Spies Like Us

Spies Like Us brings together two of modern cinema's funniest men, Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd, in one of the best comedies of the ‘80s. Directed by John Landis, whose credits include ¡Three Amigos!, Coming to America, and An American Werewolf In London, this film at no stage attempts to take itself seriously.

The story is very uncomplicated. Emmett Fitz-Hume (Chevy Chase), a real swish lady’s man, and Austin Millbarge (Dan Aykroyd), a technology freak, are two CIA rejects that are employed by a top secret government intelligence agency for a dangerous mission into enemy territory. It seems that the Soviets are moving long range missiles, and they must be destroyed. The pair are actually recruited to be decoys for some skilled operatives, hopefully drawing the fire of the enemy onto them whilst the real agents do their espionage work. The only problem is that Emmet and Austin aren’t aware that they are decoys.

The pair must work their way through Afghanistan and Pakistan to reach the USSR. Along the way they are captured by locals, mistaken for doctors, shot at by enemy spies, get lost in a desert, and eventually meet up with the team who they were supposed to be drawing attention away from. They learn that they are being used for a suicide mission by the US government, but will they go home or help complete the real mission? There’s not one minute in the film where a gag is at least not attempted. They keep coming thick and fast, and whether they hit or miss, you will be laughing due to the sheer number and variety of them.

The two lead roles are very well performed by the comic stars. Chevy Chase is at his hilarious best, with many facial expressions and one liners that just crack you up. He truly is one of the finest comedy stars of the last quarter century. Dan Aykroyd holds up his end remarkably well also. His gags are more spoken than visual, but they are just as funny for the most part.

Converted from the original aspect ratio to 1.33:1. Sigh.

Pan & scan. Pan & freakin’ scan. Sigh.

NTSC formatting. NTSC freakin’ formatting. Sigh.

The above are some of the biggest sins in DVD transfers. This disc has them all.

To add to these grievances, the image suffers from a number of problems. The transfer is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and is thus not 16x9 enhanced. Its original aspect ratio was 1.85:1. Not good. Probably the biggest problem with the image is the large amount of film artefacts. All manner of grit, dirt, specks, splotches, hairs, grime and filth, great and small, is present. Very distracting. Grain was present in small amounts.

The sharpness level isn’t too bad, and the detail level is pretty good. Shadow detail is acceptable. The colours are quite good, and nicely saturated. Flesh tones are accurate throughout.

The disc is single sided and single layered, so there is no disruptive layer change. There are no subtitles available.

The audio transfer is only slightly better than the video. The one available soundtrack is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo offering – and it's quite a poor representation.

There is constant hiss throughout the entire film. The action sounds loud and piercing when compared with the dialogue levels. I found myself holding onto the remote and changing the volume frequently so I didn’t get a headache. The dialogue is clear for the most part, and there aren’t any audio synch problems. There is no use of the surrounds and only minimal use for the subwoofer (it generally only comes in to support the score).

The score is a good one and is set by Elmer Bernstein, whose past credits include Bringing Out the Dead, The Magnificent Seven and the upcoming Martin Scorsese film Gangs of New York. The title song is actually by Paul McCartney.

Zero.

Spies Like Us is a very easy movie to watch. It asks for very little use of your brain, and it is nice to just sit back and laugh your head off at the lunacy of the whole thing. The DVD transfer is, unfortunately, ghastly for the most part. Both the image and the sound are not up to par. Therefore I will recommend the movie itself, but give a big thumbs down for the transfer.