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Rating:

Manufacturer: Dragon Dynasty

Running time: 107 min.

Movie Review

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Presentation

The presentation won't blow away anyone, but the menus are compently designed and play small clips from the movie along with some music. It's easy enough to get around to what you want to see. Like most Dragon Dynasty releases, this one annoyingly auto-plays trailers when you put in the DVD.

The Movie

Presented in anamorphic widescreen, the picture here is far above the previous version by Tai Seng. Sure, the colors might not be as rich as you might like, but let's keep in mind that this is a thirty-year old movie that probably wasn't stored in the best conditions. And this is something that is really being released for die-hard fans only, so there probably wasn't too much money available to be put into it. While not up there with the best restoration work, Dragon Dynasty has done a solid job here.

The sound mix (either through Dolby mono or 5.1 mixes) lacks the punch of some of Dragon Dynasty's other releases, but, again, considering the source material, they've done a good enough job. There is also an English dub included, but it's of the typical lousy quality of the time.

The subtitles are decently translated, though they do folow the English dub, and not the actual Cantonese dialogue. Available in English, Captioned English, and Spanish, they're easy to read, even on smaller TVs.

The Extras

Commentary with Bey Logan: This seems to be one of Logan's favorite movies, and it shows in his commentary, which is lively and informative. Some people do not like his style, but I found it to be very interesting here, since he names off just about every actor in the movie, which was handy in putting names to faces I've seen in kung fu films over the years.

Interview with Fung Hak-On: A featurette with the actor who plays the villain. These sorts of things probably aren't going to be of interest to the general viewer, but for kung fu/Hong Kong movie fans, they're quickly becoming a treasure trove of knowledge, especially seeing how up there in age many of the principals in these types of films are getting.

Interview with Lee Hoi-San: An interview with the movie's martial arts coordinator (aka action director). These types of people usually aren't given a spotlight on either HK or US DVDs, so it was nice to see this here, even if it was too short and not that in-depth.

Legendary Weapons of China: A short featuring Bey Logan (who is also a martial artist) explaining the history of the weapons used in the movie, and their importance in the context of the film. This is actually one of the better extras I've seen, not just on a Dragon Dynasty DVD, but on any release. It's very cool stuff that would fit right in on a network like the History Channel.

Trailers: Includes the original and Dragon Dynasty trailers for the main feature, and the Dragon Dynasty versions for "Hard Boiled", "Seven Swords", and "The Shaw Bros. Collection".