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Dom Robinson reviews
- Cert:
- Cat.no: DV 1021
- Running time: 106 minutes
- Year: 1995
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 20 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
- Languages: Cantonese
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 1.85:1
- 16:9-enhanced: No
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 5
- Price: £19.99
- Extras : Scene index, Theatrical trailer, Original movie poster
Director:
- Tsui Hark
(The Blade, The Chinese Feast, Double Team, Hard Boiled 2, Knock Off, The Master, Twin Dragons)
Producer:
- Tsui Hark
Screenplay:
- Tsui Hark, Jason Chu and Michael Tse
Cast:
- Ding On: Chiu Cheuk (The Blade)
Fei Lung: Xiong Xin Xin (The Blade, Simon Sez)
Ling: Valerie Chow (The Blade, Chungking Express)
The Bladeis Tsui Hark‘s remake of (it says here) The Shaw Brothers’ classic, One-ArmedSwordsman.
As a young boy Ding On’s (Chiu Cheuk) father is murdered so a master sword-makertakes him under his wing and adopts him. Later in life he discovers the name of the manwho killed his father, the mysterious and tattooed Fei Lung (Xiong Xin Xin) and itstime to pay the piper. Taking his father’s broken sword and seeing the sword-maker’s daughter,Ling (Valerie Chow), under attack, the only thing he gets for his troubles is to losean arm.
With no time to hear the sound of one-hand clapping, he seeks to perfect the art ofone-armed swordfighting and returns for a re-match…
The print is framed at a 1.85:1 widescreen ratio but is non-anamorphic and likeReturn of the God of Gamblers
,it’s a real pain to find the subtitles burnt into the print and also placed partly in theblack bar at the bottom of the screen, so zooming in to fill a widescreen TV results in themgetting cut off so you either have to watch with the postage-stamp effect (black bars allround) or with a distorted image if you want it to touch the sides.
The sound quality also distorts but by its own choosing when it gets too loud. It statesat least a stereo soundtrack, but it may as well be in mono for all the difference it makes.
Extras : Chapters and Trailer :There are 20 chapters to the disc which is fine and the original theatrical traileris included. Languages & Subtitles :The film is in released in the original Cantonese language with Englishsubtitles as part of the picture. Original movie poster :is what you get inside the case, the size falling somewhere between A4 and A5. Menu :It’s static and silent and contains a shot of the front cover.
Overall, this film didn’t grab me at all – although the well-choreographedaction sequences are fun for a while – and the presentation didn’t help muchwith this either, especially with the lack of extras.
Again, as withReturn of the God of Gamblers,when booting up this disc on my DVD-ROM, it never workedproperly with no picture at first and lots of sound breaking up for what soundedlike the company logo’s music. I had to press STOP and then access the menusmanually. I don’t know what’s caused this though.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.