Review of Who Dares Wins

Introduction

Another one of those early 1980s films that was much talked about in the playground at a time when you were much too young to watch it. Maybe this meant that you would enjoy it more when you finally got your chance to see it. The age at which I first saw it could probably account for my fond memories for this film, but how will it fare today?

A tub-thumping British spy thriller/action film starring Lewis "The Professionals" Collins. Not too many piles of cardboard boxes to be run over in sports cars here though, as terrorist groups and SAS assaults are the order of the day.

Video

A full frame transfer which is of distinctly average quality, with quite a bit of dirt and and some grain evident, and a very slightly faded looking palette at times. At other times it does look quite good, but on the whole it must go down as average at best.

I`m not overly surprised given the age of the film but it would have been nice to see a little bit more effort. An improvement over the VHS version but not by a lot.

Look out for some nasty 1980s haircuts and clothes too.

Audio

A DD2.0 soundtrack, which is the original mono soundtrack replayed across both channels. As with the picture it is distinctly average, with some scenes sounding distinctly "muddy". The audio action doesn`t complement the on-screen action very well at all.

An example of how not to do it.

Features

A few brief extras which include a photo gallery and some brief information about the history of the SAS. Nothing to write home about though I`m afraid.

Conclusion

This film has not aged well and it`s not helped by a poor transfer to DVD. The plot is pretty basic, the script isn`t great and some of the acting is pretty shocking. There are some good action set pieces dotted throughout the film but these aren`t really enough to keep you interested in what`s going to happen next.

A very average picture and very average sound, combined with only brief extras make this a rental for nostalgia purposes only!