Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Mercenaries from Hong Kong Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 22, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Shawscope Volume Two.

The good news is if you have a martial arts fan you've been worried about finding an appropriate holiday present for, your prayers have been answered (for the second year in a row in fact), by the thoughtful folks at Arrow Video, who are returning to the evidently bottomless well that gave lovers of a certain Hong Kong studio one of 2021's most impressive releases, Shawscope Volume One. The bad news is, if you're a martial arts fan intrigued by this new release, you're going to have to put the rest of your life on hold to make it through not just a glut of Shaw Brothers films, but an immense assortment of supplemental material. As with the first volume of Shawscope, there's probably no doubt that some films will appeal to some viewers more than others, but the sheer variety of films in this set, along with an authoritative set of bonus features, will almost certainly make this a marquee item for genre aficionados.

As Simon Abrams gets into in his film notes included in Arrow's insert booklet, by the time Mercenaries from Hong Kong was put into production, the Shaw Brothers were largely forsaking the vagaries of the box office for the perhaps somewhat more direct route of providing productions for television. And in a way Mercenaries from Hong Kong plays very much like a television outing, albeit one that probably wouldn't have made the broadcast networks on this side of the pond back in the 80s, and which instead has more of a feeling of the lo-fi foreign films that often filled then nascent cable offerings back in the day. Mercenaries from Hong Kong also kind of weirdly echoes a number of other efforts, and if Abrams makes a case it's tethered to First Blood, I'd also argue that it almost presages another Stallone outing from decades later, The Expendables.

With its contemporary setting and its emphasis on kind of smarmy characters and some questionable attempts at humor (Abrams mentions one potentially transphobic moment), Mercenaries from Hong Kong probably is not going to be anyone's favorite Shaw Brothers film, especially for those who prefer the "old school" kung fu fueled entertainments. But this brash piece, which sees a bunch of A-Team types are hired by an obviously scheming woman named Ho Ying (Candice Yu) to secretly "invade" Cambodia in order to take down a supposedly ruthless thug who has something that Ho Ying desperately wants to get hold of. Suffice it to say all is not as it seems, and the mercenaries are soon dealing with the ramifications of Ho Ying's subterfuge.

The narrative here is almost maddeningly predictable, but the film is stuffed to its veritable gills with nonstop action, explosions and fights, along with endless bantering and sophomoric jokes that probably won't always sit well with more PC minded audiences.

Mercenaries from Hong Kong Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mercenaries from Hong Kong is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet lumps all the films together on its page devoted to the restorations, as follows:

All fourteen films in this boxset are presented in their original aspect ratios (2.35:1 for all films except 1.85:1 for The Boxer's Omen and The Bare-Footed Kid) with their original Mandarin, English, and Cantonese (where applicable) monoaural soundtracks. Every effort has been made to present these films in their original and complete versions using the best materials available.

Return to the 36th Chamber, Disciples of the 36th Chamber, My Young Auntie, Martial Arts of Shaolin and The Bare-Footed Kid were remastered by Celestial Pictures in 2003-2007, as part of an initiative to digitally restore the entire Shaw Brothers library. The High Definition masters of these restorations, which included the original Mandarin, Cantonese and English mono soundtracks, were supplied to Arrow Films by Celestial Pictures.

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin was restored by Celestial Pictures and L'Immagine Ritrovata in 2020. Additional grading was completed at R3Store Studios, London in 2021.

Mad Monkey Kung Fu, Five Superfighters, Invincible Shaolin, The Kid with the Golden Arm, Magnificent Ruffians, Ten Tigers of Kwangtung, Mercenaries from Hong Kong and The Boxer's Omen have all been newly restored by Arrow Films in 2021 and 2022, in collaboration with L'Immagine Ritrovata, Hong Kong Film Archive and Celestial Pictures. The original 35mm negatives for these films were scanned at L'Immagine Ritrovata Asia and restored in 2K resolution at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna. The films were graded at R3Store Studios, London. These restorations have used the entire film negative without resorting to the practice of "frame-cutting" resulting in the loss of film frames at each negative splice point.

The mono mixes were remastered from the original sound negatives at L'Immagine Ritrovata. Additional sound remastering was completed by Matthew Jarman/Bad Princess Productions.

All original materials supplied for these restorations were made available from the Hong Kong Film Archive via Celestial Pictures.

Excerpts from vintage 35mm feature print elements for Return to the 36th Chamber, Disciples of the 36th Chamber and My Young Auntie and vintage 35mm trailer prints for Disciples of the 36th Chamber, Mad Monkey Kung Fu, Mercenaries from Hong Kong and The Boxer's Omen were scanned and graded in 2K resolution at American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) and R3Store Studios.

Additional print materials were made available from American Genre Film Archive (AGFA), Harry Guerro, Scott Napier, King-Wei Chu and Howard Zinman.

This is another appealing looking presentation, and one which really springs to noticeable life in some of the brightly lit outdoor material, as in a relatively early scene on a golf course, but then recurrently throughout any number of subsequent moments. In these sections, the palette is really vivid and detail levels are typically excellent. Clarity can occasionally falter and grain attain a somewhat swarm like appearance in less brightly lit moments. The contemporary setting of this film means there's no hugely opulent production design to help spark visual allure, but detail on modern day costumes and props is often very appealing. Perhaps because of its relatively newer production era, there's less of the radical anamorphic squeezing seen in this presentation that is noticeable in several of the other transfers in this set. To be frank, the difference between some of the films I'm rating 3.5 and some I'm rating 4.0 in the video department are admittedly minor, and it wouldn't surprise me if some found some aspects of this presentation more down in the 3.5 range, at least in some of the darker moments.

Mercenaries from Hong Kong Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Mercenaries from Hong Kong features Cantonese, Mandarin and English language options, all delivered via DTS-HD Master Audio Mono. Once again I'd put the Mandarin track at the head of the pack in terms of general amplitude and perhaps especially the wideness of dynamic range, something that's most noticeable in some of the rock influenced score. As tends to be the case in many of the soundtracks, while dialogue is always rendered cleanly and clearly, it often is accompanied by a somewhat hollow, boxy sound. Optional English subtitles are available.

Mercenaries from Hong Kong Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Arrow has packaged Mercenaries from Hong Kong and The Boxer's Omen together on one disc. However, after selecting Choose Film on the Main Menu, the Special Features then also change to reflect that choice. This film features the following supplements:

• Interview with Tong Kai (HD; 28:50) is another interesting interview culled from the Frederic Ambroisine archives, this time from 2010. Subtitled in English.


• Trailer Gallery

  HK Theatrical Trailer (HD; 2:38)

  
  

  Digital Reissue Trailer (HD*; 1:21)

• Image Gallery (HD)

Mercenaries from Hong Kong Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mercenaries from Hong Kong has some blistering action sequences, but it's somewhat problematic on any number of levels, including how some of its now dated aspects will sit with more "woke" modern day sensibilities. Technical merits are generally solid and the interview with Tong Kai is ingratiating, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.