German company Digidreams brings us one of PM Entertainment's most exciting films, Hologram Man, to blu-ray with many of the trappings that plague the studio's other releases, though not as bad.
Studio: Digidreams
Release Date: June 27th, 1995 (video premiere) / January 28th, 2014 (blu-ray)Run Time: 1 hour 41 minutes 10 seconds
Region Code: FREE
Picture: 1080p (1.77:1 aspect ratio)
Sound: German Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 / English Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0
Subtitles: German
Slipcover: No
Digital Copy: No
Starring: Joe Lara, Evan Lurie, Michael Nouri, John Amos, William Sanderson, Arabella Holzbog
Written by Evan Lurie, Richard Preston Jr.
Directed by Richard PepinRating: FSK: 16 (strong violence, a sex scene and language)
Note: This blu-ray is available separately or in the Cyborgs - Gegen Die Cyborgs Hat Die Menschheit Keine Chance Blu-ray Box Set that contains the following films:
Nemesis
Nemesis 2: Nebula
Nemesis 3: Time Lapse
Nemesis 4: Death Angel
Slinger
Class of 1999
Prototype
____________________________________________
Poster
____________________________________________
What's It About?
Five years after the mad terrorist Norman Galagher was sentenced to holographic stasis, he is given a parole hearing. But an equipment failure engineered by his cronies transforms the criminal into a living hologram with god-like powers. Now, stopping him is up to Kurt Decoda, the man who as a police rookie was responsible for arresting Galagher.
____________________________________________
Film Review
1995 was an awesome time to be alive. The cyber thriller was alive and well and 1995 was when we got the most of them. THE NET, VIRTUOSITY, STRANGE DAYS, and HACKERS were all released in 1995 and so was HOLOGRAM MAN.
Made and released by the awesome PM Entertainment, the film is a combination of many films: the aforementioned VIRTUOSITY, DEMOLITION MAN, and a tiny bit of SHOCKER for good measure. The film is filled with a ton of action scenes (PM Entertainment wanted one every ten minutes) with squibs and blanks. Many straight-to-video action films would have a few action scenes with slow action and very little mayhem. Hell, there are a ton of explosions here too. I was very impressed.
The film also has many moments that are truly wonderful including more "guys wearing masks of other characters in the film, doing something that character wouldn't do, and then taking their face off to reveal that they are someone else"scenes than MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2. I also appreciate that we get to see the action Hologram Man as a hologram more than once. If this film had been made by a different company, they would have skimped on that.
HOLOGRAM MAN is so much fun. The action scenes are well done and exiting and the villain is just plain awesome. The heroes are lackluster but the villain more than makes up for that. I honestly love this film and I recommend it to action buffs and to those who want to see what PM Entertainment was all about.
One more thing: the last scene of the film has one of the best dialogue exchanges I have ever seen:
Woman (to the hero): What are we going to do now?
Hero: Vote
It is so glorious.
____________________________________________
Video/Audio
Presented in 1.77:1, HOLOGRAM MAN looks fine. I didn't expect much from this transfer as the company, Digidreams, loves to use tons of DNR on their releases. To my surprise, there wasn't that much used on it or there wasn't heavily applied like usual. This means that the film looks better than their other releases. It still doesn't look at that great with some scenes looking like they are in standard definition. Detail is hardly there and colors are bland and lifeless. Still, this is probably the best the film has ever, and will ever, look.
There are four audio tracks: two German and two English. They are fine as well as they are all lossy. They get the job done but don't impress at all.
____________________________________________
Extras/Packaging
Trailer (2m 8s, SD, 1.33:1) This trailer is just as glorious as the film it is advertising.
Artwork-Galerie (1m 39s) auto-plays in silence.
Bodycounts (5m 32s, SD, 1.33:1) This is a kill count type video where we see every kill in the film. It is clearly taken from YouTube as it is pixelated as hell. It also gives us a tallies of the kills for three of the characters in the film.
Slideshow (3m 28s) This another art gallery that auto-plays without any sound.
Ricard (yes, it is a typo) Pepin Cameo (57s, HD, 1.77:1) A scene from the film where the director's name makes a cameo. The scene plays three times: once at normal speed and twice at slower speeds.
Schmutzbeseitigung (translates to "dirt removal") Here we have three scenes where there was a lot of dirt and hairs and their side-by-side comparisons. I like this feature but it also shows how much DNR they use on their films (which isn't as bad as some of their films)
The packaging is pretty plain but overactive. The front cover is reversible but the only thing that changes is one cover has a German ratings certificate on it while the other side doesn't. Everything on the front and back cover is in German except for the names of the people on the front. The disc features an image from the film.
The disc is REGION FREE
____________________________________________
Overall
HOLOGRAM MAN is awesome. The film is filled with a ton of action and explosions. I am kicking myself for not watching this film earlier. The blu-ray, from Digidreams, is decent. The picture and audio quality could have been so much better and the special features leave a lot to be desired. This is probably going to be the only blu-ray release we will ever get for the film so we have to take it as is. I wouldn't spend more than $10 on this release.
____________________________________________
Extras/Menus
____________________________________________
Film
____________________________________________
Packaging
 Blu-ray Review + 1080p Screenshots + Packaging Shots){kind=link}
0 Comments