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The Movie: I think it was a mere five minutes into "Extreme Ops" before my mind started drifting. By thirty minutes, my eyes started to cross. I wondered what Rufus Sewell, a very good actor (see "Dark City") was doing in this picture. I wondered what was for dinner. I wondered when this movie would be over. Sewell plays Ian, a commerical director who decides that, since they don't have time for CGI (there's always time for CGI), they will head all the way to Austria (yeah, I'm sure that's cheaper and more effective) with a set of extreme athletes and filmmakers (Jana Pallaske - who looks quite a bit like a "Hackers"-era Angelina Jolie, Joe Absolom, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Devon Sawa) to film the ad. They all end of staying at a hotel that just happens to be the home of Serbian terrorists. Ah, but that doesn't even happen until an hour into the picture. Until then, we get a lot of the snowboarders goofing around, yelling and/or flirting with one another. The only problem is that these are painfully dull characters, given some of the most unintelligent and uninteresting ("Uh, like, woah man, avalanches are cool!") dialogue I've heard in ages. The performances are lousy, and some of the supporting characters hardly get anything more than a couple of scenes. Bridgette Wilson-Sampras's character development is that - gee - she really isn't such a great skier after all (she squeaks after one fall, "I am a great freakin' skier!"), but she'll get up and try again anyways. Sewell's character keeps talking on the phone to a girlfriend we never see - and when the group gets in trouble, he doesn't use the phone. Bad techno - well, maybe not all bad, but simply the same stuff you've heard in a thousand different movies - serves as the background for all of it. Interestingly enough, the film does have some positives. Although occasionally rather jarringly edited together, the stunt snowboarding sequences are actually quite good and rather entertaining. However, this is only about 5 minutes of an opening hour that is almost stunningingly boring at times. It all ends with a chase scene that lasts about 25 minutes. Somehow, it's as aimless and dull as the previous hour. The stunts weren't half bad and some unintentional entertainment value was had from how silly this film gets, but that didn't come close to redeeming this picture or making me wish I hadn't spent 90 minutes of my time with it. The DVD VIDEO: "Extreme Ops" is presented by Paramount in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and 1.33:1 pan & scan - both are included on a dual-layer disc. The anamorphic widescreen presentation generally looked quite nice, if it did show a couple of minor concerns in a scene or two. Sharpness and detail were inconsistent, but largely quite good - the outdoor scenes remained sharp, well-defined and showed strong depth. The darker, indoor scenes, however, seemed a bit softer. A little bit of edge enhancement intruded in a couple of scenes, but it really wasn't much of an issue. No compression artifacts were spotted, and the print seemed in quite fine condition, with no specks or marks. Colors were generally bright and rich, but especially in the outdoor scenes, where the bright colors of the outfits stood out quite well against the snow. SOUND: It seems that the budget was largely done by the time sound was being discussed. Despite featuring avalanches, action and the potential for some decent outdoor ambience, the surrounds largely remained silent throughout the film, aside from providing some so-so reinforcement for the techno score. EXTRAS: Nothing, aside from some previews for other Paramount titles ("Abandon" and "Star Trek: Nemesis"). Final Thoughts: The stunts aren't half bad, but the rest of it is terrible. Paramount's DVD edition offers fine audio/video quality, but no supplements. Not recommended. 
Film Grade The Film 1/2 * DVD Grades Video 91/A Audio: 83/B Extras: 50/F |