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Another Stakeout
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment // PG-13 // August 13, 2002
List Price: $19.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
"Another Stakeout" is the sequel to the 1987 original which starred Emilo Estevez and Richard Dreyfuss as amusingly mis-matched cops paired together to solve crimes. While the original was mildly successful, there was little reason to continue the story of these characters and the return of lackluster director John Badham did nothing to bring this series into the 90's.
Dreyfuss and Estevez return as cops Chris and Bill, although Dreyfuss's love interest in the first film (Madeline Stowe) quickly leaves in an early arguement. The lone female lead this time around is (yikes) Rosie O'Donnell, playing an assistant DA who must join the two cops on a stakeout as they seek out a witness on the run from a Vegas mobster (usual "bad guy" Miguel Ferrer).
"Another Stakeout" takes the unusual method (recently seen in this year's "Showtime") in the genre of keeping the action at a minimum during most of the movie, aside from the opening and closing. Instead, this sequel seems to be content with letting the trio of actors bounce off one another; while this results in some slapsticky fun throughout many scenes in the movie, there are definite stretches that largely turn into O'Donnell and Dreyfuss yelling at one another. Either way, the film often seems too concerned with being goofy to be truely involving as a buddy cop picture. While character development certainly isn't a priority in these kinds of films, it takes a noticable backseat here to one-liners.
To the credit of the cast (which also includes Dennis Farina in a supporting turn), they actually jump into the material with enough energy to make the story barely tolerable. Still, this is a pretty uninspired sequel that isn't particularly entertaining, nor was it necessary.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Another Stakeout" is presented by Buena Vista Home Video in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture quality continues the rather inconsistent output of the studio's catalog releases; while some can appear rather poor, others can surprise by looking terrific and others manage to only look okay. "Another Stakeout" falls into the final catagory, not looking particularly great, but certainly not looking bad, either. Sharpness and detail are passable, as the picture retained a crisp, defined appearance, with only a few moments of slight softness.
Visible problems are scattered throughout the presentation; some light (although still noticable) instances of edge enhancement are spotted, while some minor hints of pixelation are also seen. The print seems in okay shape - a bit of dirt and specks are spotted now and then, while a bit of light grain also hangs around on occasion.
Colors remained fairly well-rendered; some light smearing was occasionally seen, but colors looked otherwise accurate and natural. Black level was solid (if a little inconsistent) and overall, the presentation was decent, but not great.
SOUND: "Another Stakeout" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. Given the picture's 1993 release date, I'd guess this is one of the early 5.1 theatrical soundtracks. As most of the film is a comedy, there's not really a lot of opportunities for surround use, but there is a large explosion in the early moments of the film that really does use all of the speakers with surprising intensity. Other than that, there's really little activity going on here. Sound quality is fine, if not exceptional, as music and dialogue remained clear if slightly flat sounding.
MENUS: Basic, non-animated main & sub-menus.
EXTRAS: The trailer for "Spy Hard".
Final Thoughts: A pretty uninvolving sequel that's balanced more towards awkward comedy than action, "Another Stakeout" is a pretty disapointing effort. Buena Vista's DVD edition provides a passable presentation, but little in the way of supplements. Recommended for fans of the film only; not recommended otherwise.
"Another Stakeout" is the sequel to the 1987 original which starred Emilo Estevez and Richard Dreyfuss as amusingly mis-matched cops paired together to solve crimes. While the original was mildly successful, there was little reason to continue the story of these characters and the return of lackluster director John Badham did nothing to bring this series into the 90's.
Dreyfuss and Estevez return as cops Chris and Bill, although Dreyfuss's love interest in the first film (Madeline Stowe) quickly leaves in an early arguement. The lone female lead this time around is (yikes) Rosie O'Donnell, playing an assistant DA who must join the two cops on a stakeout as they seek out a witness on the run from a Vegas mobster (usual "bad guy" Miguel Ferrer).
"Another Stakeout" takes the unusual method (recently seen in this year's "Showtime") in the genre of keeping the action at a minimum during most of the movie, aside from the opening and closing. Instead, this sequel seems to be content with letting the trio of actors bounce off one another; while this results in some slapsticky fun throughout many scenes in the movie, there are definite stretches that largely turn into O'Donnell and Dreyfuss yelling at one another. Either way, the film often seems too concerned with being goofy to be truely involving as a buddy cop picture. While character development certainly isn't a priority in these kinds of films, it takes a noticable backseat here to one-liners.
To the credit of the cast (which also includes Dennis Farina in a supporting turn), they actually jump into the material with enough energy to make the story barely tolerable. Still, this is a pretty uninspired sequel that isn't particularly entertaining, nor was it necessary.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Another Stakeout" is presented by Buena Vista Home Video in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen. The picture quality continues the rather inconsistent output of the studio's catalog releases; while some can appear rather poor, others can surprise by looking terrific and others manage to only look okay. "Another Stakeout" falls into the final catagory, not looking particularly great, but certainly not looking bad, either. Sharpness and detail are passable, as the picture retained a crisp, defined appearance, with only a few moments of slight softness.
Visible problems are scattered throughout the presentation; some light (although still noticable) instances of edge enhancement are spotted, while some minor hints of pixelation are also seen. The print seems in okay shape - a bit of dirt and specks are spotted now and then, while a bit of light grain also hangs around on occasion.
Colors remained fairly well-rendered; some light smearing was occasionally seen, but colors looked otherwise accurate and natural. Black level was solid (if a little inconsistent) and overall, the presentation was decent, but not great.
SOUND: "Another Stakeout" is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. Given the picture's 1993 release date, I'd guess this is one of the early 5.1 theatrical soundtracks. As most of the film is a comedy, there's not really a lot of opportunities for surround use, but there is a large explosion in the early moments of the film that really does use all of the speakers with surprising intensity. Other than that, there's really little activity going on here. Sound quality is fine, if not exceptional, as music and dialogue remained clear if slightly flat sounding.
MENUS: Basic, non-animated main & sub-menus.
EXTRAS: The trailer for "Spy Hard".
Final Thoughts: A pretty uninvolving sequel that's balanced more towards awkward comedy than action, "Another Stakeout" is a pretty disapointing effort. Buena Vista's DVD edition provides a passable presentation, but little in the way of supplements. Recommended for fans of the film only; not recommended otherwise.
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