VIDEO
Action Man
Volume 1: The Call to Action

20th Century Fox
£9.99
22381S
Certificate: PG
Available now


Alex Mann, Acceleration Games superstar, discovers that he is in possession of a unique mental ability that has the undesirable reaction of attracting the interest of the deadly Dr. X and another mysterious figure. Alex and his team must go undercover to infiltrate Dr. X's organisation and rescue his best friend and rival Brandon Caine.

Volume 1 begins with a special feature length episode to bring us up to date with Action Man and his 'Team Xtreme'. It gets off to a flying start throwing the viewer in at a high speed skating competition.

The CGI effects are amazing - maybe not up to the standard of the CGI Starship Troopers series, but instantly more engaging. Being a bit of an old fogey I did find the pace a little too fast and I had to watch this with my nine-year-old so that he could keep me up to date with what was going on.

The second episode on the tape (Grey Areas) features the vocal talents of Christopher Judge who Stargate SG-1 fans will know as Teal'C.

It kept me happy for the duration and this is certainly a series that will be loved by the young as well as the young at heart.

The only complaint was that Alex Mann doesn't look like the Action Man poseable figure. He actually bears more of a resemblance to the cheap copy dolls in the Strike Force range. Even my nine-year-old son picked up on this from the start saying: "That's not Action Man".

He may not look the same, but this action man is the business. Great entertainment.

Darren Rea