Review by Gary Tooze

 

Production:

Theatrical: Golan-Globus Productions

Video: Arrow Video

 

Disc:

Region: 'B' (as verified by the Oppo Blu-ray player)

Runtime: 2:09:13.162

Disc Size: 47,105,760,079 bytes

Feature Size: 37,862,256,000 bytes

Video Bitrate: 34.98 Mbps

Chapters: 12

Case: Standard Blu-ray case

Release date: May 5th, 2014

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps

Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Audio:

LPCM Audio English 2304 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2304 kbps / 24-bit

 

Subtitles:

English (SDH), none

 

Extras:

• Genre Hijackers: Mark Hartley on Cannon Films – The filmmaker discusses the explosive legacy of Golan and Globus (14:43)
• Chuck Norris Scribe: An Interview with writer James Bruner (21:48)
• May The Delta Force Be With You! – An interview with Commandant Christian Prouteau, founder of the French GIGN and instructor of the first Delta Force (23:20)
• Original Theatrical Trailer (1:57)
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
• Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by author John Kenneth Muir and a contemporary article on Cannon Films, illustrated with original archive stills and posters

 

Bitrate:

 

 

Description: Cannon Films are known for producing some of the most enjoyable and eccentric action flicks of the 80s but The Delta Force, which boasts scenes of Chuck Norris flying through the air on a missile-mounted motorbike, surely stands as one of their most entertaining efforts.

American Travel Ways Flight 282 has been hijacked by a group of terrorists claiming to represent the New World Revolutionary Organisation. The Delta Force, under the leadership of Captain Scott McCoy (Chuck Norris), is called in to handle the situation. Still smarting from an ill-fated hostage rescue mission several years prior, this elite squad of special forces are determined to succeed in their mission this time and assert the might of the American military once and for all.

Drawing on a number of true-life terrorist incidents for inspiration, most notably the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847, The Delta Force is a non-stop thrill ride which culminates in one of the most explosive action flick finales of all time. With Chuck Norris on hand to provide the muscle and gravelly-voiced Lee Marvin (The Killers) in his last ever screen role, The Delta Force is one mission you can t afford not to accept.

 

 

The Film:

Menahem Golan melds a Chuck Norris action spectacle with the disaster film genre in The Delta Force. The story is based upon the June, 1985 hijacking of a TWA jet, where passengers were held at gun-point by terrorists in Beirut, Lebanon. The film re-enacts various real life incidents from the crisis -- an American serviceman is beaten to death, a terrorist holds a gun to the pilot's head as the pilot is being questioned by reporters -- while depicting the tension aboard the plane and the agony of the passengers, held under the threat of death by the terrorists. The Delta Force, a crack anti-terrorist commando group, is preparing to rescue the passengers. Colonel Nick Alexander (Lee Marvin) is the grizzled commander of the task force; his best soldier is Major Scott McCoy (Chuck Norris), who was planning to retire but is called back into action for one last heroic stand against terrorism.

Excerpt from MRQE located HERE

Once more the dream machine rewrites US foreign policy; after Rambo, we now get their Delta Force. Amid all the pyrotechnics of airport hijackings, blown over stunt men, rackety chases through bazaars, all of it quite competently handled, there are a few asides of interest. Students of minimal acting techniques can compare Marvin and Norris: impassivity versus vacancy. Students of the disaster film should write a short thesis on why George Kennedy is ubiquitous. Everyone else might wonder why the film is so virulently anti-Arab.

Excerpt from Timeout located HERE

 

Image :    NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

The Delta Force gets an impressive dual-layered transfer to Blu-ray from Arrow Films in the UK. There is a bare-bones, region FREE, Blu-ray, in 1.78:1, of the film - available in the US. This edition has a max'ed bitrate for the over 2+ hour feature. Colors are rich and flesh tones appear fairly warm. The image is thick and has an appealing heaviness to it. The 1080P supports solid contrast exhibiting healthy, rich black levels and some minor depth in the 1.85:1 frame.  It's pristinely clean showcasing some hi-def detail, notable in close-ups, and this Blu-ray provides a strong presentation. I found no noise or others flaws. It seems like an excellent rendering. I doubt we will compare to the US BD edition.

 

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

 

 

None English (Arabic | Hebrew | Greek) Language subtitle Sample

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio :

Arrow utilize a linear PCM stereo track at 2304 kbps. The action sequences are nicely supported with punchy depth and the score by Alan Silvestri (Flight, Forrest Gump, Contact) runs smoothly beside the film - if however the 'theme' music is overused and the repetition is a bit irritating after a while. There are optional English subtitles and my Oppo has identified it as being a region 'B'-locked.

 

Extras :

Arrow include some new extras, starting with the 15-minute Genre Hijackers: Mark Hartley on Cannon Films where the filmmaker discusses the legacy of Golan and Globus. Chuck Norris Scribe: is a 21-minute interview with writer James Bruner about the evolution of the story and script. May The Delta Force Be With You! is a 23-minute interview with Commandant Christian Prouteau, founder of the French GIGN and instructor of the first Delta Force. There is an original theatrical trailer. The package has both a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys and a liner notes booklet featuring new writing on the film by author John Kenneth Muir and a contemporary article on Cannon Films, illustrated with original archive stills and posters.

 

 

BOTTOM LINE:
Well, The Delta Force, has Chuck Norris and is stacked with stars gone by (Lee Marvin, Martin Balsam, Joey Bishop, George Kennedy, Bo Svenson, Robert Vaughn, Shelley Winters etc.). I found this formulaic and kind of tedious. Perhaps my mood - but I wasn't into the film very much. It did have a generous pace and plenty of action but perhaps a little too much flag waving for me. The Arrow Blu-ray provides an excellent a/v presentation with some new supplements. The film has a following and this seems a great way to view it in your home theater. 

Gary Tooze

April 29th, 2014

MGM have released The Delta Force on Blu-ray in the US: