6.4 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
A boy, Peter McCrea, witnesses a gangland murder. He turns to his martial arts teacher, Young Park, to help defend him from the gangsters. On the run from both the gang and the police, Peter learns self-defense and the courage to face his fears.
Starring: Terry O'Quinn, Mako, Dale Girard, Julian Lee, Tupper CullumAction | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: LPCM 2.0 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 1.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 2.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
There’s little doubt that My Samurai probably wants to trade on what was even in its early 90s theatrical and home video premieres a certain nostalgia for 1984’s The Karate Kid, but the fact that My Samurai was evidently actually filmed over a year before its 1992-93 releases (according to the IMDb) or even earlier than that (according to some less reliable online sources) may indicate the film was made specifically to cash in on then recent memories of The Karate Kid, instead of any lingering “afterglow”, so to speak. My Samurai is a weird offering in any case, lacking any real big name stars (albeit with a few noted names like Terry O’Quinn and Mako in supporting roles), something that may therefore give the performance side of things a “not ready for prime time” quality, at least at times.
My Samurai is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Rewind, an imprint of MVD Visual, with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. While some aspects of this transfer look at least relatively decent, including elements of the palette like bright blues, the source looks fairly faded, skewed toward brown, and also appears to be a secondary element of some kind, as evidenced by a lack of clarity and some pretty noisy looking grain. Because of the fading, reds especially tend to tip toward orange quite a bit of the time, and some of the more dimly lit sequences look splotchy and near pixellated at times due to the almost swarm like grain field.
My Samurai is one of the very few (maybe the only, if my memory is serving me correctly, which it admittedly may not) MVD Rewind releases with some pretty underwhelming audio quality. I'm not sure what source was used, since this release doesn't offer the provenance of technical aspects, but this track is slathered in hiss and other noise, to the point that actual dialogue seems to be buried at times. Some aspects, like the synth laden score, can at least occasionally rise above the background (?) noise, but this is a curious sounding track that definitely could have used some significant restoration.
I've frankly been kind of surprised at times to see how many people actually remember and are excited by the Blu-ray releases of any number of these cult outings that MVD Rewind has been "excavating", but I'd frankly be really surprised if there's a sizable contingent out there jonesin' for My Samurai. The film is pretty obviously a Karate Kid wannabe, but it's hampered by what was no doubt a miniscule budget and some less than effective writing and performances. Technical merits are spotty on this one, but as usual MVD Rewind has assembled some appealing supplements for those considering a purchase.
2016
1970
1989
2014
Collector's Series
1987
Enragés
2015
1976
2012
2011
1983
1986
1991
Swordkill
1984
2014
2018
1989
1974
2017
Vinegar Syndrome Archive / Sold Out
1993
2015