7.8 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Through his unconscionable actions against others, a sociopath samurai builds a trail of vendettas that follow him closely.
Starring: Tatsuya Nakadai, Toshirô Mifune, Michiyo Aratama, Tadao Nakamaru, Kei SatôForeign | 100% |
Drama | 63% |
Period | 6% |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Japanese: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Kihachi Okamoto's "The Sword of Doom" (1966) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. The supplemental features on the disc include an original Japanese trailer for the film and new and exclusive audio commentary with film scholar Stephen Prince. The release also arrives with an illustrated leaflet featuring an essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".
Duel
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Kihachi Okamoto's The Sword of Doom arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion.
The following text appears inside the leaflet provided with this Blu-ray release:
"This high-definition digital transfer was created on a Cintel C-Reality film scanner with OLIVER electronic wet-gate processing from the 35mm composite fine-grain master. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices, warps, and jitter were manually removed using MTI's DRS and Pixel Farm's PFClean, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for flicker.
Transfer supervisor: Maria Palazzola.
Colorist: Gregg Garvin/Modern VideoFilm, Los Angeles."
Generally speaking, detail and clarity are quite good and many of the darker sequences also boast much improved depth (on the old DVD release they tend to look rather flat and noisy). Some density fluctuations are present, but they can be traced back to the current master. Furthermore, in select sequences there are visible traces of light contrast and sharpness boosting. I assume that the most obvious sharpening adjustments also exist on the current master Criterion worked with as it is easy to see that efforts were made to rebalance the image as best as possible (compare screencaptures #11 and 15). As a result, though not distracting some areas of the film could look a bit harsher than they should. Grain is visible and for the most part rather well resolved, but because of the density fluctuations mentioned above at times it could be underexposed (see screencapture #9). Overall image stability is good, though occasionally some extremely light movement within the frame can be noticed. There are no large debris, cuts, stains, or damage marks to report in this review. All in all, even though it is very clear that there is room for some important improvements, the Blu-ray release does represents a good upgrade in quality over the existing DVD release of the film. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).
There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: Japanese LPCM 1.0. For the record, Criterion have provided optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.
The lossless audio track is very good. While there are obvious production limitations and dynamic intensity is modest at best, clarity and depth are very good. Also, the dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and easy to follow. There are no balance issues. Lastly, there are no audio dropouts or digital distortions to report in this review. The English translation is excellent. (The technical descriptions of the different fighting techniques, in particular, are outstanding).
It is rather disappointing that The Sword of Doom did not end up being the first installment in the trilogy Toho and Kihachi Okamoto were planning to produce in the early '60s. It would have been spectacular, as I feel that authentic samurai films should look exactly like The Sword of Doom -- very dark, gritty and nihilistic. The film could look better, but the Blu-ray release unquestionably represents a good upgrade in quality over Criterion's previous DVD release. If you enjoy samurai films, do not miss this one. RECOMMENDED.
切腹 / Seppuku
1962
三匹の侍 / Sanbiki no samurai
1964
修羅雪姫 / Shurayukihime
1973
山椒大夫 / Sanshô dayû
1954
座頭市物語 / Zatôichi monogatari
1962
蜘蛛巣城 / Kumonosu-jô
1957
座頭市あばれ火祭り / Zatôichi abare-himatsuri
1970
座頭市血煙り街道 / Zatôichi chikemuri kaidô
1967
新座頭市物語・折れた杖 / Shin Zatôichi monogatari: Oreta tsue
1972
座頭市牢破り / Zatôichi rôyaburi
1967
座頭市御用旅 / Zatôichi goyô-tabi
1972
用心棒 / Yôjinbô
1961
宮本武蔵完結編 決闘巌流島 / Miyamoto Musashi kanketsuhen: kettô Ganryûjima
1956
続宮本武蔵 一乗寺の決闘 / Zoku Miyamoto Musashi: Ichijôji no kettô
1955
修羅雪姫 怨み恋歌 / Shurayuki-hime: Urami koiuta
1974
椿三十郎 / Tsubaki Sanjûrô
1962
西鶴一代女 / Saikaku ichidai onna
1952
座頭市血笑旅 / Zatôichi kesshô-tabi
1964
座頭市地獄旅 / Zatôichi Jigoku tabi
1965
座頭市喧嘩旅 / Zatôichi kenka-tabi
1963