Armed and Dangerous isn’t a great comedy by any stretch as the comedy falls short and the action scenes were fairly mundane, though typical for a 1980s action-comedy. John Candy and Eugene Levy share some comedic chemistry and for fans of either actor might enjoy the film for what it is. The Blu-ray itself has a good video transfer and an OK audio track.
Armed and Dangerous (1986)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Comedy, Action
Image | PG13 – 88 min. – $17.97 | August 16, 2011
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Mark L. Lester
Writer(s): Brian Grazer & Harold Ramis & James Keach (story), Harold Ramis & Peter Torokvei (screenplay)
Cast: John Candy, Eugene Levy, Robert Loggia, Meg Ryan
Theatrical Release Date: August 15, 1986
DISC INFO:
Features: None
Number of Discs: 1
Audio: English (PCM 2.0)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.85
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A
THE MOVIE – 2.25/5
Plot: Frank Dooley (JOHN CANDY) is a hard-working police officer willing to climb up trees to save a kitten and is at least decent at his job. However, it all falls apart when he goes to investigate a robbery in progress and discovers the robbers are in fact detectives stealing televisions and appliances. They offer a TV to him if he kept his mouth shut but Dooley refuses and as they hold him up at gunpoint, Internal Affairs swoops in and, in just one of the film’s inane plot points, arrest Dooley on corruption charges on the word of the two detectives. Now, one would presume that the two detectives would’ve been on their radar, but apparently not.
Meanwhile, we meet a hapless defense attorney named Norman Kane (EUGENE LEVY). Like Dooley, he tries hard but he’s not good at his job. His latest case involves a Neo-Nazi up against several charges including robbery and felony assault amongst many others. He of course feels threaten and strikes a deal with the prosecutor and judge to put his client away for a long time in exchange that he finds a new line of work.
And it’s at the Guard Dog Security Company where Dooley and Kane’s paths cross as each have applied for a position to be a low-paid security officer; their training consists of two hours of weapons handling instructed by Maggie Cavanaugh (MEG RYAN).
The security company owner chews them out after a robbery is committed on their watch and after being docked pay, Kane decides to take it up with their union led by Michael Carlino (ROBERT LOGGIA). However, it quickly becomes apparent that something amiss is going on and that the union boss might have his hand in the robbery as they connect other robberies to companies guarded by the company.
Armed and Dangerous was released in 1986 amidst the buddy flicks like Lethal Weapon, 48 HRS and Midnight Run where we put together two opposite characters, hope they have chemistry and make needless sequels to make some more money. Here the pairing of John Candy and Eugene was fine though it was strange that Candy would be playing the straight man while Levy would be the zany partner. It doesn’t quite work for me and the jokes don’t pay off, though there are a couple funny moments and for the most part Candy and Levy worked well off each other.
The film was directed by Mark L. Lester who the year before helmed the Schwarzenegger action-er, Commando and it was the brain child of Brian Grazer in one of his only 3 writing credits (the others being Splash and HouseSitter), Harold Ramis who of course was behind Ghost Busters, Stripes, Caddyshack and many others and James Keach; the screenplay was written by Peter Torokvei whose wide range of work include Real Genius, Back to School and… Caddyshack II. Nice.
Overall, Armed and Dangerous has some funny moments even though some of the plot points don’t make a whole lot of sense – how they get away with what they do in the final sequence is a bit much – but there are certainly worse ways to spend 90-minutes.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5
Not surprisingly, but no features were included.
VIDEO – 3.75/5
Image Entertainment’s latest Sony catalogue title release once again gives a solid 1080p HD video transfer. Armed and Dangerous is 25 years old and despite its age looks pretty darn good. I didn’t notice very much in the way of flaws like dust marks or scratches while the picture itself has natural film noise. The detail level, while not great, still looks good all in all. I don’t own the DVD release but I’m sure this is a fine upgrade.
AUDIO – 2.25/5
The audio meanwhile doesn’t fair as well although I suppose it’s suitable for most audiences especially since this is a release most never thought would happen. I don’t know what the audio is available on the DVD but for the Blu-ray we’re given a flat PCM 2.0 stereo track.
OVERALL – 2.0/5
Overall, Armed and Dangerous isn’t a great comedy by any stretch as the comedy falls short and the action scenes were fairly mundane, though typical for a 1980s action-comedy. John Candy and Eugene Levy share some comedic chemistry and for fans of either actor might enjoy the film for what it is. The Blu-ray itself has a good video transfer and an OK audio track.
Brian Oliver, The Movieman
Published: 08/07/2011
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2.