Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.0

Invisible Target Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov August 9, 2010

Benny Chan's "Invisible Target" (2007) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Showbox Media. The supplemental features on the disc include an audio commentary with actors Jaycee Chan, Shawn Yue, Andy On and Hong Kong Cinema expert Bey Logan; making of featurette; trailer gallery; interviews with various cast and crew members; deleted and extended scenes with commentary by director Benny Chan; production featurettes; and more. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

Three tired cops

Director Benny Chan’s Invisible Target is a flashy and notably violent film about three cops who join forces to neutralize a gang of merciless robbers. The youngest one, Wai (Jaycee Chan, Mulan), wants to avenge the death of his brother, an undercover cop, who has been executed by the robbers. Chan (Nicholas Tse, The Beast Stalker) wants to avenge the death of his late fiancee, who has also been killed by the robbers during a high-profile heist. Carson (Shawn Yue, Dragon Tiger Gate), the oldest and most experienced of the three, is after the robbers because he wants to settle some old scores.

The bad guys are led by a man (Jacky Wu, Kill Zone) with terrific fighting skills who does not take prisoners – anyone he dislikes, including other criminals, he kills. The rest of the robbers are also skillful fighters, though none of them are as brutal and merciless as their leader.

The film opens up with the heist during which Chan’s fiancee is killed. The police quickly arrive at the scene and after an impressive shootout force the robbers to run away without their loot. Six months later, however, they return and begin searching for what they believe belongs to them.

It turns out that a supposedly crazy man (Sam Lee, Dog Bite Dog) has the information the robbers need. Wai, Chan and Carson immediately go after him and learn that one of their superiors might have assisted the robbers during the heist with crucial information. Things get ugly when the robbers discover that their well connected partner is trying to flee the country with their money and decide to teach him a lesson.

Director Chan’s Invisible Target is a strong genre film, which should please hardcore action aficionados. Its story is well constructed, main characters well drawn, and action sequences very impressive. Some specific genre cliches similarly themed films typically suffer from are also kept to an absolute minimum.

Invisible Target moves at an incredible pace but nothing in it feels rushed. The cops and robbers are given an equal amount of time in front of the camera, which allows the audience to better understand the motives behind their actions, as well as the complex dilemmas they create.

There are no shocking twists in Invisible Target, though there are a few intriguing revelations that occur during the final third of the film. A couple of them lead to unnecessary but nevertheless easy to tolerate melodramatic scenes. The most problematic one is at the end of the film where Wai, Chan and Carson fight the leader of the robbers.

The action is top-notch. From the shootouts to the fight sequences everything is handled with impressive care. During the final credits there is raw footage showing some quite remarkable, and painful, stunt work. Kudos to the cast for going the extra mile to impress hardcore action aficionados.

Cinematographers Chan Kwok-Hung (Seoul Raiders) and Ko Chiu-Lam’s (Dragon Tiger Gate) lensing is pleasing - the two make purposeful use of light and space. The numerous fast camera cuts and zooms also give Invisible Target a sleek, contemporary look and feel.

Note: In the United States, Invisible Target is distributed by Vivendi Visual Entertainment and will be available on Blu-ray on August 10.

Invisible Target Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Benny Chan's Invisible Target arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Showbox Media.

This is a pleasing but somewhat inconsistent high-definition transfer. Fine object detail is good, clarity adequate and contrast levels consistent throughout the entire film. Some of the closeups, however, are plagued by mild edge-enhancement. Selected scenes also reveal mild to moderate sharpening, which viewers with larger than 50' screens will likely be annoyed with. Elsewhere, however, the image is very strong. Additionally, there are no serious stability issues. I also did not detect any disturbing flecks, scratches, debris, marks, or damage to report in this review. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location. For the record, there is no problematic PAL or 1080/50i content preceding the disc's main menu).

Invisible Target Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Showbox Media have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

The Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is very strong. The bass is potent and punchy, the rear channels active and very effective, and high-frequencies not overdone. Understandably, the Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is most impressive during the prolonged action scenes, and especially the ones where there are massive explosions. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable and very easy to follow. There are no balance issues with Anthony Chue's music score either. For the record, while viewing the film I did not detect any cracks, pops, hissings, or dropouts to report in this review.

I tested only a couple of scenes with the English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track and my impression of it is that it is quite poor - the dubbing is dull and remarkably unenthusiastic.

Invisible Target Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Note: Most of the supplemental features on this Blu-ray disc are encoded in PAL. Therefore, if you reside in North America, or another region where PAL is not supported, you must have a Region-Free player capable of converting PAL to NTSC, or a TV set capable of receiving native PAL data, in order to view them.

Commentary - an audio commentary with actors Jaycee Chan, Shawn Yue, Andy On and Hong Kong Cinema expert Bey Logan. This is a casual and quite hilarious audio commentary, which also appeared on the SE DVD release of Invisible Target. Most of the comments are about specific scenes, specific locations seen in the film, and cast members.

Orchestrated Mayhem: The Making of Invisible Target - a standard featurette with plenty of raw footage from the shooting of the film. The focus of attention is on the numerous action scenes, most of which are addressed by different cast and crew members. In Cantonese, with imposed English subtitles. (PAL, 25 min).

Trailer gallery -

-- Original theatrical teaser - In Cantonese, with imposed English subtitles. (PAL, 1 min).
-- Original theatrical trailer - In Cantonese, with imposed English subtitles. (PAL, 3 min).

Interviews - a gallery of interviews with the director of the film and different cast members. Each of the interviewees discusses the type of preparation and work that went into the film, some of the key characters, stunt work, etc. In Cantonese, Mandarin and English, with imposed English subtitles:

-- Benny Chan (PAL, 23 min).
-- Jaycee Chan (PAL, 19 min).
-- Shawn Yue (PAL, 20 min).
-- Wu Jing (PAL, 28 min).
-- Philip Ng (PAL, 26 min).
-- Vincent Sze (PAL, 16 min).
-- Andy On (PAL, 21 min).

Deleted and extended scenes - with commentary by director Benny Chan. In Cantonese, with imposed English subtitles:

-- Pillar of the Community (PAL, 2 min).
-- Unofficial Rivals (PAL, 3 min).
-- Top Brass, Bedside Manner (PAL, 4 min).
-- Look Who's Come to Dinner! (PAL, 3 min).
-- A Sick Friend...and his Family (PAL, 2 min).
-- Double Crossed (extended scene) (PAL, 2 min).
-- Trojan Horse (extended scene) (PAL, 1 min).

Featurettes - three standard featurettes with additional information about the production history of the film as well as its reception. In Cantonese, with imposed English subtitles:

-- Fight for the Glory: Constructing the action sequences of Invisible Target (PAL, 19 min).
-- Storyboard comparison (PAL, 18 min).
-- The Gala Premiere (PAL, 10 min).

Trailers - trailers for other Showbox Media releases. (1080p).

Invisible Target Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Fast, loud and violent, Benny Chan's Invisible Target should please hardcore action aficionados. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed, courtesy of British distributors Showbox Media, looks good and sounds terrific. It is also packed with an incredible amount of excellent supplemental features. RECOMMENDED.