5.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.0 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
Two immigrant brothers Sonny and Steven who survive the impoverished despair of New York in the 1980s by joining Chinatown gang "The Green Dragons". The brothers quickly rise up the ranks, drawing the unwanted attention of hard-boiled city cops. After an ill- fated love affair pits Sonny against his own brother, he sets out for revenge on the very gang who made him who he is.
Starring: Justin Chon, Kevin Wu, Harry Shum Jr., Ray Liotta, Eugenia YuanCrime | 100% |
Drama | 77% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English, English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
UV digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 2.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.0 |
There’s a lot about Revenge of the Green Dragons that feels recycled from other films, but perhaps the oddest déjà vu element is the rather interesting montage of illegal immigration comments which open the film. There are a number of fascinating aspects to this presentation, none more so than just about everything that’s being said in the montage, which takes place back in the 1980s, pretty much echoes the increasingly rancorous debate we hear on a virtually daily basis on any number of niche cable news outlets. But what’s perhaps more interesting is how some (un?)likely suspects like Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush are shown offering comments about the United States’ long struggle to secure its borders while also offering a welcoming hand to immigrants that would surely get these two iconic Republicans booted out of their own party had they deigned to utter them in the current political climate. That may have been an intentionally provocative gambit on the part of screenwriters Andrew Loo and Michael di Jiacomo and/or co-directors Andrew Loo and Andrew Lau, but it immediately offers a bit of context for a film that presents a group of supposed American interlopers who, finding themselves ostracized from the finer aspects of domestic existence, band together not just to have a supposedly nurturing community, but (of course, this being in essence a gangster flick) to pursue criminal activities. With Martin Scorsese credited as an Executive Producer and a film offering a gritty exploration of an ethnic group engaging in nefarious activities in and around The Big Apple, one might be tempted to think of Revenge of the Green Dragons as a 1980s Chinese inflected reboot of Gangs of New York. Unfortunately, the similarity pretty much ends with that perhaps whimsical comparison, for whatever flaws Scorsese’s grand 2002 opus may display, it’s a general model of cinematic excellence when contrasted with this largely hackneyed and underwhelming film.
Revenge of the Green Dragons is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.40:1. Probably a good 85-90% of the film takes place in shadowy or at least dimly lit locations (something that made getting 20 reasonably lit screenshots a bit of a challenge), making the prevalence of astounding fine detail problematic. When the film journeys out of doors in natural light, things improve measurably, with good sharpness and clarity, though there is such ubiquitous jiggly cam, whip pans, slow motion and other bells and whistles (not to even mention color grading choices) that the film seems to be soft looking perhaps when it really isn't. Generally speaking, though, there's an appealingly organic look to this transfer, one that reproduces the film's intentionally claustrophobic ambience, with looming shadows and sickly greens and yellows filling the frame. Despite being really dark a lot of the time and placed on a BD-25, there are no compression artifacts of any note to worry about.
Revenge of the Green Dragons' lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track is suitably bombastic, filled with the sounds of a frenetic cityscape, as well as the punch of gunfire and on more than one occasion the sickening sounds of people being mercilessly beaten to within an inch of their lives (and sometimes a bit further than that). Dialogue, which segues from Cantonese (with forced English subtitles) to English and back again is cleanly presented for the most part, though accents are occasionally problematic (there are optional subtitles available for the English dialogue sequences as well). There's excellent surround activity throughout this track, part of which comes courtesy of Mark Kilian's somewhat overwrought score. Fidelity is top notch and there are no issues of any kind to report.
There are simply too many hoary clichés running through Revenge of the Green Dragons that undercut what is at its core a fascinating tale of socioeconomic disadvantage being morphed into a rather vicious interpretation of the American Dream. Liotta does what he can with his unlikable character, but some of the other actors are better in their action elements than delivering dialogue. The film moves at a breakneck pace, which has both its benefits and detriments. There are all sorts of plot issues that are never fully explicated or developed, but at least the action comes consistently furiously enough to provide momentary distractions. Technical merits are generally very strong for those considering a purchase.
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