Toshiro (Tak , formerly Tak Sakaguchi, Versus), a former special forces operative, now lives a quiet life in the Japanese countryside. Despite his seemingly peaceful existence, Toshiro struggles to contain the destructive impulses that once made him the top soldier in an elite unit of killers. When his former commanding officer, the enigmatic Phantom (Akio Ôtsuka), comes out of the shadows seeking revenge, Toshiro goes on a kill-crazy rampage against a squad of ruthless assassins.

Utilising an unorthodox form of close-quarters combat (referred to by the director and lead actor as Zero Range Combat ) Re:Born features some of the most stunningly choreographed martial-arts fight sequences in recent years, and Eureka Entertainment is proud to present the film in its UK debut on Blu-ray and DVD.

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Tak Sakaguchi burst onto the scene in 2000 with Versus, a small-scale action/sci-fi film that set him loose in a forest to kick ass, and the next several years saw him taking on a mix of features that often entertained without ever recapturing that same level of success. If there’s any justice in the world though his new film, the equally small but even more impressive Re: Born, will catapult him back onto the action film stage.

The story is both simple and convoluted, but the action is thrilling enough to forgive both. Toshiro (Tak) was once a legendary special ops soldier nicknamed “Ghost” who was known for being the final word on the battlefield. His ability to penetrate enemy defenses, take out his targets, and possibly even dodge bullets was the stuff of whispered rumors, but one day he chose to leave it all behind.

Excerpt from FilmSchoolRejects located HERE

Average Bitrate: 24.94 Mbps

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

The film is on a single-layered BD disc with a supportive bitrate. Re: Born seems to have been shot in digital, with some scenes looking more video-like than filmic. This is possibly due to budgetary constraints, but the fight scenes are cut together seamlessly, probably due to the crew being able to film endless coverage on digital without being limited to a finite amount of film. It looks quite good if succumbing to the hazy-ness of fast-motion scenes representative of HDV.

There is a 5.1 DTS (16-bit) audio track, which sounds perfectly fine, especially during the brutal fight scenes. The music in the film is courtesy of Kenji Kawai (Dark Water , Ghost in the Shell) and sounds great in 5.1 surround. Also included is a stereo 2.0 mix, which loses a lot of the directional sound during the fight scenes, but is a decent enough track if you lack the ability to play the film in surround sound.