Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

18 Bronzemen Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 18, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Cinematic Vengeance: 8 Kung Fu Classics from Director Joseph Kuo.

The hits (and/or kicks, smacks and whacks) keep on comin', with this set from Eureka! Entertainment following releases like Shawscope Volume One from Arrow and a number of offerings from 88 Films like The Chinese Boxer and Disciples of Shaolin in my review queue. The big difference between those films and the ones featured in this huge collection is that these were the handiwork of one Joseph Kuo, a name which may frankly not be all that familiar even to lovers of the "kung fu" genre. Kuo was, as they say, a "multi-hyphenate" who frequently wrote, produced and directed his films, which tended to be independently financed far, far away from the riches and "studio system" of facilities like the Shaw Brothers. As commentator Frank Djenge mentions on more than one disc, that meant Kuo often tried to film outside, where he didn't have to pay for things like sets, which can give these films a kind of distinctive ambience at times. According to the press sheet Eureka! sent with the (check) discs, seven of the eight films in this set are making their worldwide debuts on Blu-ray.

Even diehard fans of martial arts movies may not be fanatical history buffs, but for anyone who has watched films like Shaolin Temple, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and/or Disciples of Shaolin, you might get at least an inkling of some of China's storied past, at least insofar as there was a Shaolin Temple that trained fighters in a unique style. A devolving political structure in China as the Ming Dynasty gave way to the Qing Dynasty drives much of the plot dynamics here.

Once again long delayed vengeance after a murder also plays into the plot proceedings, with a young acolyte named Kwan Lung (Peng Tien), instructed in martial arts over the course of decades in order to bring justice to the land and, not so coincidentally, to his family. The fact that it takes so long for Kwan Lung to be trained may hint at some pacing issues some may feel this film exhibits, but in that regard, it's kind of interesting to note that The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, a film which came two years after this one but which bears certain undeniable resemblances to this one, also spends a great deal of time getting things set up for its putative "big fight", which I discussed in some detail years ago in my The 36th Chamber of Shaolin Blu-ray review .

18 Bronzemen Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

18 Bronzemen is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. While it may be only an incremental downturn, I found this to be one of the less pleasing looking transfers in this set, if only intermittently. As can perhaps be made out in some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, the color timing is a little variable here, with some scenes having a kind of oily brown-green look that can afflict flesh tones in particular. There are also some (admittedly brief) scenes where clarity definitely takes a downturn and things can look positively fuzzy (see screenshot 9). Those niggling qualms aside, a lot of this presentation looks nicely warm, with a generally naturalistic bent to the palette reproduction, and with reds in particular popping very well. This film doesn't have the glut of outdoor material that some of the other films in this set do, and so an overall dimmer lighting regimen may not support fine detail levels quite as well as in some of the other transfers in this set. As with many of the other films in this set, anamorphic oddities can accrue in various shots.

18 Bronzemen Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

For whatever reason, 18 Bronzemen is the only film in this set to offer only one audio option, Mandarin LPCM Mono. This is overall a nice sounding track, with elements like the evocative ethnic music wafting in and out of the proceedings without any significant issues. There is once again an undeniably boxy sound that is especially evident, for example, when opening narration begins, or throughout a lot of the dialogue and of course the sound effects. All of this said, there are no real issues in terms of dialogue presentation. Optional English subtitles are available.

18 Bronzemen Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Frank Djenge and John Charles


• HK Version (HD; 1:41:00) features some interstitial informational text which discloses that when it was originally released, 18 Bronzemen was recut for Japanese audiences, with additional footage from Joseph Kuo's Blazing Temple interpolated, with much of the film's original 20 minutes removed to make way for the "new" material. The Japanese version provided the source for this reconstructed Hong Kong version since no other element was evidently available. This comes with a standard warning about fluctuating quality as well as some varying aspect ratios due to the different sources that had to be utilized.

18 Bronzemen Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

18 Bronzemen might have used a bit of a rework in terms of how long is spent on training, but the fact that The 36th Chamber of Shaolin repeated this arguable misstep two years after this film was released may suggest lessons were not learned. Technical merits are occasionally a little problematic, more so with audio than video, for those who may be considering making a purchase.