Studio Canal have released the action buddy cop movie Red Heat, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Belushi onto Blu Ray from a brand new 4K remaster.
Ivan Danko (Arnold Schwarzengger) is a Russian cop sent to Chicago to extradite a Russian drug-dealer named Viktor Rostavili (Ed O’Ross), wanted for murder back in the USSR. When Danko and his prisoner are ambushed by Viktor’s gangland friends the Russian escapes, and a veteran police officer is killed. His partner, Ridzik (James Belushi), who like Danko now has a personal vendetta against Rostavili, joins forces with the soviet cop to hunt down the escapee and his gunmen.
Buddy cop movies have always been popular and were revived when the director of this film Walter Hill made 48 Hours, and having Arnold playing a Russian cop seemed ideal casting interestingly he agreed to star despite there being no screenplay and based solely on Hill’s concept and description of the opening scene.
Both the leads play off each other nicely and the action is well done, especially the opening fight scene in a Russian sauna, but the film looses its momentum towards the end and it never really gels the way it could have.
The new Blu ray has a superb new 4K remastered transfer, vibrant colours, solid blacks and great skin tones this is a vast improvement over any previous release. Audio as expected is full on with a powerful DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix.
Extras include Arnold Schwarzenegger: The Man Who Raised Hollywood’featurette A short look at the actor’s meteoric rise to fame in the 1980’s, featuring interviews with those who helped his rise to fame. Political Context of Red Heat’ featurette. An interview with Dave Saunders, author of Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Movies. East Meets West – Featurette about Carolco and Red Heat, A Stuntman For All Seasons – Tribute to Benny Dobbins, I’m Not A Russian But I Play One On TV – Interview with Ed O’Ross and a making of.
An interesting movie which does not quite live up to what it could have been. (Also available on 4K UHD disc)
FILM- 7 PICTURE- 9 AUDIO – 8 EXTRAS – 7
