station, I proceeded to re-visit this DVD through my system. My previous reservations about the disc were accurate...

This DVD, ESPECIALLY in comparison with something like Terminator 3 (well, why not compare em? Demolition Man came out in 1993; not really ancient in movie speak, would you say?), looks god awful. We watched the full screen version side of the disc, because of my 27" set, but it didn't matter; grain and washing out is heavily present on both widescreen and fullscreen versions. My sobering-up companion next to me was struggling just to keep his eyes open so his opinion wasn't noted; but I analyzed every part of this surround experience. The film was grainy and unnaceptable for DVD picture. The audio was weak, too, with a 5.1 Dolby Digital mix as the auto default and the only English option to watch the disc. The gunshots were hollow and the front soundstage was the only stage really present; sure, there were surround effects, but they sounded added-on and weak, and didnt really follow the action on the screen; for instance, glass shattering came from the rears, but the action seemed "confused" when the audio tried to keep up with it. The entire surround mix is weak, if I had to sum it up with a word. Hollow-sounding bullets and explosions, and no use of the LFE subwoofer channel.

Dont get me wrong---Im not saying this sounds like...well...Universal's FIRST original DVD release of Scarface, whose audio and video wanted to make you barf all over the receiver remote (remember how bad THAT DVD looked and sounded?)---I mean, there are nice panning effects from time to time, and there are spots in the picture that seem to clear up suddenly, but overall, it doesnt even sound like you're watching a "Dolby Digital" film presentation---it sounds and looks more like an analog VHS Pro Logic II tape.

Still a great action film though with a creepy, bad-ass Snipes....

[kelsci]

This was a fairly good movie IMO. The singing of the old commercials, the TACO BELL restaurants, and a ticket machine for cursing in public was hilarious. Snipes was bad-ass great with Stallone as the foil to him.

I know my brother had a pre-recorded vhs tape. I remembered the film looked good on that. I know it also looked good on HBO. I think this film was orginally made in Dolby Surround but its surround effects as well as the front soundstage stereo was nothing to crow about, in fact it was disappointing considering the potential the film had for surround effects. It sounds like the track was remixed for DVD. If the track was not so good to begin with as I mention above, it would have taken alot of work to make this soundtrack work in D.D. 5.1. It sounds to me that slipshod work was done on the DVD.

[John Beresford]

This was a fairly good movie IMO. The singing of the old commercials, the TACO BELL restaurants, and a ticket machine for cursing in public was hilarious. Snipes was bad-ass great with Stallone as the foil to him.

I know my brother had a pre-recorded vhs tape. I remembered the film looked good on that. I know it also looked good on HBO. I think this film was orginally made in Dolby Surround but its surround effects as well as the front soundstage stereo was nothing to crow about, in fact it was disappointing considering the potential the film had for surround effects. It sounds like the track was remixed for DVD. If the track was not so good to begin with as I mention above, it would have taken alot of work to make this soundtrack work in D.D. 5.1. It sounds to me that slipshod work was done on the DVD.

Kel,

Thanks for the thoughts again, my friend. Yes, this was more than a fairly good piece of cinema---definitely. I always enjoyed the parts you referred to, with those two bumbling San Angeles cops in the front seats singing "Armor Hot Dogs" and Stallone mumbling "someone put me back in the fridge...." Classic. And Snipes was great as a villian; almost seemed unstoppable, like a classic villian should be casted. He was definitely creepy. And the whole "Send a Maniac to Catch a Maniac" theme, along with Warner's trailer of the film stating "Now...two mortal enemies will face each other once again...." was awesome; the whole thing of Snipes and Stallone being diehard, bitter enemies fighting to the death was very entertaining; much like Green Goblin to Spidey.

The FILM is not in question here, Warner's DVD presentation is. You may be right----the soundtrack may have been remixed for 5.1; if this is the case, and your analysis of the VHS Pro Logic versions were as bad as you claim, you are right--there wasnt much to work with for the remix. The overall effect was sloppy, IMO. Some may disagree; I don't think this 5.1 surround mix was aggressive, loud, involving or spine-tingling in any way, especially after being spoiled by T3. BUT there WERE moments when the surround channels made startling appearances, like the end battle scene between Snipes and Stallone. For the most part, the mix sounded....well...."messy" and "sloppy"; like effects weren't being pinponted correctly.