Throw Down Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		5.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		4.5

Throw Down Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 26, 2020

Johnnie To's "Throw Down" (2004) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include exclusive new audio commentary by Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng; archival interview with the director; vintage promotional materials; and more. The release also arrives with a 24-page illustrated booklet featuring essays by critics David West and Simon Ward, as well as technical credits. In Cantonese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Please note that the text below was initially used in our review of the Hong Kong release of Throw Down which Kam & Ronson Enterprises produced in 2011.

The film follows three lonely characters who have struggled to maintain balance in their lives. They first meet in a popular club in downtown Hong Kong where other people like them often go to escape reality.

The first character is Sze-To (Louis Koo, Accident, Overheard), a former judo champion who has lost his passion for life. He owns the club but routinely steals from an eccentric crime boss to cover his expenses. Without anyone special in his life to love him, or help him with his business, Sze-To spends most of his time inside the club, drinking himself to death.

Tony (Aaron Kwok, The Detective, Cold War) is a young drifter who wants to prove to himself that he could be a great judo fighter. He is convinced that winning a fight with Sze-To will dramatically change his life. But when he enters Sze-To’s club, he quickly realizes that his opponent is on the verge of self-destruction.

Mona (Cherrie Ying, Karmic Mahjong, Poker King) is a young singer who wants to be successful in Hong Kong. She is ready to sleep with any producer if he promises to make her a star. Hoping to get noticed, she begins visiting Sze-To’s club, where men with many important friends occasionally go for drinks.

After a wild night in the club, Tony approaches Sze-To and challenges him to a fight, but he hires Mona to sing for his customers. An old foe (Tony Leung Ka Fai, The Lover) then reappears and demands that Sze-To finishes an important match with him.

Dedicated to the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, Johnnie To’s Throw Down is a film with two very different identities. On one hand, it is about the underbelly of a city where just about anything goes. As it is almost always the case with To’s films, there are cruel mobsters and men willing to follow their orders no matter how outrageous they might be. Unsurprisingly, in most of the places To’s camera visits life is shockingly cheap.

On the other hand, Throw Down is sort of an unusual romantic film in which two young men and a beautiful woman rediscover their passion for life. They do it while they wander around the city and slowly warm up to each other. The whole process feels like a group therapy for lonely souls during which people gradually relax, open up and begin to share some of their most intimate stories.

The film might be one of To’s best. It is very complex but it does not overwhelm. It is incredibly beautifully lensed as well. The lush neon lights make it look elegant and at the same time very relaxing. Even some of the more intense fights look like ballet acts choreographed for a big Broadway show.

Koo plays the lonely club owner to perfection. In one of the film’s most memorable sequences he attempts to remember some of his best judo moves while walking down an empty street. The atmosphere here is terrific. Kwok is also in a couple of great sequences fighting a giant bodyguard.

The excellent score was created by award-winning composer Peter Kam (Derek Yee's One Nite in Mongkok, Peter Chan’s Perhaps Love, Tsui Hark’s Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame).

*In 2005, Throw Down won Golden Horse Award for Best Screenplay Originally Written for the Screen (Yau Nai-Hoi, Yip Tin-Shing, Au Kin-Yee).

Throw Down Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Throw Down arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.

The release is sourced from a very beautiful recent 4K master. I projected it and then performed some direct comparisons with the old release from Kam & Ronson Enterprises that we reviewed in 2011.

The density levels on both masters are actually extremely similar, but I was not surprised because Throw Down is a fairly recent film. However, in darker areas the 4K master delivers a number of meaningful improvements. For example, the surface harshness that is visible on the old master is completely gone and as a result there are many much better defined nuances. This is very important because there is a lot of dark footage with unique color lighting and shadows throughout the film where new finer details emerge and significantly strengthen depth. On the previous release mediocre shadow definition routinely produces blocks of blacks that can flatten the image and even blur backgrounds (see the difference in screencapture #18). Also, I noticed plenty of small but meaningful adjustments in the manner in which highlights are presented on the new master, with positive improvements again helping depth. On a bigger screen this is a very, very obvious improvement. Fluidity is excellent, but I do not think that there is a significance difference. The color balance is better, but I would also say that what helps quite a lot is the stronger encode. On the old release saturation can be unconvincing in much the same way some Mill Creek Entertainment releases produce awkward balance between primaries and nuances. Image stability is outstanding. In summary, the 4K master produces a much improved presentation of the film, and the bigger your screen is, the easier it will be for you to appreciate its superiority. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you need to have a Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Throw Down Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Cantonese LPCM 2.0 and English 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

On my system the lossless Cantonese track sounded terrific. Not only were clarity, sharpness, and depth really solid, but the overall dynamic balance was superior as well. The previous release from Kam & Ronson Enterprises that we reviewed almost a decade ago had one of those big 7.1 remixes that was not bad but had some pretty dramatic dynamic spikes (and drops). On the 2.0 track the audio just feels more better condensed.

Throw Down Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making of - standard featurette with raw footage from the shooting of the film. Also included are short interviews with cast and crew members. In Cantonese, with English subtitles. (11 min).

• Audio Commentary One - in this new audio commentary, Frank Djeng, who once worked for Tai Seng Entertainment, shares plenty of interesting information about the production of Throw Down (which was Johnnie To's personal tribute to Akira Kurosawa), the action choreography throughout the film (wires were not used), the use of color and light and the manned in which both affect the ambience of the film, the minimalisttic nature of the narrative, the careers of various cast members. The commentary was recorded exclusively for Eureka Entertainment.

• Audio Commentary Two - this audio commentary was recorded during the DVD era when Throw Down was first remastered and features author and critic Ric Meyers and Frank Djeng. Once again there are a lot of interesting observations about the stylistic appearance of the film, Johnnie To's take on the film (which was essentially an arthouse project, not a commercial project) and his working methods and sincere opinions (there is a hilarious story about the director's dissatisfaction with Cherrie Ying), the personalities of the three characters and the complexity of the narrative. It is a very informative commentary, so if you enjoy the film be sure to listen to it in its entirety.

• Johnnie To Interview - in this archival video interview, director Johnnie To explains how the idea for Throw Down came to exist, how the film evolved and what are the key themes that define its narrative, how the visual style of the film is 'connected' to its charters, etc. In Cantonese, with imposed English subtitles. (40 min).

• TV Spots - vintage TV Spots for Throw Down with cast and crew interviews. In Cantonese, with imposed English subtitles. (6 min).

• Booklet - 24-page illustrated booklet featuring David West's essay "The Long Shadow of Sanshiro Sugata", Simon Ward's essay "The Art of Violence in Johnnie To's Throw Down", and technical credits.

• Cover - reversible cover with original poster art.

Throw Down Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dedicated to the great Akira Kurosawa, Johnnie To's Throw Down is a deeply atmospheric film that many consider to be one of the Hong Kong auteur's best. I have to agree. It is quite complex but not overwhelming and very stylish. This recent release from Eureka Entertainment is sourced from a gorgeous 4K master that offers exactly the type of solid presentation I always thought the film deserved. It was quite a treat to revisit it. Hopefully, the guys at Eureka Entertainment will consider bringing to Blu-ray more films from Milkyway Image's catalog. VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.