6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
A French chef swears revenge after a violent attack on his daughter's family in Hong Kong, during which her husband and her two children are murdered. To help him find the killers, he hires three local hit-men working for the mafia.
Starring: Johnny Hallyday (I), Sylvie Testud, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Suet Lam, Simon YamForeign | 100% |
Crime | 18% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.36:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
English: Dolby Digital 5.1
Mandarin: Dolby Digital 5.1
Mandarin (Traditional), Mandarin (Simplified), English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or award at last year's Cannes Film Festival, Johnnie To's "Fu chou" a.k.a "Vengeance" (2009) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors MegaStar. The only supplemental feature on this disc is the film's original theatrical trailer. With optional English, Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese subtitles. Region-A "locked".
A lonely Frenchman in Macau
Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.36:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and grated a 1080p transfer, Johnnie To's Vengeance arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors MegaStar.
This is a somewhat inconsistent high-definition transfer. Many of the nighttime scenes, for example, look soft, at times even a bit noisy. Contrast levels also fluctuate a bit, especially during the second half of the film. Clarity, however, is mostly pleasing. The film's unique color-scheme - a mix of warm yellow, green, orange and blue - is never overwhelming, but it certainly is one of the major factors for the presence of the softness mentioned above; another factor is the mild noise-filtering that is noticeable during selected scenes. On the other hand, aside from a few tiny flecks popping up here and there, I did not notice any disturbing scratches, cuts, or stains to report in this review. To sum it all up, while Vengeance may not be reference material, it is also far and away from being a major disappointment, and I most definitely do not have a problem recommending the film to Johnnie To fans. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There are three audio tracks on this Blu-ray disc: English Dolby TrueHD 7.1, English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1. For the record, MegaStar have provided optional English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.
I expected an aggressive English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track, one that would rival the Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track found on MegaStar's Blu-ray release of Johnnie To's Exiled. There are plenty of shootouts in Vengeance that I assumed would sound as spectacular as the shootouts in Exiled. I must say, however, that the English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track is quite conservative, with rear channel activity that is far from spectacular. This is not to say that the English Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track is disappointing - on the contrary, I thought that it was very strong - but not as punchy and as aggressive as I expected it to be. This said, the basics are certainly intact - the bass is rich and the high-frequencies not overdone. Additionally, the dialog is crisp, clear and very easy to follow. Finally, I did not detect any disturbing pops, cracks, or hissings to report in this review.
Generally speaking, the English Dolby Digital 5.1 track is unremarkable. I tested a couple of scenes with it, and while I did not find any specific technical flaws, dynamically it is notably underwhelming.
Trailer - The original theatrical trailer for Vengeance. With optional English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese subtitles. (2 min, 1080p).
There is definitely more style than substance in Johnnie To's Vengeance, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. So long as you know what not to expect from this film, I believe you would enjoy it. RECOMMENDED.
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