The Daredevils Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

The Daredevils Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 25, 2025

Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of the double feature presentation of The Daredevils & Ode to Gallantry by Eureka! Entertainment.

Fans of The Five Deadly Venoms* should be excited to see this double feature from Eureka! Entertainment. Both of these films are part of Chang Cheh's celebrated "venom mob" series, and Ode to Gallantry in particular has been rather hard to find. These are two more in the absolutely gargantuan Celestial Pictures effort to offer seemingly endless supplies of Shaw Brothers films in often rather nice looking high definition presentations. Both of the films included here also have two commentaries, one by Frank Djeng and Michael Worth, and the other by Mike Leeder and Arne Venema.

*Note: The link points to a way old release from Vivendi Visual that I reviewed many years ago, but there is also another newer version available as part of Arrow's immense Shawscope Volume One set.

If parts of The Daredevils may seem a bit familiar to lovers of the five venoms films, as is discussed in both commentaries included on this disc, the actual setting of the story is at least a little unusual. While some traditional tropes like what amounts to clan warfare and court intrigue certainly pervade this tale, it actually takes place in the early 20th century during the nascent Republic Era of China. That in and of itself gives The Daredevils an unusual look courtesy of its production design, but the film also features some absolutely astounding acrobatic choreography. There's also a rather interesting bait and switch of sorts about halfway through the film, where the perceived hero , a guy on the hunt for vengeance after his family has been slaughtered, encounters an unexpected skirmish that then sends the second half of the film off on a whole new hunt for vengeance.

The Daredevils Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Daredevils is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka! Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. As usual, Eureka! doesn't really provide any substantial technical information on the release, though having reviewed a veritable glut of these Celestial Pictures restorations at this point, this has the same generally excellent look that Celestial has been bringing to their immense Shaw Brothers project. The palette is very nicely suffused for the most part, perhaps arguably just a tad brown at times (though not as pronounced in that regard as parts of Ode to Gallantry). The supposed era of the tale means their may frankly not be the same level of "opulence" in sets and costumes, but fine detail on textures of fabrics and the like is typically very good to excellent. As is almost always part of the maybe "quaint" Shaw Brothers viewing experience, anamorphic distortion can enter the frame, especially toward the edges (see screenshot 10).

The Daredevils Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Daredevils features LPCM 2.0 Mono tracks in either the original Mandarin or an English dub. While both tracks can sound pretty boxy at times, the English dub is overly reverberant with some really noticeable sibilance at times, so I'd recommend sticking with the Mandarin since frankly you don't really even need to read the subtitles to get a general sense of what's going on. Effects have that typically hollow sound that is common in many Shaw Brothers martial arts offerings, but still have good energy. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Daredevils Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Eureka! has packaged The Daredevils and Ode to Gallantry together on one disc with the following supplements:

The Daredevils

• Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng & Michael Worth


• Audio Commentary by Mike Leeder & Arne Venema

Ode to Gallantry

• Audio Commentary by Frank Djeng & Michael Worth


• Audio Commentary by Mike Leeder & Arne Venema

Deadly Venoms (HD; 18:10) features Wayne Wong discussing how the death of Bruce Lee led to ensemble based films like the ones on this disc, and indeed all of the "venom mob" movies almost by default, since "mob" kind of implies an ensemble.

Additionally a nicely appointed insert booklet contains an essay by James Oliver, along with cast and crew information and Eureka!'s typical viewing notes and calibration advice. Packaging features a slipcover.

The Daredevils Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As the commentaries related to this film get into, the setting both temporal and locational give The Daredevils at least some distinctive flavor, but it's probably going to be the wild acrobatic choreography that will make the most lasting impression. Technical merits are generally solid (video probably a bit more than audio), and the supplements are very enjoyable. Recommended.