Review: Nemesis
01-31-00 | 06:13 PM
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Since Surf Monkey and that other jackass found my once over of Navy SEALs so amusing, I'll review the DVD of another cheesy movie. 
You can find the plot summary and movie reviews of notorious hack director Albert Pyun's cyberpunk classic on the IMDB, so I'll skip it. Suffice to say, Nemesis is IMHO one of only two movies in his incredibly prolific career that didn't completely suck and bore the hell out of me.
The picture is presented full frame, 1.33:1. This picture is not pan&scan, but open matte. How do I know this? In one scene, the protagonist jumps naked out of the shower pointing his gun at a naked chick (not that gun, get your mind out of the gutter). On the widescreen laserdisc, his waist is not visible below the belly button or so. Yet on the DVD, it very clear he's wearing a pair of flesh-coloured underwear. I checked with another source on this, and we ran both versions side by side to confirm this (err, on second thought, just take my word for it).
Anyway, picture looks gritty and a bit lacking in detail, but this is probably due to the source. Transfer is fine and ultimately it's perfectly watchable.
Sound is nothing special. Stereo I think, gets the job done in any case.
Incredibly, this old, low budget flick actually came with extras. Most illuminating is the behind-the-scenes featurette ("I went down to 3% body fat for this picture; it affects my nerves"). The cheesy trailers are pretty entertaining too.
Overall, barring some $100 Japanese laserdisc SE boxset I don't know about, the DVD is likely the best presentation of this movie you'll ever see.
You can find the plot summary and movie reviews of notorious hack director Albert Pyun's cyberpunk classic on the IMDB, so I'll skip it. Suffice to say, Nemesis is IMHO one of only two movies in his incredibly prolific career that didn't completely suck and bore the hell out of me.
The picture is presented full frame, 1.33:1. This picture is not pan&scan, but open matte. How do I know this? In one scene, the protagonist jumps naked out of the shower pointing his gun at a naked chick (not that gun, get your mind out of the gutter). On the widescreen laserdisc, his waist is not visible below the belly button or so. Yet on the DVD, it very clear he's wearing a pair of flesh-coloured underwear. I checked with another source on this, and we ran both versions side by side to confirm this (err, on second thought, just take my word for it).
Anyway, picture looks gritty and a bit lacking in detail, but this is probably due to the source. Transfer is fine and ultimately it's perfectly watchable.
Sound is nothing special. Stereo I think, gets the job done in any case.
Incredibly, this old, low budget flick actually came with extras. Most illuminating is the behind-the-scenes featurette ("I went down to 3% body fat for this picture; it affects my nerves"). The cheesy trailers are pretty entertaining too.
Overall, barring some $100 Japanese laserdisc SE boxset I don't know about, the DVD is likely the best presentation of this movie you'll ever see.
01-31-00 | 10:12 PM
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I actually saw this flick years ago when it came out on video (I think I even have the movie poster in my collection). Anyway, it was actually a decent movie. I had only rented it because Tim Thomerson was in it, and I am a fan, but I was pleasantly surprised by the film. Sure it's no classic, but it was entertaining. I've stayed away from the 3 sequels that followed though.
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