Beyond Redemption Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.0

Beyond Redemption Blu-ray Movie Review

Truth in advertising?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman February 8, 2017

Well Go USA has been a reliable purveyor of Asian cinema for years, offering fans regular assortments of all sorts of Hong Kong action thrillers, often with serious martial arts elements in tow. One might assume that Beyond Redemption is another such offering, especially since its Blu-ray cover features Brian Ho in an athletic pose seemingly mid-MMA kick, with an explosion taking place in the background. Perhaps unexpectedly, then, Beyond Redemption turns out to be an English language affair shot in Vancouver, British Columbia. Those are probably the only unexpected elements about this pretty tired entry, though, one which does admittedly have some bone crunching MMA-ish sequences which my personal hunch is will turn out to be the film’s major (and perhaps sole) calling card for action adventure junkies.

Billy Tong (Brian Ho) seems to be a slacker who makes whatever money he has by engaging in street fights. The film opens with one such skirmish, where Billy takes down an opponent named Mauler, a guy who is considerably larger and more muscular than the lithe but agile Billy. Billy is subsequently ushered into a Triad-esque gang marauding through Canada (in just one of the film’s perhaps unlikely plot conceits), one led by Yuan (Don Lew). While it takes a while for the film’s meandering screenplay to get there, it’s no huge surprise to find out that Billy is not in fact a criminal, but an undercover cop out to bring various bad guys to justice.

A completely overheated and at times also completely nonsensical set of plot contrivances follow, which include (but are not limited to) a kidnapping, what seems to be an illicit trade in nuclear weapons (nothing is really very clearly defined in the film) and of course the inherent danger Billy faces in his undercover role. The screenplay seems patched together and in fact serves only to get the film to its next fight sequence, which is probably all it was ever meant to do.

The film is filled to the brim with professional stuntmen, many of whom have evidently never acted before. That means two things: the fight sequences are exciting and often brilliantly choreographed, and the performances are often pretty cringe worthy (and to be fair, some of the non- stunt personnel in this film aren’t exactly of Sir Laurence Olivier or Meryl Streep caliber).

Beyond Redemption Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Beyond Redemption is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.89:1. I couldn't find any authoritative technical data on this film posted online, but this looks digitally shot, though either less than well calibrated cameras or some shoddy compression has left this looking fairly problematic at times. Take a look at both the first and seventh screenshots accompanying this review for some of the issues that intrude with fair regularity, but there are also other moments that come close to pixellation in terms of image fragmentation. In brightly lit moments and when the camera is stationary, detail levels are actually very good and the palette pops quite commendably. But a lot of this film takes place at night or in dimly lit environments, and along with the issues outlined above, detail levels are often anemic and fine detail can be virtually negligible at times.

Beyond Redemption Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Beyond Redemption's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track gets an expected workout in the fight scenes, where the crunching of bones and other mayhem centered sounds often ricochet around the surround channels. Occasional ambient environmental sounds also dot the side and rear channels, and there's consistent use of rumbly LFE to up angst levels, even when such elements aren't exactly being called for in what's being depicted on the screen. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and is well prioritized on this problem free track.

Beyond Redemption Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes

  Yuan vs. Billy (1080p; 2:20)

  Mauler Opening Fight (1080p; 3:43)

• Trailer (1080p; 1:28)

Beyond Redemption Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you only care about decently presented fight scenes, Beyond Redemption may offer enough of an adrenaline rush to warrant checking it out. But from a narrative standpoint, this is a case of "been there, seen that," and from a performance standpoint it might be best if some of these stunt people don't give up their day jobs (so to speak). Video is problematic fairly recurrently throughout this presentation, but audio is fine.