7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
John Liu, the legendary Northern Kick expert and master of the strike rock fist is sent to investigate an antiques smuggling gang working out of Canton. Meanwhile another descendant of the stike rock fist also seeks John to face him in a death duel.
Starring: Ryong Keo, John Liu, Yen-Tsan Tang, Phillip Ko, Lau ChanForeign | 100% |
Martial arts | 47% |
Action | 17% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
French
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Severin's The Game of Clones: Bruceploitation Collection Vol. 1.
When Severin Films released Kung Fu Trailers of
Fury
and Return of Kung Fu Trailers of
Fury
several years ago, I'm sure I wasn't the only one initially thinking, "Well, that's a stupid idea for a release", only to have the sheer
lunacy of the trailers assembled in both collections "fight back" against that assessment, as if to say in response, "Yeah, well who's stupid
now?" In fact, both Kung Fu Trailers of Fury and Return of Kung Fu Trailers of Fury were kind of deliriously enjoyable in
their
own slapdash way, and those releases evidently were one of the inspirations for a full on collection of so-called "Brucesploitation" films, this time
offering the actual films in addition to their trailers. The goofily affable Michael Worth, who has contributed so many fun commentaries
through the years to various kung fu films on Blu-ray, is your "host" of sorts here, offering introductions to all the films and commentaries for many
of
them. If none of these films is ever going to be acclaimed as an unappreciated masterpiece, and if both video and audio on many of the films in
this
set might be charitably termed problematic, merely having these films in high definition will be alluring, and an absolute glut of other supplemental
material is included as well, making this a probable "must have" for a certain demographic.
The Dragon, the Hero is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Michael Worth's introduction states that this was sourced from an internegative from Transcontinental Films. The actual presentation begins with this prefatory text card:
The following presentation was scanned from the internegative of Transcontinental Films' US Theatrical Version entitled Dragon on Fire.This is one of the better looking transfers in this set, though it can be fairly highly variable at times. A lot of the palette pops extremely well, with things like the deep orange-red backgrounds of the title sequence resonating extremely well. Outdoor material looks very good a lot of the time, if admittedly just slightly faded, and in fact densities and general suffusion can ebb and flow from scene to scene and sometimes within scenes. Detail levels are typically decent if never really outstanding. There's some of the same kinds of damage seen in many of the other transfers in this set, in this case mostly smaller scratches, nicks and blemishes, but also a few passing more troublesome spots where there are skips and some brief flashes or disruptions.
Because no film element could be found for the pieces that were removed for this release, they are included in the Special Features as Deleted Scenes.
The Dragon, the Hero features a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that unfortunately shows some obvious distortion in the opening music (which kind of hilariously sounds like an Asian riff on some of Les Baxter's stuff for Yma Sumac) and really boxy narration, but the good news is things improve at least marginally thereafter. While the entire track is once again on the boxy, hollow side, something that's apparent here in both effects and dialogue if perhaps a bit less so in some of the post-credits scoring, everything is delivered in a relatively problem free manner. Dubbing is once again almost comically inept. Optional English subtitles are available.
This is another pretty much completely lunatic enterprise that has so many plot strands it ultimately may rely mostly on its action elements to deliver the goods, and in that regard it's surprisingly effective. On the sometimes iffy scale of this entire set, this features above average video and audio, and the supplements are very enjoyable.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Dragon on Fire / Kuai quan guai zhao / 快拳怪招
1978
Shen wei san meng long / 神威三猛龍
1980
Mission for the Dragon / Ying quan / Maegwon / 鷹拳
1979
Si wang mo ta / 死亡魔塔
1978
Bruce Against Iron Hand / Dai gau tau yue siu leung ji / Da jiao tou yu sao niang zi / 大教頭與騷娘子
1979
The New Game of Death / Xin si wang you xi / 新死亡遊戲
1975
Bruce Lee: A Dragon Story / Yi dai meng long / 一代猛龍
1974
San lung mang tam / Shen long meng tan / Mie jue qi qi / 神龍猛探 / 滅絕七七
1980
He's a Legend, He's a Hero / Yong chun da xiong / 詠春大兄
1976
Cameroun Connection
1985
Deadly Hands of Kung Fu / Lee sam geuk wai jan dei yuk moon / Li san jiao wei zhen di yu men / 李三腳威震地獄門
1977
2023
The Executioners of Death / Hong Xi Guan
1977
Return of the 5 Deadly Venoms
1978
1978
Tang shan wu hu / 唐山五虎
1979
Five Fingers of Death / Tian xia di yi quan
1972
Nan bei Shao Lin / 南北少林
1986
Stroke of Death / Chu long ma liu / 出籠馬騮
1979
Satsujin ken 2 / 殺人拳2
1974