Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

Return of the 18 Bronzemen Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 18, 2022

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Cinematic Vengeance: 8 Kung Fu Classics from Director Joseph Kuo.

The hits (and/or kicks, smacks and whacks) keep on comin', with this set from Eureka! Entertainment following releases like Shawscope Volume One from Arrow and a number of offerings from 88 Films like The Chinese Boxer and Disciples of Shaolin in my review queue. The big difference between those films and the ones featured in this huge collection is that these were the handiwork of one Joseph Kuo, a name which may frankly not be all that familiar even to lovers of the "kung fu" genre. Kuo was, as they say, a "multi-hyphenate" who frequently wrote, produced and directed his films, which tended to be independently financed far, far away from the riches and "studio system" of facilities like the Shaw Brothers. As commentator Frank Djenge mentions on more than one disc, that meant Kuo often tried to film outside, where he didn't have to pay for things like sets, which can give these films a kind of distinctive ambience at times. According to the press sheet Eureka! sent with the (check) discs, seven of the eight films in this set are making their worldwide debuts on Blu-ray.

Return of the 18 Bronzemen follows in the time honored martial arts film tradition of deliberately mistitling a production in order to draw a perceived tether to some other martial arts film. Now, there are bronzemen in this film, so maybe it's understandable, but this really isn't a sequel in the truest sense of the word, and in fact the story here plays almost like a "Bizarro World" fun house mirror version of events that took place in 18 Bronzemen.

While the whole fractious history of the transition from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty is at least subtextually present here, and there's once again a "disciple" at the Shaolin Temple involved in an almost comically long learning curve, this time the focal character, Yong Zhen (Carter Wong), is at best an anti-hero and at worst a scurrilous villain. There are certainly connections that could be drawn to a number of other films in this set, not necessarily just 18 Bronzemen, including the appearance of Polly Ling-Feng Shang-Kuan (billed as Polly Shangkuan) as a butt kicker in drag. Return of the 18 Bronzemen seems to have been constructed with a real sequel in mind, one that I assume would have featured both Wong and Shangkuan, though kind of weirdly things don't really end on a cliffhanger, or even with a completely clear resolution.

Return of the 18 Bronzemen Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Return of the 18 Bronzemen is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This presentation ranks up there with The Shaolin Kids in terms of my visceral reaction to not just its really gorgeous suffusion, but also its generally really excellent detail levels. Despite a tendency to once again keep things in fairly claustrophobic interior locations, fine detail on things like costumes is really great looking. There are some of the same odd anamorphic squeezing that shows up in several of the other presentations in this set, and occasional wide shots have a lack of clarity (and maybe a lack of actual focus ) toward the center of the frame (see screenshot 10). Grain resolves naturally throughout. My score is 4.25.

Return of the 18 Bronzemen Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Return of the 18 Bronzemen features LPCM Mono audio in either Mandarin or English. Toggling between the two tracks discosed that the English track is not quite as hot as the Mandarin track, and the Mandarin track has a much brighter, more open, high end, which some may feel is actually a detriment when some of the louder music plays. The English track is occasionally beset with outright crackling and distortion at higher amplitudes, with the treble frequencies repeatedly encountering stumbles. Despite any deficits, dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Return of the 18 Bronzemen Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with Frank Djeng and John Charles

Return of the 18 Bronzemen Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Return of the 18 Bronzemen has some really interesting elements, not the least of which is the ostensible anti-hero at the center of the story, and I think if the third act in particular had been massaged a bit better, the result could have been an unexpected high point in this era of martial arts films. As it stands, it's still often exciting and inventively staged. Technical merits are generally solid. Recommended.