H D - S E N S E IA view on Hi-def discs by Gary W. Tooze |
Introduction: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 7500 DVDs and have reviewed over 3000 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.
Although I never wanted to become one of those guys who
focused 'too much' on image and sound quality - I
find HD is swiftly pushing me in that direction. So be
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Bangkok Dangerous [Blu-ray]
(Oxide Pang Chun + Danny Pang, 2008)
Review by Gary Tooze
Studio: Lions Gate
Discs: Region: FREE Feature Runtime: 1:39:12.988 Chapters: 16 Feature film disc size: 29,397,719,040 bytes Disc Size: 41,321,354,493 bytes Average bitrate 39.51 Mbps One dual-layered Blu-ray, one digital copy Case: Standard Blu-ray case Release date: January 6th, 2009
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.78:1 Resolution: 1080p Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio:
Supplements:
• Look at HK Cinema HD 15:21 BD-LIVE • Disc 2 - Digital Copy
Bitrate Graph:
Product Description: An adrenaline-charged action thriller, Lionsgate's Bangkok Dangerous stars Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas, National Treasure) as "Joe," an anonymous assassin takes an unexpected turn when he travels to Thailand to complete a series of contract killings. Joe (Nicolas Cage), a remorseless hitman, is in Bangkok to execute four enemies of a ruthless crime boss named Surat. He hires Kong (Shahkrit Yamnarm), a street punk and pickpocket, to run errands for him with the intention of covering his tracks by killing him at the end of the assignment. Strangely, Joe, the ultimate lone wolf, finds himself mentoring the young man instead whilst simultaneously being drawn into a tentative romance with a local shop girl. As he falls further under the sway of Bangkok’s intoxicating beauty, Joe begins to question his isolated existence and let down his guard …just as Surat decides it’s time to clean house. Directors The Pang Brothers (The Eye) paint an explosive picture of the Bangkok underworld, illuminated with neon and saturated in violence. From a screenplay by Jason Richman, Bangkok Dangerous is based on the Pang Brothers’ wildly popular Hong Kong action film of the same name. Starring alongside Cage are Shahkrit Yamnarm (Belly of the Beast), Charlie Young (Seven Swords), Panward Hemmanee and Dom Hetrakul (Sniper 3). The film is produced by Jason Shuman, William Sherak, Nicolas Cage and Norm Golightly. Andrew Pfeffer, Derek Dauchy, Denis O’Sullivan and Ben Waisbren serve as the executive producers....
The Film: Heavy on the spice and cheap on the meat, "Bangkok Dangerous" adds plenty of Thai seasoning to the Hollywood lone-assassin recipe, but the result is only mildly pungent. Rehashing certain elements -- including striking location shooting -- that marked their much grittier 1999 feature of the same title, Hong Kong's Pang brothers increase the decibel level of the gunshots and the schmaltz level of the scenario, but such embellishments, not to mention a Nicolas Cage doused with Clairol, make this hefty remake seem less dangerous than incongruous. Low September B.O. body count should be surpassed by acceptable ancillary returns.
Excerpt from Variety Magazine located HERE
Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the Blu-ray disc. There is a very pronounced style affecting the appearance of this Blu-ray. It is extremely grainy and saturated. Both of these are, no doubt, intended by the filmmakers. Regardless I wasn't very impressed with the visuals of Bangkok Dangerous. Detail was minimized by the grainy look and colors seem to gravitate from extravagantly vibrant (in an unnatural way) to flat and overpowered by the darkness (occasional green cast) and saturation. The dual-layered Blu-ray itself is over 41 Gig and the feature less than 30. The transfer looks fairly competent in the respect that I'm sure the film actually looked this same way theatrically but I found it didn't lend itself to a 1080P rendering as well as some might anticipate. The image is, expectantly very clean on this Lions Gate disc and the Blu-ray image transfer exports a purposeful dark and often unnatural film image.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio & Music:
Extras:
Bottom line:
Gary Tooze December 30th, 2008
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