DIRECT ACTION (Sidney J. Furie, 2004)

[Graham]

The front cover pic isn't from Direct Action though (same with the R2), as Dolph has shorter hair. I HATE it when they use inaccurate photos for covers. Some budget Charles Bronson DVDs of films from the early 70s have cover pics from the late 80s or early 90s....

[Jox]

well yes because this one was made before the movie was filmed!

[Jox]

First Look will release DIRECT ACTION on Blu-Ray November 3rd with COMMAND PERFORMANCE

http://firstlookmedia.com/titles/film_d ... ProjectID={1723FA1D-A15E-44FB-B431-106463BED256}&BusinessUnitID={BC740C00-312C-4641-821A-D46574CD05FB}

[algren]

Direct Action

I watched this movie tonight and to my disbelief it was actually good. Much better than the previous Dolph's i have watched lately (Bridge of Dragons, Direct Contact & The Peacekeeper). What i liked was the way it was shot; the viewer can see everything that is happening on screen, its a pleasant watch. I cannot stand movies like The Bourne Ultimatum, that have action scenes where the camera moves around and chops and changes from one camera to the next just to make it appear that the main star can actually fight. Well, Dolph can fight, we all know that, so they just put a camera on him and let it role. Very pleased with that side. I'm not sure whether they did that because they could only afford one camera or whether they knew Dolph could kick ass without cheating with camera usage. But i dont care, it was good.

I liked Dolphs hair, nice and slick. It was a low-budget movie, but that didnt matter. I would rather watch a low-budget movie where a) the director cares about the story and style of the film and b) you can see that the little money available went a long way.

Now i'm not fully positive about this film, but it was very much better than the others of late.They could have picked a better title for it as Direct Action is a little generic, doesnt really help people pick it up and buy it. Acting wasn't the strong point either. It had nice martial arts in it, it was violent and quite well paced. All in all it was a good film. I do wish they didn't use this cover i have (a), though, as he doesnt look like this at all! Instead he looks like this (b).

DTV Grade: 9/10

(10/10 on DTV movie grade would be about 5/10 on a normal movie grading system)

a:
b:

[Mosquito]

I cannot stand movies like The Bourne Ultimatum, that have action scenes where the camera moves around and chops and changes from one camera to the next just to make it appear that the main star can actually fight. Well, Dolph can fight, we all know that, so they just put a camera on him and let it role. Very pleased with that side.

Absolutely. I liked The Bourne Ultimatum but the last film was practically unwatchable. So many people are complaining about this and I really, really hope they move away from that style rather sooner than later. Also spoiled the last Bond movie for me.

I liked Dolphs hair, nice and slick.

Glad that I'm not the only one obsessed with his hair styles. I bet we all are, the others just don't admit it.

[Jox]

I do wish they didn't use this cover i have (a), though, as he doesnt look like this at all! Instead he looks like this (b).

Because like what happens a lot with Nu Image flicks and right now with COMMAND PERFORMANCE, Nu Image first did this artwork they used for pre-sales with a picture from the previous movie they did with Dolph (DETENTION) and then most distributors around the world used it (ie the DA gallery)

I cannot stand movies like The Bourne Ultimatum, that have action scenes where the camera moves around and chops and changes from one camera to the next just to make it appear that the main star can actually fight. Well, Dolph can fight, we all know that, so they just put a camera on him and let it role. Very pleased with that side.

Agree 100 %

Filming and editing is partly responsible for my running away from most movies these days because it's so not what I grew up with and enjoy. Some hurt even physically because my eyes and brain are attacked in such a way they can't even follow and take it.

[algren]

Some hurt even physically because my eyes and brain are attacked in such a way they can't even follow and take it.

Very true.

[Jox]

Blu-ray back cover

[Nathan]

Wow Dolph's leg looks great, his shoes are a little bit dirty though... Not a bad cover overall..

[Scorpio]

Spanish Trailer

[Jox]

Making of part 1 (in Spanish)


Making of part 2 (in Spanish)

[Scorpio]

That rapid! You have moved forward your Jox to me

[Jox]

Rough behind the scenes ("B-roll") footage (part 1)


Rough behind the scenes ("B-roll") footage (part 2)


interviews

[Scorpio]

Spanish Interviews (part 2)

[Jox]

For those who haven't read my interview with composer Adam Nordén on the CP site:

How did you get to start working with Dolph Lundgren on the Sidney J. Furie picture DIRECT ACTION ?
Well my family and his family are sort of friends, so that’s how I know Dolph from the beginning. With Direct Action I can’t remember exactly, that must have been five years ago or something? A year earlier or so, I met Dolph and his wife, we had lunch, and I had been working on a lot of Swedish movies and stuff. And then he went to Canada to shoot DIRECT ACTION with Sidney, and suddenly they needed a composer and Dolph thought of me and asked me if I wanted to send some stuff over. So I sent some stuff to Sidney and he liked it and then they flew me over to Canada to meet with Sidney. So I brought my laptop and I started working on the score as we were in the editing room.

You probably didn’t have a lot of time on this movie?
No, I think we had maybe four weeks or something like that…

How was working with Sidney J. Furie?
Sidney really didn’t have much opinions on what I did, he thought most what what I did was pretty cool, so he let me do my thing. As I remember I don’t think they had a temp track, because as I started making music in the editing suite they used a lot of my cues as a temp score. So I think I did four or five cues when we were in Canada, so I was sitting in the same room, working with the editor and Dolph. Dolph was actually doing lot of the editing at that time.

I heard Dolph was very involved in the process, almost co-directing with Sidney?
Yeah, I think he was actually much more involved than Sidney was in the post-production process. As you know, Dolph has been taking a bigger interest in his career during the last five or six years and this is was probably the movie when he thought of doing this. On the movies preceding that one, I think he sort of lost it because they screwed a lot of money around, after the shooting was finished. But then he thought to take a bigger interest in the output on the screen. He saw that his career was suffering from not getting as good as results as he could get in…