In the Line of Duty: I - IV Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.5

In the Line of Duty: I - IV Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman April 27, 2023

In some of his typically information packed mile a minute commentaries included as supplements in 88 Films' set of In the Line of Duty films, Frank Djeng kind of hilariously gets into how this supposed "series" really isn't by any objective standard, and that in fact due to the vagaries of production and release dates and almost comically variable titles, the "order" of the films in the franchise is even up for debate. That somewhat chaotic situation leads to an almost farcical state of affairs where the ostensible first film in the series may in fact not be, and where any number of alternate titles can either link or uncouple various entries in the "series" in a virtually random fashion (it's perhaps salient to note that In the Line of Duty didn't even crop up in any original title until the third film). Whether or not Royal Warriors or Yes Madam is defined as the "first" film, and whether or not all four are indeed a traditional "series", the first two outings star Michelle Yeoh in what was arguably her first big leap toward international superstardom, while the subsequent two films feature Cynthia Khan. If there's a "through line" tethering the films together, it may be nothing other than the fact that these are so-called "girls with guns" outings, where the focal character is kinda sorta a Hong Kong equivalent of Police Woman, albeit with a facility for martial arts that Pepper Anderson never had.

For reviews of the four films in this set, please click on the following links (and I've placed these in the same order that 88 Films has arranged them):

Royal Warriors Blu-ray review

Yes, Madam! Blu-ray review

In the Line of Duty III Blu-ray review

In the Line of Duty IV Blu-ray review

In the Line of Duty: I - IV Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Video quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

In the Line of Duty: I - IV Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Audio quality of each film is assessed in the above linked reviews.

In the Line of Duty: I - IV Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Supplements on each disc are detailed in the above linked reviews. Additionally this edition comes housed in a nicely designed slipbox which along with the keepcases houses two posters and a really nicely done perfect bound booklet. The keepcase inserts feature reversible sleeves.

In the Line of Duty: I - IV Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

A couple of totally irrelevant but still kind of funny things occurred to me as I made my way through this collection. The first is that Frank Djeng must be the busiest commentary provider for Asian martial arts efforts in recent memory, since he evidently did completely different commentaries for these releases and Eureka Entertainment's Region B releases (at least based on the fact his introductions on these discs specifically cite 88 Films, since I admittedly don't have the Eureka releases). The second is that vaunted studio D & B productions offers a studio masthead with only a capital D, as if to suggest that B is, to paraphrase the first season theme from Gilligan's Island , "and the rest". This set has some variable technical merits, mostly in the color timing department, but 88 Films has assembled some enjoyable supplements and non disc swag and packaging. Taken as a whole, Recommended.