6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
The Far East and the Land Down Under are about to have a head-on collision in this action drama. Fang is an undercover detective from Hong Kong sent to Australia to crack open the operation of a Sydney mob boss named Wilton. Fang puts his skills as a hang glider pilot and martial arts master to work as he sets up Wilton for a literally explosive finale.
Starring: Jimmy Wang Yu, George Lazenby, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Roger Ward, Grant PageMartial arts | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 16-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 5.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Brian Trenchard-Smith's "The Man From Hong Kong" (1975) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Australian label Umbrella Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include original trailers for the film; promotional materials; audio commentary by writer/director Brian Trenchard-Smith, actor Hugh Keays-Byrne (Morrie Grosse), and stunt coordinator Grant Page; and a lot more. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.
The Man
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.40:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Brian Trenchard-Smith's The Man From Hong Kong arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Australian label Umbrella Entertainment.
I assume that the release is sourced from the same remaster that was prepared a few years ago when the film was released on DVD in Australia. The remaster actually appears to be quite good. There are a few areas where time has left its mark, but generally speaking the footage looks healthy and overall rather nicely balanced (there are no distracting drops in terms of density and fluidity). The current presentation, however, could have been optimized so that the film looks as good as it can in high-definition. My guess is that because there is a substantial amount of supplemental features on the disc some encoding compromises were made and as a result depth and definition are not optimal. This isn't to imply that the end result is disappointing, but it is quite clear that the quality of the master is actually quite a bit better than what is on the Blu-ray. Still, depth and detail could be quite pleasing, and the range of primary colors and nuances is actually surprisingly good. Grain should be better exposed. There appear to be some small traces of filtering adjustments, but I want to mention again that with certain optimizations these would have hardly been noticeable even on larger screens. There are no traces of distracting sharpening adjustments. Finally, overall image stability is very good. My score is 3.25/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your player regardless of your geographical location).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (with small portions of Cantonese). Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature. They are no listed on the main menu, but you can access them with your remote control.
The audio track is very good. However, I wonder if there was an original two-channel track that could have been included. Regardless, depth is very good, balance is handled quite well, and there are no distracting age-related anomalies to report in our review. During the action sequences dynamic intensity is also good.
*I have been informed that there is also an English LPCM 1.0 track on this disc, but it cannot be accessed via the main menu. It can only be selected with a player's remote control.
Brian Trenchard-Smith's The Man From Hong Kong is an entertaining James Bond copycat that delivers an overwhelming amount of high-octane action whose intensity rivals that of some of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan's most beloved films. Of course this should not be too surprising because one of the parties that funded it was the legendary Golden Harvest production company, which I think is fair to say is primarily responsible for the popularity of Hong Kong's biggest action stars and films in the West. Umbrella Entertainment's Blu-ray release is sourced from a good remaster of the film, but there is so much supplemental content on the disc that the quality of the main feature suffers a bit. I think that it would have been wiser to place some, or all, of the supplemental content on a separate disc. Nevertheless, this is a release that is very easy to recommend to anyone interested in Australian exploitation films. RECOMMENDED.
1988
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1981
Ozploitation Classics #02
1974
Ozploitation Classics #08
1979
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1967
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1988
Ozploitation Classics
1980
1988
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1946