Remo Williams - The Adventure Begins - on DVD

This movie had a lot of potential, and when it works, it works. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work and in the end that makes it a rather lightweight entry into the world of action/adventure/superhero-type movies.

Fred Ward is, eventually, Remo Williams, a police officer who is "reborn" to join a super-secret organization to fight crime. But before he can fight crime he has to learn the arcane martial arts taught by a powerful but pompous Korean master (Joel Grey, virtually unrecognizable under makeup) who can dodge bullets and do all kinds of other nifty tricks.

Based on “The Destroyer” novels, the movie seems to be trying to be Indiana Jones combined with James Bond and while those are a couple of excellent targets at which to aim the movie doesn’t quite hit it. Still, it’s fun and likeable, and that can’t be all bad.

The best action sequence takes place on and around the Statue of Liberty, which at the time was surround by scaffolding during its restoration during the 1980’s. That tends to date the movie somewhat, but that isn’t too big a deal.

Besides Ward and Grey, the film co-stars the always great Wilford Brimley and Kate Mulgrew in a much lighter role than fans of Star Trek Voyager may have seen.

Sadly, the Remo Williams DVD is seriously flawed, right from the beginning - as you'll notice when the disclaimer appears on screen. That’s because MGM has released the Pan&Scan version of the film and that, in this age of widescreen televisions, is simply unforgivable. There’s no widescreen version available at all, so while owners of old fashioned 4x3 televisions may not mind, owners of widescreen TV’s will be forced to stretch and/or zoom the picture to fit their rectangular screens.

Audio, which is Dolby Digital stereo surround, is unremarkable.

And there aren't any extras besides the trailer.

Fans of Remo Williams will undoubtedly be happy that the film is finally available on DVD, but the disc could have been so much better, and so much more enjoyable.

But then again, so could the movie….

Remo Williams, the Adventure Begins, from MGM Home Video
121 min. Pan&Scan (1.33:1, not 16x9 TV compatible), Dolby Digital Stereo Surround
Starring Fred Ward, Joel Grey, Wilford Brimley, Kate Mulgrew
produced by Larry Spiegel
Written by Christopher Wood, Directed by Guy Hamilton

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