Poor Cuba Gooding, Jr. He does the odd role here… plays a bit part there… and generally manages to evade the public’s eye for about ten years until he wins an Oscar for proving that it doesn’t take much to outshine Tom Cruise. Next thing you know, the world is at his feet… so what does he do then? Instinct: the film everybody thought was going to be the sequel to Silence Of The Lambs; Pearl Harbor (OK, I’m willing to give Cuba the benefit of the doubt on this one - I don’t think anyone could have predicted how truly awful a film it would prove to be… you suck, Michael Bay! And you too, Jerry Bruckheimer!); Snow Dogs: yes, the man who out-acted Tom Cruise gets upstaged by huskies. Oddly enough, his co-star in the equally-bad Chill Factor (Skeet Ulrich - heh, remember him?) starred in a similar movie made around the same time titled Kevin Of The North (better known as Chilly Dogs); and, of course, the moving picture that all-but secured Cuba’s title as has-been: Boat Trip.

Phew, talk a bout a killing spree… and I even left a few titles out!

Normally, when you see Cuba’s name associated with a movie, your lips just kind of curl up to the side of your face… or rather, that was the expression on my face when I saw the DVD cover for Hero Wanted. Surprisingly enough, however, it wasn’t that bad of a movie. Granted, it’s no Tango & Cash, but this low-budget wonder still gets the job done. The story concerns of a guy named Liam (Cuba) who really gets the short end of the stick when he goes from being something of a local life-saver to vigilante when a failed bank heist leaves an innocent young lady in the hospital (yeah, it sounds pretty average, but there is a fairly surprising twist to it). That’s about all I can really say without ruining anything for those of you that will want to watch it out of curiosity (and it’s worth watching at least once, I feel).

Hero Wanted co-stars Ray Liotta (another actor who has seen better days) as a good guy (for once), Norman Reedus, Kim Coates, the utterly inarticulate Anthony Zerbe look-a-like Tommy Flanagan, Ben Cross (in an all-but wasted role), Jean Smart, rising B-Movie Babe Christa Campbell and the late Steven Kozlowski.

[Ten points goes to the individual that can explain why there’s an unmarked publicity photo of Steve Carell from The 40 Year Old Virgin in the barbershop window towards the beginning of the film.]

Presentation
Hero Wanted is shown in anamorphic widescreen with a 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio. The transfer is very nice and clear-looking. English and French 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound tracks are available with English, French and Chinese subtitles. Wait, there are no Spanish subtitles, but there are Chinese subtitles? Has Chinese become the new Spanish or something? Last I knew, the Spanish-speaking population were very partial to action flicks… why no Spanish subtitles?

Extras
The only real Special Feature is an Audio Commentary with first-time Director Brian Smrz, co-writer Chad Law and Cuba Gooding, Jr. There’s a lot of praise and the usual amount of ass-kissing throughout and tends to be a bit dry at times. There are also several Trailers included: 88 Minutes, Cleaner, Diamond Dogs, Revolver, Southland Tales, Impulse, American Crude, The Tattooist, Untraceable, What Love Is, First Sunday, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind - 30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition, and Conspiracy.

The first batch of DVDs pressed for Hero Wanted include a Bonus Digital Copy of the movie. Now, I just don’t get this. Yes, I know what it is and how it works… I am merely incapable of fathoming the logic behind this wholly ironic process. It works like this: you use the Internet, type in a code (which is located on the insert), and you may now download a copy of the movie to your computer, PSP, or PS3 which you can then watch whenever and wherever. Now, am I the only one that finds this absurd? The Motion Picture Industry - the folks that have been fighting bootleggers worldwide and advising us that it is illegal to even so much as view an illicit movie download - are now telling us it’s okay to download their copy of the movie? A copy that can no doubt be hacked and distributed to others? Hello (tap-tap), is this thing on?

I should also note that the outer DVD sleeve included with these “Bonus Digital Copy” versions feature some of that annoying Lenticular Art that (simple) people still find fascinating. I turned the case every which way I could… and the artwork hardly changed at all… nice goin’, guys.

The Bottom Line
The bad news: it’s another Direct-To-Video release. The good news: it’s a moderately good Direct-To-Video release and, had Hero Wanted been made about ten or fifteen years earlier, it would have most certainly enjoyed a mildly lucrative theatrical run and most certainly would’ve been a hit on video.