‘The Extreme Adventures Of Super Dave’ Blu-Ray Review – Sophomoric Comedy Chokes On Slapstick

Break out the body-casts! The world’s most painfully hilarious stuntman is back with a powder-keg of laughs! Super Dave Osborne (Bob Einstein, TV’s Curb Your Enthusiasm) gives a crash course in comedy in this wacky adventure of daredevil antics, whiplash humor and crash-test love that’ll break every funny bone in your body! Things couldn’t get much worse for Super Dave. After a near-fatal accident he discovers that he’s been bankrupted by his swindling manager and foreclosed on by the bank. Devastated and ready to hang up his crash helmet, Super Dave finds strength in a klutzy-but-cute single mom (Gia Carides, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me) and her ailing young son, Timmy. And when he learns that Timmy needs an expensive heart operation, Super Dave shuns retirement to raise the money. Even if it means facing off against his arch enemy, Gil (Dan Hedaya, The Crew), a slimy sports promoter, to once again prove that he’s not only the most outrageous daredevil…he’s also the most accident-prone! Directed by Peter MacDonald (Rambo III, Mo’ Money) and featuring cameos by music legend Ray Charles, NFL giant John Elway, boxing great Evander Holyfield and ring announcer extraordinaire Michael Buffer.

For thoughts on The Extreme Adventures Of Super Dave, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic:

[youtube https://youtu.be/kn1ug72VBbE?t=2805]

Video Quality

The Extreme Adventures Of Super Dave makes its Blu-Ray debut with a 1080p transfer in its original 1.85:1 that is pleasing enough from Kino Classics. While I have no specific details about the transfer, this appears to be derived from an older master that shows minimal signs of damage and some light digital tinkering. For the majority of the film, the transfer looks clear and detailed with only a couple of shots exhibiting what could be described as density fluctuations in the grain field. The image quality is stable with some nice detail in the production design and texture of clothing. Colors struggle very slightly in terms of saturations, but mostly they look natural. Black levels are passable in their depth, but a few moments struggle with delineation. There are no blatant instances of compression artifacts or other digital anomalies in the transfer., but there is some speckling of damage throughout  Overall, the presentation is one that holds up fairly well considering the low budget nature and age of the film. 

Audio Quality

Kino Classics brings us this new Blu-Ray with a lossless DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio mix that is quite capable. The dialogue holds up very nicely, coming through clearly for the most part with only a few instances where lines are stepped on by the music or sound effects. The environmental effects are not overwhelming but are delineated nicely within the speakers. The sounds of booming fireworks and other exaggerated sounds bring some heft to the mix. The movie features a buoyant soundtrack which sounds great within the mix. This is a track that captures the intentions of this movie exactly as it needs to thanks to fine work from Kino Classics. 

Special Features

• Audio Commentary: Director Peter MacDonald provides a really great commentary track moderated by Historian/Filmmaker Daniel Kremer in which they discuss translating this material into a feature-length film, working with the celebrities that contributed to the picture, the impressive career of MacDonald, the inspirations from classics works utilized for this film and more. 

• Trailers: The minute-and-a-half trailer for The Extreme Adventures Of Super Dave is included here. There are also trailers provided for The Wrong Guy, The Crew, The Ice Harvest and Stretch. 

Final Thoughts

The Extreme Adventures Of Super Dave is a very sophomoric comedy which relies heavily on slapstick humor and sight gags which may appeal to a certain audience, but is unlikely to move those who need more to make them laugh. The jokes are not particularly clever, and the acting is by and large pretty unremarkable. This is mostly a one-gag event stretched into an entire movie. Kino Classics has brought this film to Blu-Ray with a decent A/V presentation and a fun audio commentary. If you are a fan of the character, you might enjoy this, but all others should sample before they buy. 

The Extreme Adventures Of Super Dave is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray. 

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.