6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
When regular police procedure fails, an ex-police captain recruits a group of trained killers to take down a deadly group of drug smugglers. Led by ninja trained Ryuichi Koga (Sonny Chiba), they quickly shoot their way through the Japanese underworld, ever closer to their main target.
Starring: Shin'ichi Chiba, Eiji Gô, Hiroyuki Sanada, Yasuaki Kurata, Makoto Satô (I)Martial arts | 100% |
Crime | 23% |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Japanese: LPCM Mono
English: LPCM Mono
English, English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Note: This film is available on Blu-ray as part of Arrow Video's The Executioner Collection.
In one of the supplements Arrow Video has aggregated for its Sonny Chiba double feature of Executioner films, commentators Chris
Poggiali
and Marc Walkow mention that the first time ninjas appeared in a Western feature film was in the 1967 James Bond opus You Only Live Twice, but the popularity of that film may have been at least
partially responsible for the glut of ninjas characters who would soon start populating global cinema. Some of those films may have contributed to
star Sonny
Chiba's own popularity, though that said, it would probably be hard to try to stuff either Executioner film neatly into a "ninja pigeonhole",
though Chiba's character of Ryūichi Koga does supposedly have that kind of training.
Poggiali, Walkow and some other talking heads in various
supplements also get into the mad dash to find the "next Bruce Lee" after Lee so unexpectedly and tragically died at such a young age, and that
while
there were any number of "pretenders", including another kinda sorta mini-glut, this time of performers with supposedly similar names,
according
to some of these analysts Sonny
Chiba
might arguably be considered as the true heir to the Lee legacy. Kind of interestingly in that regard, and at least in terms of mass recognition by
audiences, Chiba's first successes were in television, at least a bit like Lee for American audiences in particular vis a vis the short-lived
television
adaptation of The Green Hornet. Chiba had the same kind of clean
cut
good looks that Lee also offered, but he had a somewhat more feral, menacing presence at times that allowed him to play anti-heroes as often as
stalwart straight and narrow types. Both of the Executioner films exploit not just Chiba's remarkable athleticism in any number of martial
arts related scenes,
but they also rely on the tried and true trope of a band of quasi-mercenaries, some with questionable pasts, working together, in a plot device that
may remind those on this side of the pond of everything from The
Dirty Dozen to The
Expendables
.
The Executioner is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Video with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Arrow's insert booklet lumps the two films together in its verbiage about the transfers:
The Executioner and The Executioner II: Karate Inferno are presented in their original 2.35:1 aspect ratio with mono sound. The high definition masters were produced and supplied by Toei from the best available archival materials, with additional grading and picture restoration by Arrow Films at R3Store Studios.The Executioner has some variabilities in its presentation, and as can perhaps be gleaned from some of the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review, at least parts of the element look a bit faded, giving flesh tones a noticeably brown look. This tends to be even more noticeable in some of the opticals, which are fairly frequent. That said, especially later in the film and during the bulk of the outdoor material, the palette looks a good deal more natural and considerably warmer, and the brown undertone can materially recede. Detail levels are generally strong. Grain resolves without any issues. There is some age related wear and tear visible, though nothing of any major import.
The English dubbed monoaural soundtrack for The Executioner, originally produced by Minotaur Productions Inc. for the film's US theatrical release in 1978, has been conformed to the uncut Japanese version for this release by Matt Jarman at Bad Princess Productions using two archive masters, courtesy of Televentures Corporation.
The Executioner features either Japanese or English options presented via LPCM Mono. Arrow has authored the disc so that toggling between the tracks isn't possible (you have to exit back out to the Main Menu and select the appropriate audio, and then start over), so I wasn't able to do the immediate "side by side" comparisons that I try to. That said, I really didn't notice any huge differences in either overall mix or amplitude. Both tracks deliver dialogue, score and effects without any issues. Optional English subtitles are available.
Arrow has packaged both of the Executioner films on one disc with the following supplements:
- The Executioner (Japanese Version) (HD; 2:40)
- The Executioner (English Version) (HD; 1:53)
- The Executioner II: Karate Inferno (HD; 2:25)
- The Executioner Image Gallery (HD)
- Karate Inferno Image Gallery (HD)
The Executioner set up its plot and its characters handily and then just goes about its merry way, offering liberal doses of humor along with some nicely staged action scenes. Technical merits are generally fine, though video does have some passing color issues in particular. The supplements are very enjoyable. Recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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