6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
When he is forced to kill another assassin, a hit man (Yûsaku Matsuda) becomes embroiled in a complex web of mysterious organizations and hidden identities.
Starring: Yûsaku Matsuda, Yoshirô Aoki, Lily, Kei Satô, Kôjirô KusanagiForeign | 100% |
Drama | 28% |
Crime | 18% |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.34:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Japanese: LPCM Mono
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 3.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of The
Game Trilogy set from Arrow.
Arrow is offering fans of Yusaku Matsuda a chance to enjoy the cooler and than cool and hipper than hip action star in a kinda sorta trilogy that
according to the label is being released outside of Japan for the first time. For probably understandable reasons, the trilogy's mention of The Game and/or the very title of one of the films itself, namely
The Most Dangerous Game, may evoke memories of other
productions (click on the link if you're stumped), and it is probably undeniable that there are certain derivative elements at play in all three of the
films included in this set, if not necessarily to either the David Fincher thriller (which, not to state the obvious, appeared decades after these films)
or
to the hoary 1932
effort. The back cover of this release states that these three films helped launch Yusaku Matsuda as "the Toei tough guy for a new generation", but
it
actually may be more meaningful to those with less international tastes unfamiliar with Toei's vaunted history to state that The Game
films
kind of presage the John Wick franchise in a way by profiling a laconic
hitman named Shohei Narumi, who, like John, has a "particular set of skills" which dispatch any number of nemeses. While arguably not quite as
florid as the John Wick films, The Game trilogy is also rather stylish in its own way, with evocative cinematography and scoring
helping to support sometimes familiar storytelling.
The Execution Game is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.34:1. Arrow's insert booklet lumps all three films together on its page devoted to the restorations, per the following:
The Most Dangerous Game, The Killing Game, and The Execution Game are presented in their original 2.35:1 aspect ratio with mono sound. The high definition masters were supplied by Toei and sourced from the best available archival materials, with additional colour grading and picture restoration by Arrow Films at R3Store Studios.Despite this being the newest of the three films in this set, it frankly had the least consistent looking presentation to my eyes, something that was perhaps exacerbated by a glut of really rather dark sequences which are afflicted with crush, but where blacks can also kind of ironically look a little milky gray at times. Both interior and exterior locations are toyed with in terms of either lighting or grading, and so some beachside material is suffused with blue while a notable interior sequence is bathed in red, with both choices perhaps limiting fine detail levels at times. This is another presentation where a certain degree of fuzziness attends even relatively more brightly lit scenes. Grain is generally tightly resolved. My score is 3.25.
As with the other two films in this set, The Execution Game offers a nice sounding LPCM Mono track in the original Japanese. The absence of dialogue may help to point some very minor but still discernable background hiss, but when dialogue does occur, it's rendered cleanly and clearly. Once again Yuji Ohno's jazz inflected score helps to set the mood and always sounds clear and distortion free. Optional English subtitles are available.
Arrow has packaged The Killing Game and The Execution Game together on one disc. After selecting this film, the following supplements are accessible:
The Execution Game is a lot of fun, even though it's deliberately disorienting, at least in its opening gambit. Probably due at least in part to a glut of very dimly lit material, this arguably has the least pleasing video, but audio is fine and the supplements very enjoyable, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
Mottomo kiken na yuugi / 最も危険な遊戯 / Games of Maximum Risk
1978
Satsujin yugi / 殺人遊戯 / The Murder Game
1978
Yakuza no hakaba: Kuchinashi no hana
1976
Battles Without Honor and Humanity
1974
Battles Without Honor and Humanity
1974
Battles Without Honor and Humanity
1973
1973
Gyakushû! Satsujin ken / 逆襲!殺人拳 / Street Fighter Counterattacks! / Revenge! The Killing Fist
1974
黑貓
1991
暗戰 / Am zin
1999
Jung on zo / Zhòng àn zǔ / 重案組
1993
Trois hommes à abattre
1980
Sat sau woo dip mung / Shā shǒu hú dié mèng / 殺手蝴蝶夢
1989
縄張はもらった / Shima wa moratta
1968
緋牡丹博徒 花札勝負 / Hibotan bakuto: Hanafuda shōbu
1969
1999
アウトレイジ ビヨンド / Outrage Beyond
2012
1997
1995
沖縄やくざ戦争 / Okinawa Yakuza sensô
1976