DVD DETAILS:
Vision
The anamorphic widescreen transfer is of superior quality. Although the mid-air collision is an effective opening, after that, however, the film seems artificial and production design is especially garish and without subtlety as the future seems cartoonish. The robot design in this case is laughable, although the idea of a decaying humanity hoping to preserve its few remaining beautiful specimens is tantalizingly problematic, leading to the visual clash between beauty and ugliness, with much emphasis on Ladd as a sex symbol. However, it is directed so as to emerge flat and undistinguished, craftsmanlike and indifferent and by the time the camera shakes and the fog machine is used to over-abundance, the lack of care for detail becomes evident. There is some humor to the sets (as crash victims are stored in a school hall still made out for a prom) and the future set design is impressive in long shot (although its rather labyrinthine aspects remain unexplored): visually thus, the film is a dire case of missed opportunities. Costume design for the future world looks silly, evidence seemingly that few people took this material seriously, despite a minor nod to the cyberpunk movement. Only in a few final scenes of mass evacuation is there any sense of mystery. “Time-quakes” are suggested by a shaking camera, and the time travel effects are lackluster. The grotesque conception of future humanity is sadly left dangling.
Sound
The sound transfer is a rather bare Dolby Digital stereo surround mix that from the start seemed tinny, high-pitched and with false, unconvincing and unsubtle attempts at surround – the irrelevant rapid movement from speaker to speaker in an attempt to simulate chaos for instance. Again, this speaks of the lack of care in sound design if not the transfer; much of this is just awful. There is a background hiss throughout, which may need some adjustment depending upon individual systems. The intensity of the bigger-scale sequences is merely rendered with competence, not helped by a laughably overblown score. In sound design, this film can be called corny, the voices of the robots and disfigured humanity being particularly risible. Hence, the film fails to engage on any level and the merely serviceable transfer only highlights the film’s banality, making it difficult to see how it managed an A-level release. The busy, tumultuous future, however, is effectively inhospitable in some scenes and there is a sense of cluttered urgency to the sound mix here. There is some directional placement of voices in space but most of the film is centered amidst an uneven and inconsistently mixed sense of background frenzy. The explosions threaten to break apart into static. Whatever the faults of the transfer, which is serviceable at best, it is the film itself which is ultimately the real letdown in this distance. read more
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