Review by Leonard Norwitz
Studio:
Theatrical: PKU Starlight & Shanghai Film Groups
Blu-ray: Panorama
Disc:
Region: FREE!
(as verified by the
Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player)
Runtime: 1:54:09.000
Disc Size: 23,713,794,774 bytes
Feature Size: 23,453,939,712 bytes
Video Bitrate: 22.39 Mbps
Chapters: 12
Case: Standard Blu-ray case
Release date: February 12th, 2010
Video:
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio:
DTS-HD Master Audio Chinese 2133 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2133
kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Dolby Digital Audio Chinese 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio Chinese 640 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Subtitles:
English, Chinese, none
Extras:
• None
The Film:
6
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is the same Mulan who was
brought to the attention of Western audiences in Disney's
animated feature of the same name in 1998. But this new
movie is no pretty feminist picture of that legendary
personage. This Hua Mulan doesn't sing and she doesn't have
any talking animalistic sidekicks either. But the rest of
the story's outlines are much the same. Her country on the
verge of being gobbled up by a neighboring faction in
centuries old China; her taking her father's place in
battle, disguised as a man; her coming close to being found
out, which would have brought shame to her family; her
victories in battle over twelve years of war; and, of
course, the central love story, which, in the present case,
is dripping with pathos and sentiment – very affecting and
noble.
Zhao Wei, who plays our eponymous heroine, did considerable
work on Chinese television serials before breaking out on
the big screen in 2001 in Steven Chow's Shaolin Soccer and
Jeff Lau's A Chinese Odyssey 2002. She has since worked with
John Woo in Red Cliff in the part of Shangxiang. In between
she played a quite different character with a similar name -
Yao Mulan - for a long running, critically acclaimed TV
series ("Moment in Peking" – readily available on DVD and at
Netflix) that takes place in early twentieth century China.
The popular actress is also known as Vicky Zhao, though she
is not particularly known for her martial arts skills. When
I watched some her scenes in Mulan images of Richard Gere in
Chicago flashed before my eyes. That aside, there is no
question of acting skills– in particular of her ability to
persuade us of her character's ambivalence about fighting,
killing, and leading her army to a likely death, which is
really what the movie is all about, or should have been
except that the love story angle keeps nudging past for
those in the audience who feel a war movie doesn't hold
enough drama without it.
A review of Director Jingle Ma's credits on the IMDb reveals
that he first made his mark as a cinematographer on some 28
films before, beginning in 1998, directing several of the
movies he also photographed. You might guess that this could
explain, in part, why Mulan looks better than it plays . . .
except that he didn't shoot this one – that credit belongs
to Tony Cheung did (The Legend of Drunken Master). Jingle Ma
also got help directing the action sequences from Dong Wei,
who has only this film to his credit, it seems. While the
battle scenes are nicely composed when seen from a distance,
they never remotely approach the drama or visual impact of
similar scenes in Zhang Yimou's Hero or John Woo's Red
Bluff. The more intimate combats also lack the necessary
gruesome crunch. I rarely had the feeling that Zhao Wei was
nearly as good a fighter as Mulan is supposed to be, though
she doesn't lack for intensity of spirit and agonized
ambivalence.
The movie has a particularly good "villain" thanks to Hu Jun
(Red Cliff, Assembly, Infernal Affairs II), though he is
underused, and another woman, even more underused, a
princess of the invading Rouran clan (Liu Yuxin). The
presence of a Russian singer/actor (Vitas) as her loyal
servant is questionable.
Another part of the narrative's difficulty comes from the
fact that there two non-competing men who invite Mulan's
loyalty and affection. The first of these is Fei (Jaycee
Chan) a friend from her village who recognizes here at once
when she goes to sign up for the army. Fei functions as her
guardian for as long as he lives, which isn't long enough to
make his character take hold. The second is Wentai (Chen
Kun), a son of noble birth, who learns of her true gender
early on and falls immediately in love with her. In short
order Wentai and Mulan become successful generals and
nonconsummating lovers, we imagine, though Mulan's inability
to keep her "feminine" side from making objective decisions
costs the lives of an entire unit. Not long afterward Wentai
decides to "play dead" for a sizable stretch in hopes that
Mulan will discover her inner warrior. (That probably reads
worse than it plays on screen.)
Image:
8/9
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken 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.
The image doesn't lack for sharpness, though we have the
impression that's it's thinner than it should be (bit rate,
perhaps?) Color and contrast is excellent. Transfer issues
are minimal to absent. Noise is also absent. The source
elements are pristine, as we would expect from a movie that
is scarcely three months old.
CLICK EACH
BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio & Music:
7/7
For nearly an hour I felt the audio mix decidedly front
directed. Even the action scenes lacked that immersive
feeling we have become used to from any number of action and
war movies. But from the big set piece and siege in the
middle of the film onward, the soundstage opens up in every
direction, including down, with some impressive weight to
the special effects, especially when a huge magical wind
overwhelms the army. Dialogue is always clear and properly
positioned.
Operations:
4
What we have here is a case of giving with one hand and
taking away with the other. Neither the UK nor Hong Kong or
Korea have gotten the word yet: Dual layer Blu-rays exist.
They work. They are user friendly. They make buyers happy.
Happy buyers buy more titles. Today's case in point is a bit
unusual in that, instead of taking advantage of dual layer
capacity, Panorama places the feature film on a single-layer
Blu-ray and the extra features on a DVD – the same DVD that
is included on the 2-disc DVD set released at about the same
time as the Blu-ray. I assume the reason is that this way
they don't have to spend a few cents more for a BD-50 nor
invest in the authoring to place the extra features on a
Blu-ray. Not content with this backward thinking, they have
ended up with an image with a lower bit rate than necessary
(and higher in this case would have resulted in a better
picture). And not yet done, they twist the knife further
with a DVD coded for Region 3 – naturally, since they simply
dropped in the disc fro their DVD set. So, why bother with
English subtitles for the extra features, we might ask? I
guess Panorama assumed the English-speaking market for Mulan
would be limited to Hong Kong. Go figure.
A brief note about the translation: there are few spelling
errors, however, it is evident even without a knowledge of
Mandarin, that nuance and detail is left out and that some
of the language has been dumbed down, almost as if not to
offend anyone.
Extras:
6
As indicated in the Operations section, all the important
bonus features are subtitled in English, which is as
unexpected as it is helpful. There are about 107 minutes
worth of production extras, all in standard definition,
often 4:3, and in varying degrees of clarity, but never
poor. Good show.
Recommendation : 7
I thought this Mulan took a long time to get off the ground,
but once there I found myself caught up in the drama. The
cast is quite good, though I feel Wei Zhao lacks the
requisite vocal weight when she addresses her army. The
imagery is engaging even if the narrative is spotty. Nice to
have the extra features with English subtitles; awkward to
have them on a Region 3 DVD.
Leonard Norwitz
March 7th, 2010
