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National Security - Special Edition

As routine as movies are getting these days, is it any surprise that "National Security" is as bad as it is? Falling into one of the most overplayed, underwhelming genres of late- the buddy action comedy- the film is a step down in the careers of those who made it, and simply another stone in the pile of the countless failures that have come before it. Martin Lawrence has certainly done better than this; here, he plays failed L.A.P.D. hopeful Earl Montgomery, whose hip-hop antics land him in the reject pile along with real cop Hank Rafferty (Steve Zahn) after the two get into a brawl full of misunderstandings so insipid that they have no humor. They later go on to become security guards, the lowest form of life on the law enforcement food chain; eventually they must team up, however, when they uncover a smuggling operation led by Nash (Eric Roberts), a standard villain if ever there was one. ***

Director Dennis Dugan's "Bad Boys"-esque approach to the material is lite in every sense of the word, from his staging of the various run-of-the-mill action sequences (the scene in the soda storage unit was pretty nifty, though), to the countless moments of uninspired comedy that makes us yearn for the more enjoyable laughs of Michael Bay's 1995 hit. Lawrence and Zahn do what they can to salvage the material from being pure rubbish, but their efforts are undermined by the absolute lack of chemistry between their characters, and the blatant absence of any humor. The film plays the racial card a little too often here, and the plot winds down to the old-as-dirt conclusion long after its due date. Whatcha gonna do when these guys come for you? If you're smart, you'll run as fast as you can.

The same problem that plagued the transfer for "Darkness Falls" can be seen on this transfer for "National Security." With both a widescreen and a fullframe presentation fit onto a single-sided disc, not to mention a handful of extras, the quality of the transfer is noticeably reduced. Overall, the picture looks good enough, with nice color saturation and fidelity, and some decent edges with only minor enhancement artifacts present. The problem lies with the darker scenes, where contrast and shadow detail suffers and gives way to some visible compression artifacts and noise. It ranks as a pretty good effort, but it could be improved upon. ***

The sound, mastered in Dolby Digital 5.1, is much better. Typical for the buddy flick/action movie genre, there's lots of well-recorded hip-hop music that receives some good .1 LFE enhancement and a nice presence in the surrounds. Dialogue is natural throughout, while imaging is excellent in terms of the terrific sound effects. The track exhibits an aggressive sonic experience that is truly remarkable, especially in an early shootout in a soda storage facility. Top-notch!