Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Assembly Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov January 16, 2010

Winner of the Best Actor Award at the Golden Horse Film Festival, Feng Xiaogang's powerful war drama "Ji jie hao" a.k.a "Assembly" (2007) arrives on Bu-ray courtesy of Tai Seng Entertainment. The only supplemental features on the disc are trailers and raw footage from the shooting of the film. With optional English subtitles. Region-Free.

Gu's men

China, 1948. The Civil War is at its peak. The Nationalist (KMT) and Communist (PLA) forces are massacring each other in the northernmost parts of China. Capt. Gu Zidi (Zhang Hanyu, The Founding of a Republic) and his Ninth Company are sent to a strategic battle zone where the enemy is to be warded off for as long as possible. When they arrive, the KMT forces attack and begin exterminating Gu's men.

Fear sets in quickly. Gu's men inform him that they've heard the assembly bugle and ask for a permission to retreat. He ignores their plea and orders them to get back in the trenches. In a matter of hours, the KMT soldiers, backed by heavy artillery, kill everyone but Gu.

The second half of Assembly follows Gu's rehabilitation and quest to uncover the remains of his men. Skipping through the Korean War, modern-day Communist China and the battles from 1948, Assembly uses Gu's personal journey to paint an unorthodox portrait of a country ruled by a powerful dictator.

Revealing obvious similarities with Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Kang Je-gyu's Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004), Feng Xiaogang's Assembly is a deceivingly simple-looking film which many western viewers will probably misinterpret. It is flashy, terrifically lensed and filled with the type of excessive, in-your-face, gore that Hollywood has been successfully selling in recent years to mainstream audiences looking for realistic war films.

Under its flashy wrapper, however, Assembly is very much a film with a strong political agenda. In fact, I dare say, it is an incredibly polarized film entertaining dangerous themes targeting a very specific group of viewers.

The less problematic but intriguing side of Assembly has to do with the surprisingly critical overtones I detected in Gu's lines during the second half of the film. For example, his meeting with the Party apparatchiks produces a flurry of dismissive comments addressing the political status quo in China in a manner I don’t recall seeing in a film of such magnitude. While a lot of these dismissive comments are conveniently muddled with generic talk about honor and brotherhood, obviously to appease the Chinese censors, it is fairly easy to grasp who and what Gu's lines target.

The far more serious, and very troubling according to some Asian viewers, side of Assembly has to do with the remarkably stern tone of the film in regard to controversial historic events - Taiwan's severance, the division of the Korean peninsula, etc. It almost feels as if Assembly aspires to deliver a refreshing reminder that what wasn't accomplished in the past is bound to be achieved in the future. Such a read of the film may seem like a long shot to some of you, but there is quite a bit in it that supports precisely such a controversial deconstruction.

Technically, Assembly is a solid and well-polished film that impresses with its emphasis on detail. Cinematographer Lu Yue, who collaborated with John Woo on Red Cliff II (2009), certainly delivers big, particularly with his preference for stylishly dark and gritty colors. Unsurprisingly, even though the film is disturbingly graphic, it is also uncannily beautiful to behold.

Assembly Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted 1080p, Feng Xiaogang's Assembly arrives on Bu-ray courtesy of Tai Seng Entertainment

This transfer is quite similar to the one found on the HK release by Mega Star. Mild-edge enhancement is again noticeable throughout the entire film, clarity and contrast are pleasing but not consistent - especially during the battle scenes in the snow fields, but probably as intended by the director - and fine object detail convincing. Some minor noise filtering has also been applied. I also noticed the same minor flecks I saw on the HK release. However, unlike the HK release, which is encoded in 1080i, Tai Seng Entertainment's Blu-ray disc is encoded in 1080p. I did not detect any major differences between the two releases as far as the film's color-scheme is concerned; arguably only the blues, browns and blacks appear slightly richer and darker on the Tai Seng Entertainment's disc. For the record, there are absolutely no stability issues to report in this review. (Note: Even though the back cover of this Blu-ray disc indicates that this is a Region-A "locked" release, it is actually Region-Free. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

Assembly Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1, Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 EX. For the record, Tai Seng Entertainment have provided optional English, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 track is very intense. As I noted in my review for the HK release, when I watched the film it truly felt as if I was in the middle of all the fierce battles Gu and his men were fighting. The bass is incredibly potent (so keep your remote close to you), the rear channels very aggressive and high frequencies not overdone. The dialog is crisp, clean and very easy to follow. I also did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, or hiss.

A tested a few scenes to see how the Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1 EX audio track compares to the Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1 track, and as far as I am concerned, the gap in terms of dynamics and fluidity is enormous.

Assembly Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Trailers - trailers for the following films: Assembly, Perhaps Love, Infernal Affairs, Initial D and The Warlords. Not subtitled in English. (1080p).

B-Rolls - three episodes with raw footage from the shooting of the film. Not subtitled in English. (480/60i).

Assembly Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you like powerful war dramas, do not miss Feng Xiaogang's Assembly. It is incredibly well acted and free of the cliches that typically plague these types of films. Tai Seng Entertainment's Blu-ray disc is practically identical to the one released by Mega Star in Hong Kong. RECOMMENDED.