6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Champion competitive marksman Ken comes across an armoured Van Robbery. He sees a policeman help hostage and shoots and kills four of the robbers. One of the robbers escapes and the policeman survives. The case is handled by Jerry Chang, whom Ken knows from having recetly beaten him in a shooting match. Ken is found not guilty in court. Soon after, Ken is attacked by the escaped robber Pang Tao. Their confrontation reveals a very different background story and brings about a myriad of lies and traps and changes in relationships as Jerry and Ken try to outsmart each other.
Starring: Louis Koo, Daniel Wu, Charlene Choi, Bingbing Li, Alex FongForeign | 100% |
Action | 42% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Cantonese: Dolby Digital 2.0
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Note: There’s no way to discuss an important element of Triple Tap’s plot arc without at least hinting at
a point which might be a spoiler for some. Though this review will attempt not to state anything explicitly, those who
can read between the lines may be able to figure out one of the twists of this film, and so for those people, it might be
best to skip to the technical aspects of the review, at least if they don’t want to risk figuring out a primary element of
the film.
Martin Scorsese finally won a Best Director Oscar for a film some at least thought wasn’t his best work, The
Departed, a remake—really a reinvention—of a Hong Kong actioner that plopped the basic characters of the original
Hong Kong film down in revised versions in Boston, adding a typical layer of Scorsese finesse and psychological
underpinning. One has to wonder what Scorsese might make (or remake, as the case may be) of Triple Tap, a
really interesting albeit at least partially unsuccessful psychological thriller in the guise of an action film that seems like it
would be perfect fodder for a Scorsese tinkering project. Triple Tap blends two of director Derek Yee’s pet
subjects, sharpshooting and the wild and wooly world of Chinese high finance, and mixes in a dangerous robbery of
bearer bonds with a “did he or didn’t he?” subplot with regard to one of the two major characters and whether or not
that character was an innocent bystander or actually involved in the robbery. Yee has made his reputation with a
series of fairly blistering action films, but Triple Tap by and large eschews the rough and tumble world of Hong
Kong actioners for a more subtle exploration of guilt and innocence, and that’s both the film’s crowning achievement as
well as perhaps its eventual downfall.
Triple Tap is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Aside from a couple of grainy stock establishing shots, this is a really sharp and well detailed looking high definition presentation, one which boasts incredible detail and shows what Super 35 is really capable of in the right hands. The digital intermediate has been slightly tweaked at times and so some of the film is filtered ever so slightly to gray-blue or yellow, but overall the film offers suitably rich and robust colors that are lifelike and accurate looking. It's in the fine detail that Triple Tap really shines, though, and everything from one of the thug's pockmarked faces to the light blonde hair on another man's arm are clearly visible even in midrange shots. Depth of field in the great scene on the freeway overpass where the robbery takes place is also astounding. Contrast though occasionally slightly pushed is generally very strong and stable and black levels are excellent. There were no egregious compression artifacts of any kind in this presentation.
Triple Tap on Blu-ray offers the listener two versions of the original Cantonese track as well as an English dub. Both are presented in either lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 or standard Dolby Digital 2.0. The mix on the Cantonese and English DTS tracks is virtually identical, though once again the English voicework is oddly dissimilar to the original voices of the actors and most will probably opt for the original language track. The first thing most will probably notice is that despite bookending segments that deliver some high voltage sonic activity, the bulk of this film is really surprisingly quiet, consisting of dialogue scenes that more often than not only feature two performers. For that reason, the surround activity is limited to ambient environmental noises, which are handled quite well as far as they go. The opening and closing segments on the other hand offer some really fantastic immersion, with gunshots zinging through the soundfield and some really robust LFE. There are a couple of nice panning effects, too, when Ken drives his souped up sportscar around town. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is very good as well.
In the iconic words of super secret agent Maxwell Smart, Derek Yee "missed it by that much" with Triple Tap. The concept here is solid, it's the execution that falls short. The big twist is delivered too explicitly too soon, making the rest of the film feel like an afterthought, and both male leads are so stoic anyway that there's no reason to really feel anything for either of them. The bizarre elements that also populate this film are just plain weird and really add nothing to the film's point or dramatic narrative. The film still looks and sounds magnificent and if you're not too demanding it certainly makes for a worthwhile couple of hours. But this is one where I say "wait for the remake," and hope it's done by someone of Scorsese's caliber.
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