Review by Leonard Norwitz
Production:
Theatrical: Polybona & Cinema Popular
Blu-ray: MegaStar
Disc:
Region: FREE!
Runtime: 2:18:28
Disc Size: 47,895,595,152 bytes
Feature Size: 38,276,198,400 bytes
Video Bitrate: 23.05 Mbps
Chapters: 16
Case: Standard Amaray Blu-ray case
Release date: May 11th, 2010
Video:
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Resolution: 1080P / 23.976 fps
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio:
Cantonese Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Cantonese DTS-HD MA 7.1
Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1
Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1
Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0
Subtitles:
Traditional & Simplified Chinese, English, and none
Extras:
• Making of Bodyguards & Assassins:
• • Characters (22:06)
• • Set & Make-up (2:55)
• • Design (3:40)
• • Action (4:30)
• Trailer & TV Spot
The Film:
8
The year is 1906. While San Francisco endured one of the
most celebrated earthquakes of modern times, China was
facing one of its own: the rise of Sun Yat Sun and the
rebellion he fomented against hundreds of years of dynastic
rule. The setting of Bodyguards and Assassins (a title that
inadvertently and unhappily suggests something in the way of
an Nintendo fantasy role playing game) is Hong Kong. The
players are ordinary people caught up on one side or the
other of revolution.
For the most part we are concerned with supporters of Dr.
Sun - those that are near fanatical in their passion for a
new China and those who would prefer to go through life
enjoying what benefits there are but become a part of the
revolution in a vortex of social inertia. The action takes
place over a handful of days as Hong Kong readies itself for
a visit by Dr. Sun. Officially, he comes to visit his ailing
mother, but the word on the street is that he plans to meet
with some thirteen leaders from various parts of the country
to lay the groundwork for revolution.
The local revolutionary faction, led by Chen Shao Bai (Tony
Leung Ka Fai - the other Tony Leung) is trying to gain
support among local businessmen and especially his friend Li
Yu Tang (veteran actor Wang Xueqi) who up until now has been
content to support the cause with money, but stops well
short of putting his body on the line. No such injunction
rules Li’s son, Chung Guang (young Taiwanese actor, Wang Bo
Chieh) who, like so many of his age, intellect and talent,
throws himself into harm’s way with an abandon that properly
frighten’s his father. (Both Li and Chen, by the way, are
based on real historical figures.)
The elder Li becomes the story’s emotional heart and
fulcrum. It is his long delayed decision to take an active
role in this budding revolution that focuses our attention
on the entire question: In the the absence of personal
hardship, how does one take up a cause that only appears to
benefit others and risk everything for oneself? It is not a
question that is easily answered - certainly, platitudes
calling for a greater China carry little weight when one has
all the comforts.
Chen and his followers have a plan to put those who would
assassinate Dr. Sun at a disadvantage. You’ll recall that at
this time, the British were politically in charge in Hong
Kong but they could hardly be expected to police the entire
city. Sun would be escorted through British-controlled Hong
Kong to the rendezvous, but from there he would have to make
his way to see his mother through occupied territory, so to
speak. The rebels decide to send a decoy on that leg of his
tour while Sun himself remains to meet with the thirteen.
That decoy is made up of a small caravan of rickshaws and
bodyguards, not all of whom realize that they are on
something of a suicide mission. It is the personnel of that
decoy caravan that make up the first part of the title -
they are from high and low social status, men and women.
Their stories are touching, at times, when script and
director grant enough time for us to get to know them well
enough, heartbreaking.
Among these are some of Hong Kong’s most visible actors:
among them, the aforementioned Tony Leung Ka Fai, Donnie Yen
as a palace policeman and gambler who finds cause to switch
sides, Leon Lai as a beggar, Li Yuchun as the daughter of a
fallen revolutionary, the giant Mengke Bateer as a Tofu
hawker, and Nicholas Tse as a rickshaw puller.
On the other side is the formidable Hu Jun as Quo, loyal to
the crown to a fault. Quo leads a small army of killers with
every imaginable weapon at their disposal. They line the
streets from the rooftops and second story windows and
patios. They suddenly reveal themselves as erstwhile
civilians and shoppers in the extended marketplaces of the
city. They could be anyone and appear at any moment.
It may come as a surprise that the film that this movie put
me in mind of was not of the historical Chinese martial arts
variety, but Hiroshi Inagaki’s relatively inward looking
Chushingura from 1962. Chushingura is the story of the 47
Ronin who remain loyal to their late lord at the cost of
their lives. Inagaki spends more than a third of his three
and a half hour movie detailing the lives of just a handful
of the final 47 so that their attack on Kira’s home and
their eventual deaths at their own hands becomes that much
more sublime. Many, like the fallen heroes of Bodyguards and
Assassins, were young and had much to live for. The
difference is that the samurai had a couple of years to
think about their decision whereas our “bodyguards” are
swept along in a moment of passion, yet their sacrifice is
of no less historical import.
Both movies wind up with an awesome fight - in the case of
Chushingura, the roles are reversed: the “good guys” are the
assassins while the bodyguards are a mix of professionals
and hired thugs. Kira is the embodiment of everything
wretched about the feudal system, but in Teddy Chan’s movie,
the excesses of the Qing Dynasty is only referred to rather
than depicted. In fact, there is no physical evidence of
Dr.Sun’s complaints; it is merely taken as understood. So
much for balance or the eternal struggle between Good and
Evil, between Cowardice and Heroism, and why Chushingura is
a great and completely satisfying film while Bodyguards and
Assassins is merely entertaining and gratifying.
There are many wonderful performances in this movie: Wang
Xueqi as Li Yutang, especially, who lends the necessary
gravitas and credibility; Fan Bing Bing as Yuet Yu (Mrs.
Li), once attached to Donnie Yen’s compulsive gambler but
leaves him in hopes of a future for her baby; Donnie Yen who
at 45 continues to mature as an actor; the redoubtable Hu
Jun as the one man you want on your side when your back is
up against the wall, as is the ailing Qing Dynasty; Li Yu
Chun as Fang Hong, who only seems to do little more than
smile sweetly and appreciatively at Nicholas Tse whose
poignant rickshaw man and loyal servant to the Li family
strikes the perfect humane balance to the war of fanatical
ideals represented by Quo and Chen.
Image:
9/9
NOTE:
The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
MegaStar presents Bodyguards and Assassins in a wonderfully
filmlike image that faithfully recreates Peter Chan’s
recreation of 1906 Hong Kong. The filmmakers eschew the
usual predilection for filtered color and instead opt for a
natural palette, made vivid only by judicious lighting.
Textures are detailed, which is especially evident in the
exquisite palatial costumes and Fang Bing Bing’s refined
silks. Blacks are deep and noiseless. Transfer artifacts,
noise and noise reduction are not in evidence. The print is
pristine, as expected for a film so new. The strong bit rate
makes for a solid, coherent image.
CLICK EACH
BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio & Music:
7/8
There’s one exciting scene where the uncompressed 7.1 mix –
Dolby or DTS – comes crashing through the ceiling, quite
literally, with falling glass and sprays of flesh-eating
acid overpowers both the hapless victims and our senses.
Elsewhere, the audio is content to honor more traditional
locational cues such as whistling arrows, gunfire and
crashing storefronts. Much of the film, however, is more
front-directed with the surrounds providing subtle ambiance,
street and crowd noises. Though the menus are bi-lingual,
MegaStar’s Blu-ray has no English language dub.
Ordinarily I would be all over this release for its careless
attitude toward its choice of default language mix in high
definition audio. A casual glance at the choices in the
language menu suggests that Cantonese is the primary spoken
language and Mandarin is the dub. In fact it’s the other way
around. So, points off for having no lossless track for the
language that’s spoken by the actors. Why, we should ask are
there two uncompressed tracks in Cantonese but only the now
ancient and tired Dolby Digital 5.1 for Mandarin.
That said, there are two, perhaps three practicalities to
consider: The first is that if you have to rely on
subtitles, you won’t notice the disconnect. Second, neither
the Cantonese or the Mandarin tracks are in perfect lip sync
so you might not even observe the discrepancy if you weren’t
fixed on the subtitles since there’s not a great deal of
difference in lip movement between the two spoken languages.
Third, to my eye and ear, it appears that some, though not
all, of the Cantonese is dubbed by the actor and not a
stand-in. Still, you would have thought it only proper for
the Mandarin to be offered in one or the other high
definition formats. It is clear who the target market is for
this Hong Kong produced video. Still that’s no excuse.
Operations:6
I found the Extra Features menu difficult to manage. The
text is clear enough but what is highlighted as we curse our
way through it is not. There's no play all for the making of
documentary.
Extras:
6
There are a few limited extra features with this release - a
short Making-of featurette, a Trailer and a TV Spot -
nothing particularly worthy of note but thankfully at least
they all have English subs.
Bottom line:
8
They say you can’t judge a book by its cover - and that goes
double for the title. I can see that those who require a
martial arts action flic will be bored by the first half,
and those who respond to the sentiment and drama of the
first half might wonder where it all went during the second.
My feeling is that Bodyguards and Assassins is a fine movie,
granted a lovely image on this Blu-ray, though with a
problematic choice of audio tracks.
Leonard Norwitz
November 8th, 2010
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