Two of the Best
Stallone plays Lt. Raymond Tango of the LA police department. He’s the top cop on one side of LA while Kurt Russell, as Lt. Gabriel Cash, is the best in the business on the other side. Both think they are the best cop in the city and both are heralded for their excellent work. Tango is a more calculated, wits first type of cop, although he can definitely hold his own when using a gun or when in hand to hand combat. Cash on the other hand is more of a fast paced, brute force, do whatever you have to do and fast kind of cop, but his actions are not without a goal or plan in mind. Their rivalry and commitment to their duty is a great benefit for the city in that each has bagged dozens of drug dealers and millions of dollars of narcotics.
Of course, the head of LA’s largest drug cartel isn’t too pleased about Tango & Cash’s work. Enter Jack Palance’s character, Yves Perret. Perret’s headquarters is hidden in a large construction yard and from here he directs members of his organization to do his bidding. He devises a cunning plan to get Tango & Cash out of his life by framing them and getting them put into prison. With Tango & Cash out of the way, Perret’s lucrative drug business can flourish. With the help of corrupt cops and Perret’s own henchmen, his plan succeeds and two of LA’s finest are put into prison where they are subsequently meant to be killed. Forced to work together, the two egotistical cops grind out a working relationship and manage to escape. One of the police chiefs promises to hold off the police search for roughly twenty-four hours, just long enough for Tango & Cash to work together to try to get to Perret and clear their names.
Tango & Cash, the film, has plenty of good humor and lots of great action, two key ingredients in a buddy-cop film. Some of the lines intended for comedy come across as cheesy, but there are some good chuckles to be had amidst all of the fast paced action which consists largely of vehicle chases, firefights, and hand to hand combat. A subplot featuring Teri Hatcher as Kiki Tango, Raymond’s sister, falling for Cash, makes things a little more interesting for the pair, and furthers Tango & Cash’s relationship by the end of the film.
I’ve always thought a lot of the film, and still do today. It’s not a movie you will probably watch more than a couple of times a year, but it has a very welcomed spot in my Blu-ray library.
On Blu-ray
Being a twenty-year old, not-terribly-popular film, I wasn’t too sure how much effort would go into this Blu-ray. It’s sadly lacking in the extras category in that the only extra feature on the disc is the theatrical trailer. However as far as image and audio quality, I was pleased. Image quality is sharp, with good contrast and is vibrant. There is a just a little grain at times, but I’ve seen newer films look worse than this one. All in all, while the image quality isn’t outstanding, I think overall they did a solid job. For audio, a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track is included and it does well for itself, no complaints.
With the near complete lack of extras, there isn’t a whole lot else to say about this Blu-ray release. That said, let’s get to the summary…