Guest gfanikf Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2007/04/bor...dvd-review.html Video: The video quality of this Dragon Dynasty DVD release is excellent and as one would expect anamorphically enhanced. Working most likely from a PAL source (at least at some point in the process) Dragon Dynasty did an excellent job transferring the film as I did not notice any ghosting or problems that typically plague PAL to NTSC transfers. The colors were vibrant and not oversaturated. There is grain in some scenes, but I strongly suspect that they were the original intention of the director or DP to give the film a gritty look at times. Check out the screenshots: hkfilmnews.blogspot.com/2007/04/bor...screencaps.html Audio: The Dragon Dynasty disc comes with four audio tracks. A Thai 5.1 and English 5.1 Dolby Digital Mix. The English dub is surprisingly decent and was most likely made in the United States and not sourced from a local studio in either Thailand or Hong Kong. Both mixes sound clean and free of hiss. They were well mixed and powerful fitting a modern day action film. The dialogue is never overpowered by the music and sound effects or vice-versa. There is a Thai DTS track (which I think is a first for Dragon Dynasty), but as I do not have a DTS sound setup on my TV I was unable to fully test it. I did sample it on my PC and it sounded very nice and I’m sure will be enjoyed by those who have a system capable of playing DTS. There is also a Bey Logan audio commentary. Subtitles: While I cannot verify the accuracy of the subtitles, I can say they are free of any grammar or spelling errors. For the main movie there is also a set of Spanish subtitles. Extras: Dragon Dynasty goes all out giving us a two disc ultimate edition of Born to Fight loaded with extras. The first disc contains the only extra unique to this edition (the others are from the Thai DVD) with an audio commentary by Bey Logan. Bey earns extra points for referencing Gymkata numerous times and making legit comparisons to the use of gymnasts in martial arts films. Although his knowledge of Thai films is nowhere near as large as his information on Hong Kong cinema, its not bad by any means. Bey gives good background info on the background of the film, its actors, the stunts, and Thai culture (and Thai Red Bull). On the second disc we have two trailers, the original Thai (which was not anamorhpically enhanced and looks a little rough) and is subtitled, along with a US promotional trailer. The main extras are two behind the scenes features one is a short electronic press kit that was used to promote the movie in Thailand. The video quality is not great, but that is mostly likely, because it was meant for airings on TV and the internet. The main feature is a 60+ minute behind the scenes documentary that was made for the Thai DVD and that has interviews with the stars and crew and behind the scenes footage of making the movie. The video quality was excellent on this feature. All features come with optional English subtitles. Overall: Dragon Dynasty offers a solid package for Born to Fight. If you do not own the film yet, then have no fear this is the perfect release for you to pick up. It also retails for far cheaper than its British or Australia counterparts making it the perfect choice for people who cannot play PAL DVDs or do not necessarily want to spend a lot of money. Excellent video and audio quality combined with some serious extras make this an attractive purchase for those interested in the film (and it is quite an enjoyable film). We were very happy with this DVD and cannot wait to see more of the excellent work that Dragon Dynasty has to offer in the future especially with Above The Law and Shanghai Express coming out in May and several Shaw Brother films in June. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgoth Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Is this out now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gfanikf Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Next Tuesday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wudawg Posted April 22, 2007 Share Posted April 22, 2007 Thanks for the review and the links. How is the movie itself?Does anyone know if The Weinsteins cut a lot from the original? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgoth Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 I saw this at Suncoast for $24.99, but luckily there were other movies to get. I will wait till Tuesday so I can get it for $12.99. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gfanikf Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 wudawg Its completly uncut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest drunkenmantis13 Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 Thanks, sounds good. I'll certainly pick this up. Unless the movie itself sucks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MacLeod613 Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 The movie does indeed suck. I had to stop after 45-50 minutes. OTOH, at least Dragon Dynasty seems to be making an honest effort to present these films the way they were originally made. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgoth Posted April 23, 2007 Share Posted April 23, 2007 I don't like the Gymkata references Gfanik is talking about but I will probably still see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gfanikf Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 Don't worry there all in good fun and mostly talk about using athletes in action roles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgoth Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 HA ha that was kind of my point. The action looks pretty good from what I have seen but referencing Gymkata doesn't promote it very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jmungus Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 i also thought this one sucked donkey balls. sends a message thats as inhuman as they can get and is simply lousy in all regards, except for 1 or 2 death defying wicked stunts and a handful of sweet acrobatic 'movie-muay-thai' moves/attacks/hits among the otherwise rather mediocre fighting action. total crap piece of trash imo, thats very reminiscent of 4th grade STV movies they`d do in hollywood back in the early/mid 80s (if one ignores that thai stuntmen actually put their lives on the line doing what they do/are asked to do and that no '2nd rate lorenzo lamas copycat' could perform these sophisticated airborne kicks* etc). (*they re few and far between anyways, afair. most of the "action" consists of some stupid, senseless shooting mass-execution style). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest theportlykicker Posted April 24, 2007 Share Posted April 24, 2007 I'm going to offer a differing opinion to the ones presented so far, cos I think it's pretty good. I enjoyed it much more than Ong Bak when I first watched it. Wicked stunts all over the place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tosh Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 I didn't like it, it had it's moments, but the Gymkata references is pretty spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest peringaten Posted April 25, 2007 Share Posted April 25, 2007 I liked it - silly one track fun. Not one I'll get slaverish over by all means, but entertaining. Kick them footballs & coconuts... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest The Running Man Posted April 28, 2007 Share Posted April 28, 2007 I also think the movie is pretty subpar, but at the same time it's not as bad or as stupid as Tony Jaa's movies. The movie is about at the level of a typical DTV feature, but with far more dangerous stunts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wudawg Posted April 29, 2007 Share Posted April 29, 2007 Thanks for the info gfanikf. But from the looks of the reviews, maybe I'll rent it first. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest CASSANOVA72 Posted May 6, 2007 Share Posted May 6, 2007 OMG all i can say about this movie is LMAO:rollin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgoth Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 I liked it. I love movies that make you jump out of your seat becasue the stunts look so dangerous. One of the more thrilling movies I have seen in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest morgoth Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 I just watched this with a friend last night and I sh!t you not, he said it was the best movie he has ever seen. He is not a fu fan, but he liked the stunts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest wudawg Posted May 30, 2007 Share Posted May 30, 2007 Well, I finally watched this movie and all I can say is thank goodness for Netflix and rental. I didn't care for any of it, not the story, the acting or the action. All of it seemed kinda lame. Am I to believe that a small athletic team and some villagers can beat guerillas with machine guns? :rollin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kungfusamurai Posted June 3, 2007 Share Posted June 3, 2007 I didn't like this movie. If it was just a 30 minute short film featuring just the final battle, it would be worth recommending, but barely. It was poorly filmed (why does the action footage, like the truck chase scene at the beginning, seem to be jerky? I thought it was my DVD player acting up). The acting was pretty bad. There was one instance where the director did a long take (i.e. no cuts), which was interesting to watch. But the over-abundance of stunts where people are falling off high places onto the ground was just too much. It was like they were just trying to be like Jackie Chan, but without the quality acting or story. Given that the director would have seen so many films from both HK and Hollywood, you'd think he'd get an idea on how to put together a clean, well shot film. But it's just okay, as far as I'm concern. On par with Tom Yum Goong/The Protector in terms of the schlock factor. SPOILERS: That part in the beginning, I don't get it. Was the whole trailer rigged to blow? Or was it just that device that was counting down? If it was the latter, then I think it was a totally stupid scene. If the whole trailer had been rigged to blow (i.e. the count down device was the remote trigger), then I could see why it was impossible to save the guy. KFS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.