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RAW DEAL
Review by Gordon Justesen
Stars: Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Kathryn Harrold, Darren McGavin, San Wanamaker, Paul Shenar,
Steven Hill, Ed Lauter, Blanche Baker
Director: John Irvin
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Features: None
Length: 106 Minutes
Release Date: February 3, 2004
“You should not drink and
bake.”
Now that Arnold
Schwarzenegger, aka the Governor of "Kulli-fornia", is now embroiled
in the world of politics, it probably won't be too soon before many of us keep
forgetting that he was at one point the larger than life muscleman of the action
movie. More than that, I'm sure that most people fail to recall the early films
in Ah-nuld's career.
You'll recall, no
pun intended, that in the mid 80s, Schwarzenegger's movies basically followed a
running theme, one that didn't even apply to the basic action releases. The
thought-provoking plotlines involved Arnold's character getting in way over his
head, after which he suits up with enough weaponry to satisfy three bloodthirsty
commandos, and blows away a bunch of bad guys for the remaining 45 minutes. And
shall we even begin to forget the most crowning moment of each movie where
Arnold utters an over the top, but nonetheless funny, one liner (the quote above
is quite honestly one of Schwarzenegger's funniest line readings of all time)?
This formula was
given a rather serious introduction with The
Terminator, and Schwarznegger's follow up, 1985's Commando brought the formula to life with flying colors, and up
until the end of the 80s, each of Arnold's movies pretty much followed the same
structure, and the strange thing is, it never got boring. Raw Deal, which by now is actually one of Arnold's least remembered
movies, is a grand example of the aforementioned formula. It must be noted that
the movie was released in 1986, where this made for the pitch perfect
Schwarzenegger vehicle. Today, it plays like a gleefully, excessively cheesy
over the top actioner, and it's just as good to view it in that light.
As for the plot
synopsis, it's a challenge for the mind…get ready to think a little. Ah-nuld
is Mark Kaminsky, an ex-FBI agent who was (big plot twist coming) wrongfully
thrown out of the bureau, and is now serving as the sheriff of a small town in
North Carolina (WHAT??!!). His wife is a round-the-clock alcoholic that makes
his life miserable, even though he promises to make a better life for her. It
goes without saying that the sight of seeing an early Schwarzenegger playing the
long-suffering husband is a sight for the eyes if there ever was one.
Then Kaminsky gets
an unexpected call from his former boss, Shannon (Darren McGavin), who requests
his help in off the record FBI matter. Shannon's son was viciously gunned down
by members of a Chicago mob family, and he wants his former top field agent to
go undercover. Mind you, he isn't given orders to take the mob guys down, but
Shannon knows with Kaminsky on the case, all of the Mafiosos will eventually get
blown away, which is what Shannon wants as revenge. Gosh, if only all movies
could be as complete and realistic as this. This is genius screenwriting in its
purest form.
As you can tell,
I've pretty much been ultra-sarcastic about the movie, but in actuality, I'm
somewhat praising it's cheesy qualities. If you've never seen this one, and you
start watching it expecting an engaging quality similar to the likes of the Terminator
series, True Lies, and even some of Arnold's more underrated movies like The
6th Day, look elsewhere. This is classic 80s mindless action at its
unapologetic best. I truly believe that it is useless to take a movie like this
seriously, especially with a scene where Arnold, getting ready to take out some
bad guys in an Oldsmobile, takes a brief pause so that he can put in a cassette
tape in the car stereo of “I Can't Get No Satisfaction” by The Rolling
Stones.
The bottom line is
this; movies like this will never make it to the big screen in this day and age,
since ones like this are usually reserved for debuts on the video market. To
watch something like Raw Deal in 2004
is to appreciate it for its sheer over the top qualities, like nearly all of the
action movies of the 80s. It's early cornball Schwarzenegger entertainment at
its all time best.
Video
**1/2
When I heard that
Fox was going to be releasing this title, I completely forgot that it had been
released on DVD before, compliments of Anchor Bay. I never saw the earlier
version and therefore can't make a basic comparison, but I can say that Fox has
done a decent enough job on the anamorphic transfer, though by no means is the
quality of earth-shattering sharpness. There are a few instances of image
softness, and the detail of the overall picture seems to travel in and out at
some points, but for the most part the presentation is very much satisfying.
Audio
***
From what I've
gathered, the previous offering from Anchor Bay didn't include a 5.1 mix, so on
that note, Fox gets extra props for upping the ante in the audio department. The
action is executed in ultra-raw mode, as the endless supply of ammo is rendered
in superb sharp-sounding form. Dialogue, Arnold's included, is perfectly
delivered, and music playback is nicely done as well.
Features
(Zero Stars)
Nothing.
Summary:
