Underground

If Underground lacks depth (among other faults) then at least the DVD extras don’t. The ten-minute behind the scenes featurette does feature some good fight footage which works better here than it does in the film and the talent of the fighters involved is clear, even if they are somewhat misguidedly positive about the actual film – I suppose you have to be if you’re involved in the production.

The anatomy of a scene is a back-to-back comparison between a fight from the film and its rehearsal. It becomes obvious where the filmmakers made their mistakes in the film – it’s all shot too close to the action. The rehearsal footage looks better (even on a plain sound stage) and it’s all in mid and long shot.

The interviews with seven of the main martial artists (Joey Ansah, Mark Strange, Zara Phythian, Nathan Lewis, Beau Fowler, Leon Sua and Chris Smith) range in length from two to 11mins. The interviews cover information about how the fighters got involved, the production, and their other fighting and acting experience. It’s standard press kit material with a little training footage and a smattering of insights and facts, such as Joey Ansah comparing his experience on The Bourne Ultimatum to working on Underground.

There are also 10 minutes of deleted scenes, most of which are wisely excised from the film but among these there are some deleted fights. The rest of the DVD is padded out with cast and crew bios, galleries, previews, and trailers and TV spots. Out of these, the only thing I can highly recommend checking out the Japanese trailer to Underground, which - in complete contrast to the actual film – is great.