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    • WSR Detailed LaserDisc Review

    Knock Off
    Genre:Action Adventure

    Reviewed In Issue 31 Of Widescreen Review® Stars:
    Jean-Claude Van Damme, Rob Schneider, Lela Rochon, Michael Fitzgerald Wong, Carmen Lee, Paul Sorvino

    WSR Review Scores
    Picture Rating: 5
    Sound Rating: 4
    Download WSR Review
    Reference Systems
    Critics' Composite Score:
    Internet Links

    Supplementals

    DVD General Information
    (Studio/Distributor): Columbia/TriStar Home Video
    (Catalog Number): 25886
    (MPAA Rating): R
    (Retail Price): $34.98
    (Running Time In Minutes): 91
    (Color Type): Color
    (Chaptered/Scene Access): Yes
    (Closed Captioned): Yes
    (Theatrical Release): 1998
    (LD Release Date): 12/98
    (THX® Digitally Mastered): No

    Credits Information
    (Director): Tsui Hark
    (Screenplay/Written By): Steven E. de Souza
    (Story): NA
    (Music): Ron Mael, Russell Mael & Varouje
    (Director Of Photography):
    (Production Designer): James Leung & Bill Lui
    (Visual Effects):
    (Costume Designer):
    (Editor): Mak Chi Sin
    (Supervising Sound Editors):
    (Re-Recording Mixers):
    (Executive Producers): NA
    (Co-Producers): Raymond Fung
    (Producers): Nansun Shi

    DVD Picture Information
    (Principal Photography): Super 35
    (Theatrical Aspect Ratio): 2.40:1
    (Measured LaserDisc Aspect Ratio): 2.35:1

    DVD Sound Information
    (DVD Soundtrack): Dolby Digital Surround
    (Theatrical Sound): SDDS Digital
    (Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
    (Remastered Dolby Digital): No
    (Remastered DTS Digital Surround): No
    (Additional Languages):

    WSR Narrative Review
    Story Synopsis:
    Knock Off is a non-stop, action packed thriller starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as Marcus Ray, a sales representative for V SIX Jeans in Hong Kong. As the drama and pageantry of the 1997 return of Hong Kong from British to Chinese rule unfolds, Ray gets wind of a terrifying Russian Mafia scheme to bring deadly microbombs to the worldwide terrorist market. At the same time, Karen Leigh (Lela Rochon), Executive Vice-President at V SIX Jeans, learns that the jeans are being copied into cheap knock offs. Leigh, an undercover CIA agent immediately suspects Ray and his fellow rep—also an undercover CIA agent—Tommy Hendricks (Rob Schneider) are behind the racket. But the three soon learn that the microbombs are being planted in the bootleg jeans.

    LaserDisc Picture:
    The nicely rendered LaserDisc delivers sharp and detailed images throughout. Color fidelity is excellent with richly hued tones and deep, solid blacks. Shadow detail is excellent, and contrast is perfectly displayed. Chroma noise is virtually non-existent nor are there apparent artifacts on either version. The LaserDisc measures 2.35:1.

    LaserDisc Soundtrack:
    The sound design delivers booming deep bass, far-forward dialogue, and a bunch of effects and music scoring thrown all over the soundfield. The Dolby® Digital 5.1 soundtrack sounds very discrete and delineated, though the matrix PCM soundtrack better resolves low level ambience. While the Dolby Digital uses effective split surrounds, deep bass is bombastic in the .1 LFE channel—extremely powerful and speaker threatening.
    (Surround Bass Below 50Hz): Yes
    (Aggressive System Surround): Yes
    (Intense 25Hz Bass): Yes
    (Deep Bass Challenging): Yes
    (Aggressive 0.1 LFE):
    (Holosonic Soundfield): No
    (Aggressive Split Surround): Yes
    (Center Back Surround Imaging): No
    (Directionalized Dialogue): No
    Superb Sound Effects Recording Quality:
    Superb Music Score Recording Quality:
    		 No
    Superb Special Visual Effects Quality:
    		 No
    Superb Color Fidelity:
    		 No
    Superb Cinematography:
    		 -
    Reference LaserDisc:
    		 No
    Collector Edition:
    		 No
    DVD To LaserDisc Comparison:
    The anamorphic DVD picture, when viewed through the component video output exhibits greater detail and sharpness compared to the otherwise nicely rendered LaserDisc. Color fidelity is excellent with richly hued tones and deep, solid blacks. The DVD’s color resolution is more fully saturated with finer detail. Shadow detail is excellent with the DVD, displaying better contrast. Chroma noise is virtually non-existent nor are there apparent artifacts on either version. The LaserDisc, and anamorphic and letterbox DVD measure 2.35:1. The sound design delivers booming deep bass, far-forward dialogue, and a bunch of effects and music scoring thrown all over the soundfield. The Dolby® Digital 5.1 DVD and LaserDisc soundtrack sound very discrete and delineated, though the LaserDisc’s matrix PCM soundtrack better resolves low level ambience. While the Dolby Digital uses effective split surrounds, deep bass is bombastic in the .1 LFE channel—extremely powerful and speaker threatening.