Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Sakra Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 26, 2023

A lot of historical epics from Japan or China, perhaps especially any number of martial arts outings, can tend to be sourced from ancient tomes or folklore themselves, but in the case of Sakra, the source is surprisingly "contemporary", at least within this general context. Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils was a novel which was first published in serial form over the course of a little less than three years between 1963 and 1966. The novel's author, Jin Yong (AKA Louis Cha and/or Louis Cha Leung-yung), is sometimes cited as one of Hong Kong's most famous writers, and he enjoyed the "extra benefit" of having founded Ming Pao, one of Hong Kong's most successful newspapers, and the place where probably unsurprisingly Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils was first serialized. While Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils evidently dealt with a number of interwoven stories and characters (I have admittedly never read it and am relying on some cursory research done in preparation for the writing of this review), the fact that it unspooled over the course of several years might give credence to the assumption that it had a great deal of detail, something that is perhaps missing, at least at times, from this cinematic exploration of one of the book's central characters, Qiao Feng (Donnie Yen, who also directed this enterprise). This may be another case where Eastern audiences are assumed to have almost "inherent" knowledge of context and backstory, and so any elisions that are part and parcel of the film will be automatically understood, while we boneheaded Westerners may have a few moments of wondering what exactly is going on and why.

A number of quick establishing vignettes may remind some viewers of everything from Superman, in terms of a couple adopting a baby mysteriously delivered to their doorstep who turns out to have something akin to superpowers, to Robin Hood (note that the link points to a UK release), in terms of that baby growing up to be a similar sort of figure who has his own version of the Merrie Men, the Beggars' Sect. Almost immediately after all of this arguably too fast and too underdeveloped exposition dump, though (and one which is weirdly interrupted not once but twice by ongoing credits), Qiao Feng is accused of having killed his Master, and then almost comically further accused of having offed a number of other characters, including his own adoptive parents.

There's the same sort of political intrigue at play in this story that has informed any number of other historical epics, but one of the problems is that my hunch is a lot of folks like myself not that well acquainted with 12th century Chinese history will be kind of floundering to begin with, and then some clunky and frankly unclear writing only compounds issues. Two major benefits offsetting this potentially deadly deficit are some absolutely spectacularly staged fight scenes, which prove that "senior" Donnie Yen is still pretty friggin' agile, and some gorgeous cinematography which captures some of the sweep and production value some might associate with bigger budgeted Hollywood fare.

Sakra Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sakra is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. I was betting that this had a 4K DI no matter what camera was utilized, which, according to the IMDb at least, is correct, and I was further happy to see this was a Red capture, since for whatever reason I tend to really like the look of Red shot material when compared to some other digital cameras. The palette here is kind of interestingly tamped down at times, with an emphasis on browns, yellows and other kind of semi-neutral tones, but that perhaps only makes the pops of color that can dot the frame more distinctive. Outdoor cinematography is often downright luscious, with some surprisingly good detail levels even in some very wide framings. A few interior shots suffer from just a bit of inadequate shadow detail, but even a lot of the interior scenes can offer abundant fine detail levels and a nicely suffused palette. Some of the CGI is not particularly convincing, especially some establishing shots of various locales.

Sakra Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Sakra has a nice array of audio options, with Cantonese Atmos, Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, along with their usual "and the rest" of Dolby Digital 2.0 options (see above). I toggled between the three lossless tracks and there is some clear added activity in the Cantonese track that delivers all of the surround engagement of the two DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks, but which can also offer appealing verticality in any number of sound effects ranging from arrows flying through the air to, well, Donnie Yen flying through the air. A kind of fun score seems intentionally modeled on Ennio Morricone's work with Sergio Leone, particularly The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, including quasi-shouted wordless vocals. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Chinese subtitles are available.

Sakra Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making Of (HD; 5:43) offers some interstitial interviews with Donnie Yen and others in between some behind the scenes footage. Subtitled in English.


• Trailer (HD; 2:15)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored so that supplements follow one another automatically (so that clicking on Making Of is essentially a Play All button. The disc is also authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the Trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Sakra Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Considering a bunch of codas which appear one after the other as the film ends and then continuing on into the closing credits, it seems clear that Donnie Yen is attempting to create a new franchise for himself, but any follow ups might want to concentrate on clearer storytelling to accompany the visceral action sequences and gorgeous cinematography. Technical merits are solid for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.