Tango & Cash Blu-ray delivers great video and decent audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
Ray Tango (Sylvester Stallone) and Gabe Cash (Kurt Russell) are rival L.A. policemen with one thing in common:
each thinks he is the best. Team them and theyre like oil and water. But frame them for a crime and theyre like a
match and kerosene. Unjustly jailed among lowlifes they put behind bars, the two stage a prison breakout thats a
breathless rush of weapons and wisecracks then roar after the shadowy crimelord (Jack Palance) who set them up.
Tango & Cash are out to clear their names. Join them and feel the rush.
If it isn't Tango it's Cash. Tango, Cash, Cash, and Tango...these two cops are driving me
crazy.
No other decade can boast of such a strong roster of notable Action films as the 1980s. While
not all were on the same level as Die Hard or Predator, what the
decade sometimes lacked in sheer quality it made up for in quantity, and even some
of
the lesser films -- such as those starring Dolph Lundgren -- offered plenty of big, brainless fun
even in the absence of superior technical
know-how, strong scripts, or fine acting. Arriving in theaters at the tail end of the ten-year
span was the Sylvester Stallone (Cliffhanger) and
Kurt Russell (Poseidon) Buddy
Cop flick Tango & Cash, one of the decade's most purely entertaining, wittily scripted,
and deliciously acted flicks and one that's withstood the test of time as a prime example of the
fun, highly charged, and over-the-top movies the defined an era of Action that remains the
genre's quintessential timespan.
Who built this place, the seven dwarfs?
Los Angeles Police Detectives Ray Tango (Stallone) and Gabriel Cash (Russell) are two of the city's
finest -- and two of her most diverse. The Armani-wearing Tango and the boots-and-jeans Cash
compete for publicity on the top fold of the local paper's front page and both prove a painful thorn
in the side of drug kingpin Yves Perret (Jack Palance, Batman). Angered
at the latest bust, Perret sets in motion a scheme to frame Tango and Cash for murder. The plan
is a success, and the decorated cops find themselves disgraced and behind bars, and in a
maximum-security hellhole of a prison to boot, far from the minimum-security paradise they
were promised, no thanks to Perret's seemingly unending connections. With the city's drug
problem about to get a whole lot worse and her two top cops locked up and left for dead, Tango
and Cash are left with no alternative but to execute a daring prison escape and fight on the
outside as fugitives in hopes of clearing their names and taking down Perret before it's too late.
Viewers hoping for a deep plot, highly-developed characters, an Oscar-caliber script, and high
drama need look elsewhere, but for audiences simply in search of a well-made and clever Action
movie that's, yes, completely over-the-top but still nothing but fun from start to finish, Tango
& Cash fits the bill perfectly. Nevertheless and amazingly enough, Tango & Cash
does indeed sport a decent plot, substantial characterization, and a pretty good script, at least
when analyzed from a detached perspective and within the confines of Action movies only. The
film is infinitely witty, the action loud and bold, the characters nicely rounded out and engagingly
acted, and the plot basic but more than adequate to allow for big explosions, chase scenes,
gunfire, and plenty of humorous banter between two cops who are drastically different in style
but not in purpose or effectiveness. One unique aspect of Tango & Cash that's evident
now but not necessarily at the time of its release comes by way of the film's ability to sustain a
fresh and viable tone. Even 20 years
later and unlike most 1980s movies, Tango & Cash barely looks or feels its age. There
are plenty of hints, from the beat of Harold Faltermeyer 's exceptional tone-capturing score to
grotesquely large surveillance cameras and pistol laser sights, but other than earning the props --
and not the film -- a few hearty chuckles, the aged technology and decade-influenced score never
once hurt the picture's watchability long after the fact, with the latter still representing one of the
finer
Action movie scores of the 1980s.
Indeed, it is both the film's ability to play things completely over-the-top but retain an edge of
seriousness to the proceedings, as well as the fabulous chemistry between leads Sylvester
Stallone and Kurt Russell, that make -- and have kept -- Tango & Cash one of the better
Action films to come out of the 1980s. Finely-tuned humor abounds not necessarily from the
suit-and-tie versus jeans-and-boots personality clash, but instead from a good script that provides
both actors an abundance of subtle but wonderfully effective and memorable one-liners, retorts,
and general sight and verbal gags that are always welcome and never once too outrageous or
otherwise inappropriate within the established parameters of the film and, in a broader context,
1980s Action movie style. Stallone and Russell turn in exemplary performances, again within the
context of the style of film and expected level of excellence. They're a natural pairing, and
veteran Jack Palance, too, is perfectly cast as the film's wealthy, bitter, and cunning villain.
These performances -- and even those of secondary and tertiary actors -- are in some ways well
over-the-top, but each actor integrates seamlessly into the picture's inviting and fun tone that
doesn't hinder the excitement and heavy-duty action that plays perfectly with the offbeat humor
and wit.
Tango & Cash pairs up with Blu-ray and delivers a surprisingly healthy 1080p,
2.40:1-framed transfer. Despite the picture's fairly vanilla feel -- there's no splash of excess color,
exemplary set design, or awe-inspiring locales -- Warner's 1080p transfer seems faithful to the
source and does about all it can with what it has to work with, and the results are sure to please
viewers with long-in-the-tooth and well-worn standard-definition copies of the film. Blacks can be a
bit overpowering, but not excessively so, and generally retain a pleasing, inky appearance. Colors,
too, are stable and natural, not exactly vibrant but otherwise seemingly true-to-the-source. Fine
detail won't wow longtime Blu-ray high definition viewers, either, but most every scene offers
suitably
pleasing textures and even some minute detailing that, along with a nicely sharp and well-defined
image, proves the finest upgrade over previous home video versions. In fact, only a few shots --
generally of faces -- appear excessively or unnaturally sharp, and even more rare are shots that
appear too soft. Only a few random and miniscule artifacts plague the transfer, and it retains a
natural film grain pattern that rounds out a very strong catalogue release from Warner Brothers.
Tango & Cash's Dolby TrueHD 5.1 lossless soundtrack isn't quite as impressive as its 1080p
picture counterpart, but it gets the job done without any egregious problems. The primary flaw --
and seemingly inherent to the source -- is a soundtrack that's simply not all that engaging. Not at
all aggressive or robust even at reference volume, this lossless mix plods along well enough but
never once engages listeners in the same way better, top-flight soundtracks can. Dialogue is
generally clear and intelligible but sometimes a bit sloppy and muddled. Ambient effects are often
limited to the front portion of the soundstage; Tango and Cash's arrival at prison is met with unruly
inmates that scream and throw debris at the heroes, but the sound remains tightly focused across
the front with little in the way of a discernible surround presentation, leaving the listener
unconvinced of the environment and detached from the scene. Still, the surround channels do
enjoy a few scattered moments of more pronounced activity, particularly during a heavy downpour
that accompanies the duo's escape attempt. Overall, listeners will find this track satisfactory but by
no means engaging or memorable.
Tango & Cash is an exciting, well-made, and nicely-acted thrill ride that's one of the 1980s
most notable Action/Buddy Cop films. Enjoying an exemplary sense of humor that's the perfect
compliment to the picture's high-energy action scenes, amazing chemistry between its
leads, and a superb score that's light and catchy but also a fine compliment to the bullets and
explosions, Tango & Cash retains every bit of its appeal with each viewing, and for the
most part, refuses to acknowledge its age with the passage of time. Warner Brothers' Blu-ray
release is just fine where it counts, but the disc is a total disappointment in the nearly complete
absence of extra content. Nevertheless, the film has never looked or sounded so good for home
consumption, and fans will be more than satisfied with the upgrade presented over the standard
definition DVD. Recommended for fans.
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