Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Ray Tango and Gabe Cash are rival L.A. policemen with one thing in common: each thinks he is the best. Team them and they're like oil and water. But frame them for a crime and they're like a match and kerosene. Unjustly jailed among lowlifes they put behind bars, the two stage a prison breakout that's a breathless rush of weapons and wisecracks then roar after the shadowy crime lord who set them up. "Tango & Cash" are out to clear their names. Join them and feel the rush.

It is always fun to revisit films that you have fond memories of from your younger days. I saw this in my early teens when it was first released and had a great time with it. Now revisiting it all these years later I found the film to be just a bit too silly. It almost seemed like the writers were trying to go for a new record for one liners in a film, and most of them were painfully bad. The film still gives a chuckle though and fans of the 80’s action scene will definitely want to add this one to their library.

Warner delivers a pretty good HD presentation for this one but the source material has its issues. The film print used shows its age with obvious wear and tear on occasion and plenty of rich film grain. Colors are a bit muted and fine detail is a bit on the soft side. The image still has plenty of depth though and contrast levels aren’t too bad. I didn’t notice any issues with ringing or compression artifacts and most close ups reveal a decent amount of detail and dimension.

The TrueHD 5.1 mix is a testament to bad 80’s synth scores and was funny in its own right. Sometimes I forget just how bad those scores were! The rest of the mix is what I would expect from this type of film. Dynamic range is lacking and explosions lack the punch and authority of what we’ve become accustomed to with big budget action films. The spatial design is still pretty good though with a nice wide soundstage and plenty of atmosphere. Surrounds do their part and add some occasional fun to the mix without being too gimmicky. Dialogue sounds a bit thin and the ADR is off at times but it wasn’t too distracting.

The theatrical trailer is the only goodie included.

Some films should just stay in our childhood I think. This one didn’t score the points it did for me as a kid but it wasn’t a complete waste of time. For fans Warner has done a pretty good job with the presentation making it worth the revisit.