Suburban
Commando on DVD
When you hear the name Hulk Hogan, the one word you probably don’t
think of is “comedy.” Unless of course, you include the fact
that wrestling makes one laugh every time one watches it, even if it’s
unintentional.
In 1991, Hogan starred in and executive produced a movie about Shep Ramsey,
an intergalactic hero stranded on Earth for six weeks. He’s just
killed his evil nemesis, and needs to stop somewhere to recharge his power.
He lands on our planet and finds a nice little apartment which just happens
to be owned by Christopher Lloyd and Shelley Duvall.
It’s basically a fish-out-of-water story, with a couple of intergalactic
bounty hunters thrown in to provide some action.
Nothing about the movie matters except how utterly terrible it is. But
in this case, that’s the appeal: it’s the kind of guilty pleasure
where you can sit down on a Saturday afternoon and enjoy something really
stupid. The script and direction are dumb enough to be funny, and the
clichéd and predictable story fit in nicely. The movie was obviously
an excuse for Hulk Hogan – at the peak of his career – to
star in a movie.
Even if things don’t quite make sense (like how the bounty hunters
can trace a power source on Shep’s gun from light years away, but
hiding it under a mattress blocks it), we don’t care. Suburban Commando
is a fun little action comedy that’s a perfect time waster.
And aren’t we all looking for more ways to waste time?
Even though this is a horribly substandard DVD, do we really care? It’s
nice to have an anamorphic transfer and 5.1 Dolby Digital, even if they’re
not great examples of the species. The picture is soft, grainy, and looks
as if it was taken straight from TV, the sound never seems to use more
than two speakers, and there are no extras.
But so what? This is Suburban Commando, starring Hulk Hogan. Better picture
quality and DTS sound could not possibly make this movie more enjoyable.
In fact, one of the reasons we like it is because it reminds us of sitting
at home as a kid and watching bad movies on TV when we have nothing better
to do. And to add to it, you probably won’t find the disc anywhere
but the bargain bin. This is about as cheap as they come, so just sneak
out and buy it.
No one has to know.
Suburban Commando, from Alliance Atlantis Home Entertainment
88 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) 16X9 enhanced, 5.1 Dolby Digital
Starring Hulk Hogan, Christopher Lloyd, Shelley Duvall, Larry Miller
Produced by Howard Gottfried
Written by Frank Cappello, Directed by Burt Kennedy
Tell us at TechnoFile what YOU think
