7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Police inspector and excellent hostage negotiator Ho Sheung-Sang finds himself in over his head when he is pulled into a 72 hour game by a cancer suffering criminal out for vengeance on Hong Kong's organised crime Syndicates
Starring: Andy Lau, Ching Wan Lau, Suet Lam, Waise Lee, Ruby WongForeign | 100% |
Drama | 22% |
Crime | 9% |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Mandarin: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region B, A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Johnnie To's "Am zin" a.k.a. "Running Out of Time" (1999) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the release include audio commentary by screenwriters Julien Carbon and Laurent Courtiaud; various archival cast and crew interviews; vintage publicity materials; and more. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region A/B "locked".
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Running out of Time arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.
The only other release of Out of Time that I have in my library is this from Hong Kong-based distributors Kam & Ronson Enterprises. It was produced in 2011. This recent Region-B release is apparently sourced from a new 2K master, but I have to say that I find the technical presentation quite inconsistent and in some areas actually disappointing. The main issue is that in virtually all indoor and darker footage the grain begins to collapse and becomes very noisy, causing native detail to struggle and even collapse. On larger screen, this development is very obvious. (You can see examples in screencaptures 1, 3, and 4). Elsewhere, fine details and shadow definition in particular are problematic, too. (You can see examples in screencapture #6, 13 and 14). As a result, the native dynamic range of the visuals isn't convincing. What is puzzling, however, is that a lot of the very same visuals actually look better on the older Bu-ray release -- they are not noisy and have better dynamic range. Color balance is good, but it is not better than that of the previous Blu-ray release. Image stability is very good. All in all, I think that the 2K master that was prepared for Out of Time is disappointing and does not match the excellent quality of some of the recent 2K masters that were prepared for various Jackie Chan films. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This release played perfectly on my Region-A player).
There are three standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, and
English LPCM Mono. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature.
I viewed the entire film with the Cantonese 5.1 track. I thought that it was great. It had a lot of oomph and handled the action sequences very well. The dialog was clear, clean, and stable. Dynamic contrasts were very good, though I think that the old Blu-ray release performs very well, too. The English translation is definitely better that the one on the old Blu-ray release.
Running Out of Time has been remastered in 2K and I expected it to look every bit as gorgeous as some of the older Jackie Chan films that were restored in 2K. Unfortunately, I have to confess that the 2K makeover that is on this release from Eureka Entertainment is pretty underwhelming. There are areas of the film that look very shaky, and this isn't how they look on the older Blu-ray release that Kam & Ronson Enterprises produced. I am going to recommend this release because there are some very good archival bonus features on it, but I will be keeping my old Blu-ray release as it has the best technical presentation of the film. RECOMMENDED.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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