Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		0.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 29, 2024

A winning documentary recently reviewed here about an iconic English movie house and performance venue called Scala!!! gets into the somewhat troubled history of the London neighborhood called Kings Cross, which, in my Scala!!! Blu-ray review, I mentioned had at least some similarities to the equally troubled history of Times Square in New York City. Both of those urban environments underwent significant "clean ups" over the course of several years, and neither really fundamentally resembles their "former selves", aside from immutable things like building architecture and the like. Add the fraught enclave known as Kowloon Walled City to London's King Cross and New York City's Times Square, and there's a somewhat disturbing historical trifecta of sorts, and in this particular "competition", Kowloon Walled City would probably easily have won in terms of its chaotic environment, rampant crime and incredibly dense population. Like both Kings Cross and Times Square, Kowloon Walled City underwent a complete transformation where the ghetto (because that's in essence what it was) was completely torn down, a process that took over a year (!), which may in and of itself indicate just how huge and labyrinthine Kowloon Walled City had become. If there is therefore an understandable lack of nostalgia for this overcrowded and often violent neighborhood, Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In virtually wallows in another kind of nostalgia, namely a love for gonzo 80's Hong Kong action features, which may make the point that John Woo was at one point announced as the potential director of this enterprise somewhat salient (Soi Cheang ended up helming the film).

In an intentionally ironic turn of events, a down on his luck undocumented immigrant named Chan Lok Kwan (Raymond Lam) has managed to scrape together enough cash by engaging in "fight club" skirmishes to buy a fake ID which will enable him to potentially legitimize his arrival in Hong Kong and maybe ultimately be able to escape his current predicament. Unfortunately he has more bad luck when he attempts to purchase that ID from local crime lord and fight promoter Mr. Big (Sammo Hung), who of course double crosses Chan. Chan ends up stealing some cocaine from Mr. Big on his desperate run out of Mr. Big's cash and drug handling facility, and it's then that Chan just kind of defaults to hiding out will be within the confines of Kowloon Walled City. It's a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire, as Chan suddenly finds himself surrounded by characters potentially at least as underhanded and violent as any of Mr. Big's henchmen.

The film has already provided one pretty major information dump courtesy of a series of text cards over illustrative depictions that offer the following salient background tidbits:

In 20th century Hong Kong, there was once an anarchic enclave that attraced immigrants from all over. A melting pot of people from all walks of life, it was a hotbed of crime, plagued by narcotics, prostitution and illegal gambling. It was also fiercely contested territory for gangs, leading to constant violence.

The violence turned this battlefield into the world renowned "City of Darkness": Kowloon Walled City.

Among the gangs, Lui Chen-tung's gang was the most powerful of them all.

With the help of "King of Killers" Jim Chan. . .Lui sat on the Walled City's throne as its "Dragon Head". . .

Until a man named Cyclone came to the Walled City. Cyclone united those who opposed Lui's rule and fought a battle of resistance. Some say that Cyclone, Lui and Jim shared an enigmatic past because of the Walled City. But in the end, they also slaughtered each other because of the Walled City.

In a fierce battle, Cyclone defeated Jim. Jim's death brought an end to the warring era.

Somewhat hilariously that's not the only involved info dump the film engages in, as there's a flashback around an hour into the film (recycling some of the imagery accompanying the above verbiage) where that "enigmatic past" is explored and unsurprisingly ends up involving Chan. By that point, though, Chan has somewhat unexpectedly been able to at least partially matriculate into the wild and woolly world of Kowloon Walled City courtesy of his almost Deus ex Machina encounter with none other than a now aged Cyclone (Louis Koo).

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In spends a good deal of time exploring the somewhat fantastic "found family" that suddenly surrounds Chan as part of Cyclone's cohort. The film offers both a claustrophobic production design that kind of echoes some of the favelas seen in Black Orpheus, but tonally it may try too hard to straddle a line between threatened chaos always on the cusp of erupting and a kind of almost genially loving laissez faire attitude on the part of many of the denizens of the walled city. Tone is also perhaps further stretched with some frankly kind of gonzo elements that start showing up later in the story as Chan's new "team" (literally) kicks into action, which may be the most obvious example of this property having been sourced from a comic book.

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: While this is a standalone 4K release without a 1080 disc, I am offering screenshots from Well Go USA's standalone Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In 1080 release as I think it actually provides a better representation of the look of the palette in particular, rather than offering screenshots from the 4K disc which are by necessity downscaled to 1080 and in SDR. Because this release does not include a 1080 disc, the 2K video score above has been intentionally left blank.

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In is presented in 4K UHD courtesy of Well Go USA with an HEVC / H.265 encoded 2160p transfer in 2.39:1. Captured with Arri Alexa cameras and perhaps surprisingly (given the overall excellence of detail levels in this 4K version) "only" a 2K DI, this is a pretty stunning looking presentation throughout. Fine detail does see some at least marginal improvements on some of the practical items like the kind of bizarre mask one of the characters wears which can be seen in screenshot 2. Detail on the fantastically baroque sets, which are often literally stuffed full of little knickknacks and assorted tchotchkes can also see some improvements from already excellent levels in the 1080 version. The dark and dank alleyways that are so important to the story and really feeling of the film gain some marginal improvement in shadow detail in this version courtesy of HDR / Dolby Vision, and the palette, which by design tends to often be kind of gray and dowdy, still manages to pop incredibly well throughout this presentation.

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

If fans of the film may be a little miffed that this 4K UHD disc doesn't offer any of the supplements on Well Go USA's 1080 release (as mentioned below), this disc has one really impressive "audio extra": an absolutely blistering DTS:X mix in the original Cantonese to partner with the Cantonese Dolby Atmos and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 options that are also available on the 1080 release. I gave top marks to the 1080's Dolby Atmos track, but, wow, what a difference the DTS:X track offers on this disc, starting with noticeably more amplitude, and I'd argue significant additional energy in the midrange and low end in particular. All of the fantastic surround activity I mentioned in the 1080 review is on hand in all three options on this disc, frankly, but for my money, or at least listening preference, I'd easily opt for the DTS:X mix.

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Perhaps somewhat disappointingly, Well Go USA is not offering any of the supplements on this disc that I detail in the Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In Blu-ray review of their 1080 release. Some of those supplements have some rather good behind the scenes footage and interviews, and my hunch is diehard fans of the film may well want to pick up the 1080 release for those bonus features. This is especially odd in that Well Go USA releases don't always have very many supplements, and in fact often just offer a trailer.

Packaging features a slipcover.

Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's already been announced in the wake of the overwhelming box office this film achieved that it's going to be (at least) a trilogy, so get set for more adventures, though the fact that this film ends with yet another text card mentioning Kowloon Walled City was torn down in 1993 may obviously hint that at least one of the films is evidently planned to be a prequel. I'm not quite sure some of the more fantastic quasi-fantasy laden elements really end up gelling with the rest of this story, but there's a lot of visceral action in the film, and the setting is certainly unique and memorable. Technical merits are solid, and the DTS:X mix only available on this 4K disc bests the Dolby Atmos track in my opinion. On the minus side, this disc does not offer the supplements that Well Go USA's 1080 release does. All in all, Recommended.