RED HEAT (1988)
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: R
Duration: 104 Minutes
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles
Video: HDR, Dolby Vision, 2160p UltraHD & 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Walter Hill
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Belushi, Peter Boyle, Ed O’Ross, Laurence Fishburne, Gina Gershon, Brion James
Walter Hill's East meets West buddy-cop actioner Red Heat (1988) starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Belushi has never been a film that got me particularly excited. It's always been a fairly lukewarm buddy-cop film that paled in comparison to Walter Hill's earlier and more superior 48 Hours (1982).
The story involves a stereotypically
emotionless Russian cop named Ivan Danko (Schwarzenegger, Terminator) who has been assigned by his superiors to travel to Chicago and apprehend notorious Russian drug-kingpin Viktor Rostavili (Ed O'Ross, The Hidden) who killed Danko's partner and then fled to the United States. Arriving in Chicago Danko is partnered-up with a loud-mouthed Chicago cop named Art Ridzik (James Belushi, Thief). The pair begin tracking the drug-kingpin while trading insults, it's the usual buddy-cop sorta thing filtered through the then current East meets West Glasnost cultural exchange, and it's a decent enough watch, but it's no great shakes either, and not anywhere near the top of the list of my favorite films from either star Schwarzenegger or director Walter Hill.
i think my lack of enthusiasm for this really comes down to three things: First, the film is very by-the-numbers and doesn't offer anything new to the buddy-cop genre. Second, there's zero chemistry between Schwarzenegger and Belushi, I think Arnold is a solid communist straight-man here but Belushi blow-hard cop is just obnoxious to the point of distraction. Three, and closely related to the former, I have never found James Belushi funny in any way whatsoever in any film. He has always been the not-as-funny younger brother of the legendarily hilarious John Belushi (Neighbors), and that's probably an unfair comparison it's how I feel about the guy, he's just not a funny, what he seems to think is comic timing and delivery is just being loud and obnoxious, but it's so tiresome.
Audio/Video: Red Heat (1988) arrives on 4K UltraHD+Blu-ray+Digital combo from Lionsgate framed in 2160p and 1080p HD framed in the original 1.85:1 widescreen. There's no information about this being a new scan or what the source is but it looks very good, an impressive upgrade over the previous Blu-ray from Lionsgate. The new HDR and Dolby Vision color-grading offers a few dramatic differences over the past edition, colors are slightly warmer and more saturated, the blacks are deeper with more defined shadow detail, and white are noticeably brighter. The source elements are in great shape, I didn't notice any blemishes along the way, and there's a thin sheen of film grain throughout that looks natural. With that said I don't think that this presentation is gonna be a stunner of a 4K UHD, there's a lot of filtered lensing and scenes hazy with smoke and steam that sap the image of crispness in certain scenes, but in others there's impressive depth and clarity previously unseen on past home video releases. The screenshots in this review are sourced from the accompanying Blu-ray, not the UHD.
Audio on both discs comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with optional English subtitles. This is likely the same 5.1 that accompanied the previous Blu-ray release, no Atmos upgrade for this buddy-cop film. However, the existing 5.1 is decent with good use of the surrounds, dialogue is crisp and clean and the very 80's core from James Horner (Deadly Blessing) has some nice life in the mix.
Onto the extras we get the archival stuff from the previous Blu-ray release plus a pair of new ones, though the new stuff is mostly fluff, including a 15-min Schwarzenegger
career retrospective/appreciation featuring Edward Pressman and Peter Hyams among others discussing working with the star, but no appearance from the star. There's also a 10-min discussion with Dave Saunders, author of 'Arnold Schwarzenegger And The Movies' who attempts to place some unnecessary political context onto the film.
The 2-disc 4K UHD/Blu-ray release arrives in a black eco-cutout keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork. Inside you will find the discs and a digital HD copy of the film. The accompanying Blu-ray represents the new transfer and not just Lionsgate repackaging the previous release, which I always appreciate.
Special Features (UHD and Blu-ray):
- Arnold Schwarzenegger – The Man Who Raised Hollywood (15 min)
- Political Context of Red Heat (10 min)
- East Meets West (10 min)
- A Stunt Man for All Seasons (12 min)
- I’m Not Russian, But I Play One on TV (5 min)
- Making of Red Heat (18 min)
- Original Trailer (2 min)
Red Heat (1988) might struggle to impress as an 80's buddy-cop film but with Walter Hill in the director's seat it's a well made film with some good suspense and exciting action set-pieces including terrific game of chicken between a pair of passenger buses that culminates with a train crash and some gunplay, so it's at least entertaining. The film also has a great supporting cast that includes Peter Boyle (Where The Buffalo Roam) and Laurence 'Larry' Fishburne (The Matrix) as Chicago cops and sexy Gina Gershon (Bound) as Rostavili's American wife, plus Ed O'Ross is terrific as the villainous baddie, and Brion James (Red Scorpion) shows up for a brief scene as a scumbag. The new 4K UltraHD is a solid upgrade with over an hour's worth of extras, definitely worth picking up for the right price, and it's currently under $20 on amazon right now.
