SWEEPERS (Keoni Waxman, 1998)

[Jox]

Any ideas why director Keoni Waxman went by Darby Black for this one? Is it because it was taken away from him and re-edited?

Waxman told me (in 2010) candidly that at the time of making SWEEPERS (1997-98), he used his "writing pseudonym" Darby Black because didn't want to be typecast as an action director, to be able to pursue other kinds of movies, but that retrospectively it wasn't necessary...

SWEEPERS was his first action movie per say while his other films prior and after were more like dramas (he even did a biopic on Anna Nicole Smith), thriller comedies, or crime films, up until the start of his collaboration with Steven Seagal which he had not anticipated 11 years prior when he worked with Dolph...

[Jox]

Polish VCD

[savagesketch]

Latest episode of the podcast is here, this time discussing SWEEPERS! Brenton Haysom of the website, All Outta Bubblegum (allouttabubblegum.com), joins me to discuss this overlooked "action film with a message." Enjoy!!!

https://imustbreakthispodcast.wordpress ... -sweepers/

[Jox]

REVISITING SWEEPERS (1998)
http://theactionelite.com/sweepers-1998-review/

[Jox]

Australian promo poster

[ramboraph4life]

Revisiting this for my Dolph Lundgren marathon of reviews for youtube and man...I still do not understand the 3.8 rating on IMDB or the amount of hate this flick gets. I think it's sincerely a fun & entertaining flick.

Even on this DVD, you can tell it's a good looking flick. The film is competently shot, there's a lot great action (the train sequence in the third act alone I'll gladly take over these over CGI-d Big Budget flicks like Skyscraper with The Rock any day and anytime), and the landmine idea made it a little more unique compared to other flicks.

Easily better than stuff like The Last Warrior, Diamond Dogs, One in the Chamber or the stuff that comes out nowadays ala Altitude, etc. Let alone (ugh) Retrograde.

Definitely one of Dolph's more underrated Direct to DVD stuff like The Peacekeeper, Command Performance, Silent Trigger, Direct Action and such.

Maybe cause I've seen countless films that I would deem 'bad' (for example, I did a marathon of Steven Seagal films...yes including reviewing all of his direct to DVD stuff)...if you think Sweepers is bad? Just watch stuff like Attack Force, Sniper: Special Ops, The Foreigner, Today You Die and more. Or flicks like Nemesis 2-4 with Sue Price (ugh).

[Jox]

The movie has its flaws but it's really underrated indeed and I voiced my affection for the film several times here (members of the forum must be fed up with it haha!)...

[shooby]

I find that the only worry of the film is its end a little quickly shipped, but the fictitiousness, and the way it is treated, is worth it.

By cons, I would not say that The Peacekeeper or Direct Action are good DTV. Unlike Command Performance Silent Trigger, Icarus, The Inquiry, Storm Catcher or Bridge of Dragons (nice to see Brian Fitkin in)

[ramboraph4life]

By cons, I would not say that The Peacekeeper or Direct Action are good DTV. Unlike Command Performance Silent Trigger, Icarus, The Inquiry, Storm Catcher or Bridge of Dragons (nice to see Brian Fitkin in)

I disagree with that. The Peacekeeper has some very stellar action sequences (I still wonder how they pulled off that insane car chase sequence across the rooftops...I've seen big budget action films with scenes that didn't look as good as that), Roy Scheider made for a good President, and Montel Williams wasn't that bad at all.

And Direct Action is fun and, in a way, like Bridge of Dragons in the fact of 'a film I enjoy when I just want to see Dolph go around and kick a lot of ass'. I like Bridge of Dragons, but I put Direct Action above it because one problem I have with Bridge of Dragons is the over the top sound FX (perhaps the director was still in that 'Power Rangers' mode that he was working on, to the point that even when a character moves into frame there's 'woosh' sound). Plus the whole 'is it a fairy tale?' thing was a bit weird to me.

[lt.brannigan]

Echo Bridge Home Entertainment now has the home video rights to Dolph's Nu Image films... which means that a decent USA Blu-Ray release is out of the question. They are releasing a 7 film DVD collection on the 26th that contains

Blackjack
Bridge of Dragons
Command Performance
Direct Action
Direct Contact
Peacekeeper
Sweepers



Most worrying is that they no longer have a website and no seeming way to contact them if issues arise. They have been pretty much dormant for the past two years with only a small smattering of releases of their stuff. For instance they released the same 10-15 movie action sets a dozen times with different cover art.

The inclusion of Blackjack confuses me however. I thought that was a Miramax title, which would mean that Lionsgate has it.

Anyway it's $7 for the disc on Amazon.Com

[Jox]

The inclusion of Blackjack confuses me however. I thought that was a Miramax title, which would mean that Lionsgate has it.

BLACKJACK and other considered "minor" Miramax titles have been licensed to Echo Bridge for a while. Echo Bridge had made that badly transferred BR of MEN OF WAR bundled with a Sean Bean flick as well as the 6-title pack with HIDDEN ASSASSIN. I'm pretty sure they had re-released BLACKJACK on DVD as well prior to this boxset...

[ramboraph4life]

The inclusion of Blackjack confuses me however. I thought that was a Miramax title, which would mean that Lionsgate has it.

that badly transferred BR of MEN OF WAR bundled with a Sean Bean flick

What's so 'badly transferred' about it?

[Jox]

The image of the Echo Bridge MEN OF WAR is zoomed in a 1.78 aspect ratio instead of the original 2.35 cinemascope ratio...

[Jox]

Echo Bridge Home Entertainment now has the home video rights to Dolph's Nu Image films... which means that a decent USA Blu-Ray release is out of the question. They are releasing a 7 film DVD collection on the 26th that contains

Blackjack
Bridge of Dragons
Command Performance
Direct Action
Direct Contact
Peacekeeper
Sweepers

If the back cover specs are correct and BRIDGE OF DRAGONS is indeed in proper widescreen, I'd get it just for that until a Blu-ray gets released somewhere.

[lt.brannigan]

I was considering getting it anyway, just cause I could use a new copy of Bridge of Dragons.