Disc:
Region: FREE
(as verified by the
Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)
Runtime: 1:25:57.485
Disc Size: 22,597,436,487 bytes
Feature Size: 20,064,043,008 bytes
Average Bitrate: 24.22 Mbps
Chapters: 18
Case: Locking Blu-ray case
Release date: September 15th, 2009
Video:
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Bitrate:
Audio:
DTS-HD Master Audio English 4145 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 4145
kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio Chinese 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 320 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 320 kbps
/ Dolby Surround
Subtitles:
English (SDH), English, Spanish, none
Extras
• Interview with Quentin Tarantino – in SD (9:19)
• Interview with Donnie Yen – SD (6:21)
Comment:
Come September 15, Miramax will release "The Ultimate Force
of Four" – a title that doesn't bode well for the Asian
martial arts movies they have had tucked away in their
vaults: three from China or Hong Kong, one from Japan: Hero,
Iron Monkey, The Legend of Drunken Master and Zatoichi.
Typical of movies from China, much less so with Japanese
films, the versions distributed in the West might be
different in any number of ways: they might be cut
differently, with new music, and are likely to be dubbed in
English.
Prior to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon it was taken
as gospel that Americans would not go to the theater to see
a subtitled movie outside of an "art theatre", certainly not
in numbers that would make distribution profitable. For the
most part, Americans who have seen Hong Kong movies on home
video, especially those of Jackie Chan, know only the
English-dubbed versions, complete with new musical cues that
someone thought would be more digestible to Westerners.
With these new Blu-ray editions, Miramax had the opportunity
to set the record straight – or, at least provide the
original or international cut, a practice that oftentimes
serves little purpose on video than to seduce potential
buyers into believing they are getting something special.
Alas, we find only the English dub in uncompressed audio for
Iron Monkey and Hero, though both have passable Chinese
tracks in Dolby Digital 5.1. The Legend of Drunken Master
fared less well.
Iron Monkey suffers also in that it is presented here only
in the cut Miramax provided for its North American
distribution. The balance between comedy and violence is
made to be more agreeable to Western audiences – the ones
who can't or won't read subtitles, we must presume. (On the
other hand, I'm no fan of undercranking, which the original
version suffers from during some of the fight scenes.) And a
new music score was also composed. OK, this isn't a case
like the seriously truncated Seven Samurai with which many
Americans first became acquainted, but to not have both
versions is a missed opportunity as well as, I want to
believe, a miscalculation. It would be nice if this
collection of Blu-rays, especially the Chinese movies, is
not purchased in huge numbers but, instead, rented; and that
the distributor will learn the right message from this. They
certainly won't pay much attention to those reviewers, many
I imagine, who feel much as I do.
The Movie : 7 (8)
Westerners may know him as Robin Hood or Zorro, but Chinese
know him as Wong Fei Hung of countless stories, legends and
movies. The best known of these to us on this side of the
planet are the Once upon a Time in China trilogy of movies
with a young Jet Li. Wong Fei Hung is an historical figure
from the early twentieth century, not to be confused with
the fictional Fong Sai Yuk, also with Jet Li. Here, the hero
is Donnie Yen. No, wait a moment, the Fei Hung in this story
is played by 13-year old Tsang Sze-Man (aka: Angie Tsang, a
girl no less, of whom you'd a thought would have had quite
career in martial arts films, but seems not, choosing
instead to compete in world class wushu competition.) Donnie
Yen plays Fei Hung's father, Kei Ying, but he's not Iron
Monkey either, as you might expect, though, in the tradition
of the Dread Pirate Roberts, Kei Ying kind of inherits the
mantle after a considerable amount of plot wringing. From
Iron Monkey (Yu Rongguang) Kei Ying learns new martial arts
skills and, together, they confront the Shaolin traitor, Hin-Hung
(Yam Sai Kwoon) in a brilliantly staged fight on top of
burning poles.
Image: 7/8
NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were ripped directly from the
Blu-ray disc.
The first number indicates a relative level of excellence
compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a ten-point scale.
The second number places this image along the full range of
DVD and Blu-ray discs.
However we might feel about the cut of the film, I can't say
that I found a great deal to complain about in respect to
the transfer. The main difficulty I had was with its
seemingly arbitrary vacillation between flat and dimensional
contrast. Each taken by itself was OK – the flatter material
looking fairly painterly, but the alternation was
disconcerting. I found no disturbances in the force
(artifacts, enhancements, noise) that made me anxious for
longer than a few seconds at time. Sharpness, resolution and
color are all satisfactory.
CLICK EACH
BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio & Music : 6/6
As mentioned, Miramax opted to give its own English dub the
front and center seat with a lossless audio mix – not that
this gets it very far. The mix is good at whacking, but
short on subtlety. The Chinese Dolby Digital 5.1 is to be
preferred on religious grounds, but isn't quite as
transparent as the DTS-HD. Neither one is all that concerned
with precise directional cues for the surrounds. Those that
are so kind of stick out of the context.
Operations : 7
The menu functions are clearly laid out with descriptions
and timings of each feature. I don't much care for the
disproportionately large and, on my OPPO, non-removable time
line during fast forward and back.
Extras : 3
Quentin Tarantino talks about the difference in temperament
between American and Chinese audiences and makes some
insightful points about movie-watching expectations in
general. He also touches on the differences in various kung
fu fighting styles as choreographed in the movies.
Ironically, it was Tarantino's backing that made this movie
in the Miramax cut that helped Iron Monkey to become the
success it was in the U.S. Donnie Yen talks about how he got
into both martial arts and the movies (he was born in
Canton, and lived in the U.S. for 7 years as a teenager), as
well as his contribution to the fighting style in Iron
Monkey. Both Tarantino and Donnie Yen give plenty of nod to
the film's director, Yuen Woo Ping, who has since become a
household word in the staging of martial effects special
effects, as seen in Once Upon a Time in China,
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, The Matrix, and
Kill Bill. Compared to the extra features on the R2 Hong
Kong Legends Platinum Edition DVD, these are slim pickins
indeed.
 |
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Recommendation : 5
I had hopes that these Weinstein/Dimension/Miramax/Disney
imports would allow for original or international versions
of the film on Blu-ray. Alas, not. They have chosen only
their own cuts – for whatever reason. If you have the R2
Hong Kong Legends 2-disc Platinum Edition DVD of Iron
Monkey, you really don't want to give it away. It has hours
of relevant special features, including an audio commentary
with Donnie Yen and HK Cinema expert, Bey Logan. And it
makes use of the more coherent international cut of the
film. It even has both the original Cantonese dialogue and
English subtitles. That transfer, freshly re-mastered at the
time, is plenty good enough in terms of both image and audio
to suffice until a proper Blu-ray comes along.
Leonard Norwitz
September 14th, 2009
