Live Home Video has recently reissued two of Schwarzenegger's films on disc with letterboxed transfers. As mentioned elsewhere, 'Total Recall', a big budget, very successful film got the red carpet treatment with a THX transfer that turned out to be just average. It's ironic that 'Red Heat', a much less ambitious project, comes out as a relatively better disc.
'Red Heat' has Schwarzenegger as Capt. Ivan Danko, a Russian police officer hot on the trail of a ruthless Russian drug lord on the run in America. Assigned to keep an eye on Danko is smart-ass Chicago police detective Art Ridzik, played by James Belushi. Of course, they hate each other at first, but later come to respect and finally to rely on one another. If this all sounds familiar, that because it is. This formula has been done dozens of times before but Schwarzenegger's screen presence, Belushi's comedic delivery and terrific action direction from Walter Hill keep 'Red Heat' from becoming just another 'buddy picture'.
The video transfer of 'Red Heat' is excellent, certainly as good as the THX approved 'Total Recall' and perhaps even better. Colors appear accurate and solid with no smearing and little if any chroma noise. Contrast and sharpness are very good yielding a very smooth, detailed image. 'Red Heat' was shot flat and this transfer has been matted to about 1.85:1. This framing looks accurate and well balanced. Subtitles for the Russsian dialog are in yellow and are placed in the film frame. The subtitles look to be digitally generated for this tranfer and are easy to read.
The soundtrack is something of a treat. My last experience with this film was on VHS and the quality here took my by suprise. The range and dynamics of this soundtrack are much better than I remember, particularly in the low bass. There are a number of good directional effects and effective use of the surround channel. Dialog sounds clear and natural and the overall mix is quite good, rendering even subtle sounds clearly.
The film runs 106 minutes and the disc contains 23 chapters. No trailer or other extras are included. List price is $39.95, the same as the THX 'Total Recall'. I consider 'Red Heat' a better buy. Action fans should enjoy this one.
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