Crazy Fist Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Crazy Fist Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 13, 2021

For a certain target demographic who may want martial arts films that don't just exploit genre tropes but pretty much wallow in them, Well Go USA and Hi-Yah! have recently been offering a number of releases which might be considered to be the video equivalent of "comfort food". Crazy Fist is the latest perfect example, and even Hi-Yah's own description of its production featured on its website as well as the back cover of this release should reveal more than enough about how this film is going to travel a road seen in countless other films:

After an opponent dies mid-match, a prominent MMA champion swore never to fight again, instead retiring to run his family’s international business. However, when his best friend dies under suspicious circumstances during another tournament, he has no choice but to step back in the ring to help uncover the truth.

There's kind of a disconnect between this film's opening, which is an over the top duel that seems almost like Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome transported to some Asian locale, but then the film switches gears, perhaps literally, with undercover operatives, fast cars (and motorcycles), and nefarious scheming femmes fatales, though the bizarre arena type venue seen in the film's opening does continue to be featured as the location for the so-called Flying Tiger competition among mixed martial artist types.

The actual story, which I frankly found beyond confusing on more than one occasion, includes a guy named Mei Wei (Guo Qing, who also directed), who may or may not be a rogue cop (it's just not clear) who is now posing as a martial artist because — well, otherwise there wouldn't be a movie. A former fighter somewhat comically named Shang Hai (Steve Yoo, billed as Sung-jun Yoo) has supposedly retired, but needs to get back into action to solve a mysterious death. There are numerous other subplots woven into the story, arguably too many, supposedly providing some back story information about both Wei and Hai, but the point of this film is its hand to hand combat sequences, which are decently staged, albeit with every trick in the book in terms of both quick cut editing and other bells and whistles like relentless slow motion.

Crazy Fist Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Crazy Fist is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. There seems to be even less technical data available online than is typically the case with some of these Asian action films, and so I can't state with any authority what camera was used, though I'm assuming a 2K DI. This is a rather striking looking presentation at times, especially in moments like the yellow drenched opening sequence showing massive alligators in pools surrounding the fighters (don't fall in the water!). Fine detail on what I assume were CGI beasts is surprisingly strong, and tends to be consistently rendered on "real" items like costumes and props. Grading is actually surprisingly minimal here, and as such the palette is natural and inviting and rather warm looking a lot of the time. I noticed no major compression hiccups.

Crazy Fist Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Crazy Fist features DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mixes in the original Mandarin and an English dub. Toggling between the two didn't disclose any huge differences in overall mixes or amplitude levels, but one kind of interesting thing shows up occasionally in the Mandarin track: listen, for example, in one of the first strategy sessions involving the film's femme fatale at slightly past the 10 minute mark, and it sounds like this actress may have been dubbed even in Mandarin separately from the rest of the cast, since her voice has a completely different reverb ambience. Other than that passing weirdness, the Mandarin track is very aggressive, with robust low end in both effects and score. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Crazy Fist Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailers

  US Trailer (HD; 1:23)

  
  

  US Trailer (Dubbed) (HD; 1:23)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the supplements have been authored to follow one another automatically (so that clicking on the US Trailer is essentially a Play All button). After the US Trailer (Dubbed) for this film plays, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Crazy Fist Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's nothing even remotely unexpected that happens in Crazy Fist, and that may be just what the doctor ordered for these perilous times, in terms of action fans trying to find a little entertainment. Technical merits are solid for those who are considering making a purchase.