5.6 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.4 |
A samurai cop and his side-kick go after the Yakuza.
Starring: Robert Z'Dar, Mathew Karedas, Jannis Farley, Mark Frazer, Melissa Moore (I)Crime | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 kbps)
None
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
There has to be a story behind “Samurai Cop.” There are always stories when movies are this insanely bad. B-cinema welcomes a new contender with this 1991 endeavor, which attempts to marry martial arts cinema with buddy cop clichés, hoping to give birth to a new action hero in star Matt Hannon. With glam rock hair and a gym rat body, Hannon is a force of one in “Samurai Cop,” doing his best to generate screen mayhem while writer/director Amir Shervan botches every possible technical challenge of the movie. The result is no-budget, brain-dead thriller that doesn’t contain a single scene of filmmaking competence. To some, it’s bad movie heaven, huffing the fumes of a botched effort that doesn’t even bother to make sense. For everyone else, the feature is merely acceptable as a curiosity, permitted a rare chance to view futility in motion as Shervan labors to hold the whole wacko thing together.
The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation doesn't offer an exhaustive restoration that perhaps some fans were hoping for. Preserving the picture's mangled appearance, the viewing experience consists of shifting levels of brightness and darkness, sudden changes in color and age, and plenty of scratches, speckling, banding, and judder. It's not pretty, but it's certainly crisp and periodically clean, showing off some encouraging detail for this low-budget action fest. Grain has been dialed down, adding a mild smoothness, but textures remain on close-ups and gore zone visits, delivering revealing particulars that showcase the production's limitations in full. Blacks are rarely challenged but retain moderate frame information. Perhaps the overall junky quality here is exactly what's necessary to enjoy "Samurai Cop," but to those with more sensitivity, the surprising inconsistency will be difficult to endure.
The 2.0 Dolby Digital track doesn't carry much heft, shadowed by hiss issues and crackly extremes, but the core experience is preserved. Dialogue exchanges are adequate, managing the feature's extensive use of ADR to satisfaction. Scoring is supportive, with heavy synth sounds identifiable, never intruding on the action. Violence is thin, but inherently so, with explosions and a wide array of gunshot audio choices lacking punch.
"Samurai Cop" is serious with its chases and masculinity, also submitting film history's angriest police captain. In 2014, it's all a big goof that plays into the bad movie idolatry trend, but in 1991, Shervan probably thought he was making the next "Lethal Weapon." There is goofball appeal in spotting all the mistakes, including a helicopter sequence where the vehicle is clearly parked, Joe's losing battle with the opening of a sliding glass door, and the befuddling marriage of shots that are years apart. It's fine to mock the movie, but rarely does such a dismissive reaction manage to boost the picture's appeal. "Samurai Cop" is still poorly made, with tone-deaf performances, dreadful writing, and a tenuous understanding of action mechanics (or spatial relationships and women). To keep up ironic laughter seems exhausting, especially with a wannabe blockbuster that imagines itself as a next big thing in action cinema. I hate to break it to the cast and crew, but they made a turkey, not a hidden gem.
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