6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Tough cop Bruce Li arrives back in town in time to investigate a series of odd murders. Victims have two pierce marks on their necks. The killer is an expert in the Iron Finger strike. The fights are fantastic with the two Bruce's and Ku Feng going at it and all are excellent.
Starring: Bruce Li, Siu-Lung Leung, Feng Ku, Ying-Hong Luk, San TaiForeign | 100% |
Martial arts | 46% |
Action | 20% |
Drama | 11% |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 2.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Severin's The Game of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection Vol. 1.
When Severin Films released Kung Fu Trailers of
Fury
and Return of Kung Fu Trailers of
Fury
several years ago, I'm sure I wasn't the only one initially thinking, "Well, that's a stupid idea for a release", only to have the sheer
lunacy of the trailers assembled in both collections "fight back" against that assessment, as if to say in response, "Yeah, well who's stupid
now?" In fact, both Kung Fu Trailers of Fury and Return of Kung Fu Trailers of Fury were kind of deliriously enjoyable in
their
own slapdash way, and those releases evidently were one of the inspirations for a full on collection of so-called "Brucesploitation" films, this time
offering the actual films in addition to their trailers. The goofily affable Michael Worth, who has contributed so many fun commentaries
through the years to various kung fu films on Blu-ray, is your "host" of sorts here, offering introductions to all the films and commentaries for many
of
them. If none of these films is ever going to be acclaimed as an unappreciated masterpiece, and if both video and audio on many of the films in
this
set might be charitably termed problematic, merely having these films in high definition will be alluring, and an absolute glut of other supplemental
material is included as well, making this a probable "must have" for a certain demographic.
Bruce and the Iron Finger is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Michael Worth's introduction states this transfer was scanned from a 35mm print held by a private collector. The actual presentation begins with this prefatory text card:
The film element used to scan Iron Finger, while the best we were able to locate worldwide, nevertheless had three moments of severe damage that could not be restored.If you're watching the films in the order presented by Severin in this set, Bruce and the Iron Finger will probably come off as one of the more relatively "intact" viewing experiences, which is not to suggest it's stellar in any major way. While color can be wan at times, it's decently suffused, especially in terms of primaries, and detail levels can be a tick or two better than is seen in some of the other transfers. There's still quite a bit of damage throughout the presentation, with lots of flecks, speckling and some intermittently severe scratches, some of which can be seen in some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review. The same sorts of anamorphic oddness that I've mentioned in several other reviews also shows up here, albeit perhaps not to the levels seen in some of the other transfers.
As completionists, we are including those scenes from a previous release.
Bruce and the Iron Finger features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that suffers from some extreme sibilance at times that can afflict not just dialogue but perhaps unexpected items on the soundtrack like high hats closing and sound effects. This is just one of several films in this set that unabashedly co-opts music from other films (I'll let enterprising detectives on or off vacation do their own sleuthing in that regard). There's also some pervasive background hiss and/or noise, though the film is so relentlessly active soundtrack wise that particular situation can be in the background. As with a lot of the other soundtracks in this set, the entire track has a somewhat hollow, boxy sound that can be evident in action sound effects in particular. Dialogue is rendered well enough, though the dubbing is once again hilariously inept in terms of matching lip movements to sounds emanating from them. Optional English subtitles are available.
As a mystery, Bruce and the Iron Finger is frankly kind of middling, but this is still a kind of interesting exercise in terms of Bruce Li's fledgling attempts to establish himself as his own action star. Once again technical merits can be variable, this time at least as much with audio as with video, but the supplements are very appealing.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Shen wei san meng long / 神威三猛龍
1980
Si wang mo ta / 死亡魔塔
1978
Dragon on Fire / Kuai quan guai zhao / 快拳怪招
1978
Mission for the Dragon / Ying quan / Maegwon / 鷹拳
1979
Za jia gao shou / 雜家高手
1979
The New Game of Death / Xin si wang you xi / 新死亡遊戲
1975
He's a Legend, He's a Hero / Yong chun da xiong / 詠春大兄
1976
Cameroun Connection
1985
Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story / Yi dai meng long / 一代猛龍
1974
San lung mang tam / Shen long meng tan / Mie jue qi qi / 神龍猛探 / 滅絕七七
1980
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu / Lee sam geuk wai jan dei yuk moon / Li san jiao wei zhen di yu men / 李三腳威震地獄門
1977
2023
Liu A-Cai yu Huang Fei-Hong
1976
Deep Thrust / Tie zhang xuan feng tui / 鐵掌旋風腿
1972
Chi jiao xiao zi / Chik geuk siu ji / 赤腳小子
1993
合氣道 / He qi dao / Lady Kung Fu
1972
新精武門 / Xīn jīng wǔ mén
1976
Zhui hun biao / Chui wan biu / 追魂鏢
1968
In the Line of Duty | Huáng jiā zhàn shì | Wong ga jin si | 皇家戰士 | 2K Remastered
1986
1972