7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 1.5 | |
Overall | 1.5 |
In late 19th Century Hong Kong the British may rule the land, but the pirates rule the waters. Reluctantly, the Coast Guard is given money to fight these pirates, but the pirates themselves have many contacts (that is, bribed officials) in the government, and seek to thwart the Coast Guard's efforts to eliminate them. One Coast Guard officer is Dragon Ma, who is determined that his beloved Coast Guard will not be made fools of.
Starring: Jackie Chan, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Biao Yuen, Dick Wei, Man-Ying WongForeign | 100% |
Action | 40% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 1.5 | |
Audio | 1.5 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 1.5 |
A comedy of errors.
There might be some physical humor and even a sprinkling of slapstick in Project A, but its Blu-ray release is no laughing matter. Never
mind that the bloopers have been
excised from the credits -- the joke's on the audience there -- but it's quite the unfunny situation here, in the aggregate. The movie arrives cut,
dubbed, absent its original opening title sequence, lacking those end-credit outtakes, and looking and sounding rather frazzled to boot. Does Echo
Bridge care about this release, or any Jackie Chan release? Is there a vendetta
against him and his movies? Sure, the Action
star extraordinaire's movies are making their way to Blu-ray -- Operation Condor, Operation Condor II, and Twin Dragons have all been released under the Echo Bridge banner --
but can any of them get a fair Blu-ray treatment? Bad dubs, cuts, poor transfers, subpar audio, scant extras: that's
sort of par for the course for Echo Bridge, but things looked to be improving of late. It's a real head-scratcher; Chan's superstardom, a following in both the
mainstream and in the cult arenas, his box office draw, the legend of his physical stunt work, and even just the allure of the charming nature of his
films should be enough to earn his flicks a little extra love, some much-needed TLC. But fans are, for now, stuck with some grossly substandard
releases, Project A being a sterling example. And would it take that much effort to dig up the original? Even if the only available
elements were in rough shape, surely they
couldn't be much worse than what the studio's released here, and at least that would temporarily satisfy Chan and Blu-ray fans
just
looking for a favorite movie as it should be.
Ready to rumble.
As noted above, and as is the focus of this review, Project A's Blu-ray video quality is nothing short of terrible. To be sure, there are scenes of general competence, where the image cleans up, offers serviceable detailing and adequate colors with little in terms of wear and other issues, but the vast majority of the transfer is defined by a total lack of effort that's a true disservice to both the film and its fans. The image suffers most evidently from tremendous wear and tear; scratches, pops, debris, and random vertical lines appear over a vast majority of the print. There's some overwhelming softness, sometimes through the entire frame and often around its edges. Colors are sloppy and dim, and there's little color stability or nuance. Flesh tones are shaky, and black levels fluctuate from overpowering to appearing washed out, and are often noisy to boot. The good news is that grain retention is evident, and the image never really appears smoothed over. Detailing suffices, whether dirty faces and clothes, building façades, and general elements around the frame. The film simply holds up better with the boosted resolution of Blu-ray, but otherwise there's almost nothing to like here. The movie deserves better.
Project A arrives on Blu-ray with a DTS-HD MA 2.0 lossless soundtrack that fares almost no better than its video counterpart. This is a dubbed track, presented in English only, and the dub is rather poor at that. Dialogue is listless and sounds fairly detached. It's audible and intelligible, but doesn't offer that same crispness and natural presence that's usually found on the finer lossless presentations. The various fight scenes, from a rowdy barroom confrontation on through the rest of the movie, lack stature and clarity. The general din of chaos -- landing punches, shattering glass, crashing bodies, screaming fighters -- is audible, but with no precision or sonic authority. It's a jumble of definable but hardly life-accurate sound effects. Gunfire does manage adequate crispness and the track delivers a few hefty explosions that give a cursory effort, but these hardly match what may be found on even mediocre tracks. Ambient noise is limited, but chapter eight does offer some spacious crowd elements. Music is dull and, as with the rest of the presentation, just "there" and nothing more. In total, this is a disappointing, lackluster, no-effort soundtrack that, sadly, fits right in with the quality of every other aspect of this release.
All that's included is the Project A theatrical trailer (480p, 1:11).
Project A represents Jackie Chan at his best, but then again so does pretty much every other Jackie Chan movie. The picture is competently put together and works well even in its edited form, though certainly the plot plays a distant second in importance to the execution, variety, and novelty of Chan's hallmark physical work. Yet all is overshadowed by the rather sloppy and incomplete Blu-ray release. The movie looks rather poor, but that's amongst the least of the release's worries. Fans will rightly demand the original and a superior presentation. As it is, Echo Bridge has given no real good reason to upgrade to Blu-ray. The aforementioned poor video is matched by a forgettable and dubbed English-language track. No supplements beyond the trailer are included. Sad to say -- particularly considering that the movie, even in this form, is worth the price of admission for Chan's physical work alone -- that buyers should skip this one entirely and hope for something more complete down the road.
'A' gai wak
1983
'A' gai wak / 'A' ji hua / A計劃
1983
A計劃 / 'A' gai wak
1983
'A' gai wak juk jaap | 'A' ji hua xu ji | A計劃續集 | Hong Kong Cut + Export Cut
1987
The Armour of God / Lung hing foo dai
1986
Armour of God II: Operation Condor / Fei jing gai wak / Project Eagle
1991
Shuang long hui
1992
Fei lung mang jeung
1988
Fai can che / Kuài cān chē / 快餐車
1984
Zui quan
1978
警察故事 / Ging chaat goo si
1985
Sing si lip yan / Chéng shì liè rén / 城市獵人
1993
殺手壕 / Sha shou hao
1980
十二生肖 / Armour of God III: Chinese Zodiac / CZ12
2012
警察故事3超級警察 / Gíng chaat gu sih sāam: Chīu kāp gíng chaat | Standard Edition
1992
Xià rì fú xīng | 夏日福星 | Hong Kong Cut & Extended Cut
1985
5 Lucky Stars / Kei mau miu gai: Ng fok sing / Qí móu miào jì: wǔ fú xīng / 奇謀妙計五福星
1983
Fuk sing go jiu / Fu xing gao zhao / 福星高照
1985
Jung on zo / Zhòng àn zǔ / 重案組
1993
1982
Limited Edition | 敗家仔
1981
2017
The Legend of Drunken Master / 醉拳 II / Jui kuen II / Warner Archive Collection
1994