Harry Callahan is the forefathers of the modern action genre and in this double feature collection we’re given two sequels to the original classic that kickstarted the action/cop genre. Although the sequels can’t compare to the original Dirty Harry, how do Sudden Impact & The Enforcer stack up as a double feature.

Films

Sudden Impact & The Enforcer are two very different films, everything from their visual style to their stories’ content differ. Sudden Impact is a very dark and gritty crime story with a seedy and mature story, whereas The Enforcer follows a more average crime storyline.

Sudden Impact centers around a revenge tale of a woman who was tricked into a situation where she ends up getting gang raped, where although she survives she vows to exact revenge against all those involves. The film carries on with Harry Callahan following the murders and piecing together her story. Harry then has to decide if her actions are just. One downfall to Sudden Impact is Sondra Locke’s performance, which isn’t terrible, but it doesn’t surprise me that after her divorce with Clint Eastwood she wasn’t able to find much work.

The Enforcer follows Harry as he tries to foil a terrorist group while showing his new female partner the dangers of police work. Where Sudden Impact told a dark tale, The Enforcer is a bit easier on the audience and actually provides a politically correct tale which shows women in an equal light. In comparison to the other sequels such as Dead Pool, these films stand out as the lesser of the four sequels. Just remember however that in Dead Pool we’ve got to deal with a high speed chase with a remote control car (I think there was a reason it was the last film). So even though The Enforcer & Sudden Impact aren’t the best installments to the series they do cover some interesting subject matter.

To newcomer Eastwood fans, see the original Dirty Harry first and make the informed decision of whether or not you want to see the continuation of Harry Callahan’s story, but make sure you realize none of the sequels really live up to the original, however if you do get around to watching Sudden Impact, you get to witness the delivery of the famous line”Go ahead make my day”.

Video

Both films’ video is displayed using the VC-1 codec at 1080p in their original aspect ratios of 2.40:1. Both films are free of artefacts and above-average amounts of grain. The Enforcer has a slightly softer image and comes off brighter than Sudden Impacts’s contrasted lighting scheme.

Both films’ have some extended night sequences, which really showcase the limitations of the film stocks of the time. That isn’t much of an issue, considering basically every film around the time had the same issues, but Sudden Impact’s noir style cinematography is a bit hard to follow.

The motion within the video is pretty smooth and skin tones are natural, however the colours are slightly muted. Considering the age. of the material, the films look pretty good!

Audio

Both film’s audio comes at us using the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio, with a Dolby TrueHD lossless encoding as a secondary option. Both options for our listening pleasure are pretty much on even keel, if you’re an audiophile then it’s pretty much a standard to just stick with DTS-HD, however I noticed that the track had a different balance when listening to the TrueHD version.

Most notably the main difference with the TrueHD vs the DTS-HD track is the surround presence as well as the score. The DTS-HD version has been remixed to have some sound come from behind, wheras the TrueHD relies on surround bleeding for most of it’s  rear presense.   The score on the TrueHD version however pops a bit more, which may not be great for Sudden Impact due to the very dated style of score.

Special Features

Although a lot of these double feature value packs are sometimes quickly put together with little care put into the special features section. Both films have audio commentaries, The Enforcer‘s commentary is by the film’s director whereas Sudden Impact’s commentary is done by a historian/eastwood biographer.

There’s also a handful of featurettes including a career retrospective on Eastwood, which seems to be the big thing now with the Eastwood filmography catalogue getting rereleased to celebrate his body of work, however the featurette is only about twenty minutes and doesn’t cover any fresh ground.

Final Thoughts

Both films, although dated are great examples of the classic era of the action genre, if you’re a fan of the dirty harry films then these affordable double feature collections might be a good way to get your favorite films from the series. If you’re a newcomer who’s interested in seeing a couple fun action flicks from the past, then this film will make a good rental. With decent audio/video presentation and a good amount of special features makes this a worthwhile rental.