Violent Panic: The Big Crash Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Violent Panic: The Big Crash Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 29, 2024

Note: This version of this film is available on Blu-ray as part of the Ferocious Fukasaku: Two Films by Kinji Fukasaku set from Film Movement.

Jasper Sharp contributes a couple of his informative commentaries on this new "double feature" of Kinji Fukasaku films, and Sharp perhaps expresses just a bit of surprise that Fukasaku's filmography has been so well represented in the Blu-ray era, though to my knowledge, this is the first Film Movement release of any of Fukasaku's oeuvre. Rather interestingly in that regard, as can be seen in screenshots of the menus of the two films in the individual reviews for each title in this set, the menu for Wolves, Pigs and Men actually resembles Eureka! Entertainment outings in terms of design, and it may therefore not be surprising that Wolves, Pigs and Men has indeed had a prior release by Eureka! for its UK market. As of the writing of this review, it doesn't appear that Eureka! has released Violent Panic: The Big Crash for the UK market, though there evidently is a French Blu-ray release from a label I'm frankly unfamiliar with, Roboto Films. The menu for that particular film in this set is in keeping with many other Film Movement releases, including the standard "About Film Movement" pop up informational text.

If "epic car chase in a movie" makes you instantly think of efforts like Bullitt or The French Connection, you may not have yet experienced the final twenty minutes or so of Kinji Fukasaku's 1976 action fest Violent Panic: The Big Crash. Kind of hilariously according to some of the supplements included on this disc, the wind up climax to this story, which basically amounts to one of the more circus like "demolition derbies" ever captured on film (or at least Japanese film) was originally supposed to be even bigger, but budgeting concerns got in the way.

Before that mayhem is unleashed, however, there's a ton of other chaos exploding across the screen from virtually the first moment of the film as a series of bank robberies in several locations is documented. Focal bad boy Takashi Yamanaka (Tsunehiko Watase) knows it "doesn't matter how much you get [in a robbery], if they end up catching you", and in fact a lot of this twisted tale amounts to a cat and mouse game as Takashi attempts to evade the long arm of not just the law, but perhaps a coterie of other hangers on. This is another whirlwind effort from Fukasaku, with an energy level that rarely lets up even when cars aren't bashing into each other willy nilly.

Violent Panic: The Big Crash Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Violent Panic: The Big Crash is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Film Movement's Film Movement Classics imprint with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. As usual, Film Movement doesn't provide any meaningful technical information with this release, and in this case, not even their standard "digitally restored" generic blurb that often adorns their packaging. This film, unlike Wolves, Pigs & Men, is in color, and some may feel the timing can be just a trifle variant throughout this presentation, with temporary but observable shifts that can leave flesh tones looking slightly green-yellow. On the whole, though, things pop rather appealingly, and perhaps ironically given my foregoing comment, a number of greens pop especially well. There are definitely variances in clarity and observable detail levels due at least in part to Fukasaku's typically peripatetic camera moves and a lot of location photography. A few very minor signs of age related wear and tear can be spotted. Grain is occasionally slightly splotchy or chunky in some darker scenes, but on the whole resolves without any issues.

Violent Panic: The Big Crash Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Violent Panic: The Big Crash offers an energetic LPCM 2.0 Mono track in the original Japanese. A throbbing and very "seventies" score by Toshiaki Tsushima is rendered generally very well, though there's arguably just a bit of thinness in the very upper registers. Calamitous sound effects, especially in some of the chase sequences, are full bodied, though kind of interestingly some of the gunshots can sound just a bit thin at times. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Violent Panic: The Big Crash Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Jasper Sharp Audio Commentary


• Fast, Furious, Fukasaku (HD; 9:55) features Patrick Macias offering his thoughts on Fukasaku in general and Violent Panic: The Big Crash in particular.


• Violent Panic: The Big Crash Trailer (HD; 1:00)

Violent Panic: The Big Crash Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Violent Panic: The Big Crash is undeniably exciting, but it probably lacks some of the emotional heft and what might almost be called the socioeconomic subtext of Wolves, Pigs & Men. Technical merits are generally solid, and the two main supplements interesting and worthwhile. Recommended.