Eastern Bandits Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

Eastern Bandits Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 27, 2014

Eastern Bandits has evidently appeared in several markets under the alternate titles An Inaccurate Memoir and (translated from Mandarin) The Common People, which may elucidate if not completely explain the film’s somewhat haphazard storytelling techniques and tonal ambiguities. Is this supposed to be a heist film? An anti-Japanese screed? A dark comedy built around the interactions of a ragtag group of political activists (the so-called bandits)? Eastern Bandits has all of these elements—and several more besides—which may prove daunting for those wanting a more or less clear narrative flow. What happens instead is a series of interlocking flashbacks which seek to clarify the relationships between characters, but which tend to simply interrupt what is already at times an completely bewildering storyline. Part of this confusion will no doubt be attributed to a Western audience’s unfamiliarity with some of the historical background being depicted, though the long simmering disputes between China and Japan in the buildup to World War II have been so ably documented in cinema by now that even those who loathe history probably have at least an idea of the basic outlines of the conflict. But there’s a certain sloppiness to the structure of Eastern Bandits that ends up sucking some of the energy out of the film.

Some indication of just how twisted the story pretzel is in Eastern Bandits can be gleaned by the fact that at least two different timeframes play out in the film’s opening few minutes, with no clear indication that they are different, and when one of the scenes being depicted finally winds around again toward the final act of the film, some viewers may be wondering if it is indeed a case of revisiting the scene again or simply a similar event occurring. Within the basic premise of the coterie of Robin Hood-esque thieves working to defeat the Japanese, there are also a number of sometimes intrusive (if admittedly brief) flashback sequences that are ostensibly meant to clarify things, but which just as often tend to confuse.

The putative focal character is a man named Gao (Zhang Yi), an undercover operative who has been tasked with assassinating the brother of the Japanese Emperor. Those plans go awry, but they introduce the character and allow him to announce via narration that he’s going to recount his story, evidently setting up a look at how he arrived at the opening sequence’s almost comical grouping of pistols aimed by various nemeses at each other. That sets the film off on a long anecdotal series of vignettes that show how Gao came to be involved with a gang led by a man named Fang (Huang Xiaoming). However, even this part of the story turns out to have a backstory, something that isn’t revealed until a good two thirds of the way through the film, in yet another brief sidebar.

Things might have been all right had Eastern Bandits stuck to this general plotline, but also stuffed into this nonsense is some subterfuge on the part of Gao, a love affair between Gao and Fang’s sister Zizhen (Zhang Xinyi) and just for good measure a bizarre bank holdup where all the gang members where huge and somewhat disturbing doll masks. This fractured ambience isn’t just story based, however. There are some fairly wide changes in tone here, from hyperkinetic action to supposedly heart tugging emotion to some peculiar and not all that funny humor. The ambivalence in the tone of Eastern Bandits even shows up in the characters of the bandits themselves. In one moment, they are jokesters, enjoying each other's camaraderie. In the next, they're quite vicious killers. This wouldn't be a problem if the film were more consistently cartoonish, but some of the violence is surprisingly realistic, including one scene where an innocent bystander gets killed, for no other reason than he's with Gao. That kind of random violence tends to undercut the film's assertion that these are people to root for.

In fact Eastern Bandits does have a couple of set pieces that just seem to spring up out of a narrative netherworld. The first of these is actually an interesting enough sequence where Gao first encounters the bandits, just as the bandits are attempting to spring Fang from prison. Director Yang Shupeng sends his camera careening through a bustling market alleyway where seemingly every other person is someone in on a plan that seems to be unfolding in a series of surreptitious glances and nods of the head. While Gao only appears to be an innocent bystander, things turn out to be somewhat different. This sequence works because it helps develop what plot there is. The bank robbery just kind of happens, as if Yang decided the film needed a little adrenaline injection at that particular moment.

There's an overall sloppiness in this film, though, that can't quite be hidden by the glut of swooping camera moves and deliberately intricate storytelling. Pay attention, for instance, to the chief motivating "McGuffin" of the film, namely the assassination (which later morphs into a kidnapping) of the Emperor's brother. Once the film has wound down to its weirdly sanguine coda, see if you don't have several pressing questions about what happened to this all consuming plot point. A lot of films seem to be made nowadays for people with attention deficit disorder, but Eastern Bandits may actually reveal its own makers' bouts with that particular affliction.

Eastern Bandits Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Eastern Bandits is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This isn't a typically opulent looking historical drama, and in fact lots of the film takes place in rather dust blown environments, something that tends to cast large swaths of the film in a misty brown color. There's been a deliberate attempt to skew lots of interior sequences—notably those in the underground lair of the bandits—in a kind of jaundiced yellow. Despite the occasional color grading, things are often quite vivid, especially with regard to some of the outdoor location shots and a few of the more glamorous costumes. Contrast remains generally strong despite the palette differentiations, and the presentation here has above average depth and sharpness, if not quite impeccable acuity. Close-ups reveal generous amounts of fine detail, including things like the fine down on female faces or the crisp weave of khaki military uniforms.

Eastern Bandits Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Eastern Bandits' lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track offers nicely consistent surround activity, even if might skimp a little on LFE, aside from one or two bombastic explosions. Several sequences, including the bank robbery and a huge gunfight that caps the film, offer great opportunities for sound effects erupting from the side and rear channels. Dialogue is also very cleanly presented. The music is almost deliberately off kilter throughout this film, balancing traditional orchestral cues with more unusual choices like electric guitars.

Eastern Bandits Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (1080p; 2:00)

Eastern Bandits Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Eastern Bandits doesn't seem to know what story it wants to tell, or indeed how exactly to tell it. There are some enjoyable set pieces which explode almost willy-nilly at various times throughout the enterprise, but there's an oddly disconnected feeling to the main story here, especially when it's repeatedly interrupted by various sidebars. The film is handsome and certainly keeps on marauding through various adrenaline pumping scenes, though it often seems like it's noisy rather than entertaining. This Blu-ray looks and sounds just fine, for those who are interested in the title.