Gotcha! [Blu-ray]

(3 1/2 stars for the movie, 5 stars for the blu-ray)"Gotcha!" was released theatrically on May 3, 1985 garnering mixed to negative reviews and grossing $10.8 million against a production budget of $12.5 million. Director Jeff Kanew is best known for editing the acclaimed 1980 drama "Ordinary People" and directing 1984's "Revenge of the Nerds". Anthony Edwards (who also appeared in "Revenge of the Nerds") co-stars along with a stunningly gorgeous Linda Fiorentino who was in her mid 20's when this film was made."Gotcha!" attempts to juggle multiple genres including comedy, action, thriller, and romance all in one movie. While it does not succeed as a whole in that respect, the movie does still manage to entertain despite the scattershot stylistic approach.This film is highly recommended for fans of Linda Fiorentino who literally smolders in her role as a secret agent who is also quite a seductress. Despite the PG-13 rating, she does do some nudity in this film. As a huge fan of this gorgeous and talented actress, I do not think she has ever looked more sexy and beautiful than she does in "Gotcha!". I do think that the film would have maybe worked better as a more hard hitting R rated film in which it could have gone even further with the violence and sexual content. It seems hamstrung at times by the PG-13 rating in my opinion. But overall, "Gotcha!" still works well enough even if the movie never manages to coalesce from a storytelling angle. It is a fun little popcorn flick.While the film has been available for a few years as an import blu-ray from some European territories, Kino Lorber gives the film its long overdue North American blu-ray release as part of their KL Studio Classics imprint."Gotcha!" is presented on a dual layer disc in its original 1.85:1 aspect ratio utilizing the AVC codec at a maxed out bit rate normally between 39 and 40.5. Nothing on the back of the case indicates that a new scan of the film was done so this is most likely an existing master provided by Univeral Pictures. Overall picture quality looks good with solid detail, accurate colors and skin tones, and decent black and contrast levels. Since the film got a maxed out encode, absolutely no compression artifacts are to be found. While a new 2K or 4K scan of the camera negative would have been preferable, for an older HD master, the film still looks pretty good and a solid step up from the DVD. I do not have any of the prior import blu-rays to compare Kino Lorber's disc to by the way.Sound is presented in English DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio. Dialogue was clear and things sounded well balanced. English subtitles are included for the hearing impaired.Special features are as follows:- NEW Audio Commentary by Director Jeff Kanew- NEW Audio Commentary by Entertainment Journalist and Author Bryan Reesman- Theatrical Trailer"Gotcha!" gets rescued from obscurity by Kino Lorber who deliver a nice blu-ray for North American audiences. The film looks good and sounds great while featuring a couple of nice extras in the form of commentary tracks. Fans of Linda Fiorentino especially should snatch up this disc.

Saw this in the theater when it first came out many many years ago. Bought it to enjoy it again. Got my wife to watch it with me, though it is not exactly a chick flick she enjoyed it. For most it requires suspending your disbelief. You have to remember it was made in a different era before many things changed. A major plot device, paint ball guns are a significant part in the beginning of this movie. Paint ball gun wars were actually happening at one time. But today you even dream of trying this and the cops will swarm around you. This was also at a time before so many campus shootings which has made everyone jumpy over any gun. The cold war was in full swing and Eastern Europe was a dangerous place to go visit. For many they will find this movie a tad too unbelievable. But for those of us old enough to really remember the times it is a simple yet quite enjoyable flick.The plot is simple enough. Slightly odd geeky rich college boy involved in a paint ball gun war and desperately seeking to get laid goes on a spring break trip with his college roommate (a womanizing East LA gang member) to Europe. While his roommate is off getting women to swoon over him, he ends up looking like a dorky tourist as he sits in a coffee shop. An slightly older woman picks him up and so he finally gets laid. Then she gets him to go to with her to Eastern Germany. Being a dork and desperate for sex he does not realize that she is a spy and the danger he is placed in by her. She uses him to transport some film out of Eastern Germany. He ends up being chased around Europe by some East block spy thugs. He manages to get on a plane back home where he finds that several groups of spy characters are after something he has. Takes him a bit to realize that he has a roll of film that is not his. Once he gets his big head doing some thinking he finally turns the tables on all the spies. The finish that really resonated with the guys in the theater years ago is where he uses a tranquilizer gun to nail a stuck up college girl that has coldly and cruelly spurned every advance he has made to her.

I saw this movie a long time ago and i thought the price was reasonable but i saw it on regular tv that would not have all the movie footage

Enjoyed the plot line, even though stuck back in the days of East Berlin, film cameras, and paintball guns on campus. (try that now and see what happens!)

A very underrated film from the 80’s.

Just a fun movie to watch. Anyone who went to college on the '80s will remember playing gotcha- it finally got out of hand and was banned- this is a wanna be spy movie my wife loved- it's funny and silly. You and your significant other will enjoy it.

Great

I’ve wanted this movie for quite some time without saying too much on the why. It has a lot of things to like about it, to include a mostly unique story, and how often do you see college students run around campus with even ‘fake guns and get away with it, even back then? After seeing it this time, I can grasp why the critics did not like it, because it could have been made better; possibly more time in France, etc, but its a still a winner and you can’t buy it streaming online. Wish the price could have been lower, but no big deal. Will watch it again - decent quality.