7.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.9 |
Two martial arts buddies, who earn their living selling fast food on the streets of Barcelona, join forces with a private detective to rescue an heiress held captive by her wicked uncle.
Starring: Jackie Chan, Sammo Kam-Bo Hung, Biao Yuen, Benny Urquidez, Keith VitaliForeign | 100% |
Martial arts | 44% |
Action | 15% |
Crime | 12% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Cantonese: LPCM Mono
Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: LPCM Mono
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Two English dubs; Cantonese alternate soundtrack version also included
English
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region B (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Sammo Hung's "Wheels on Meals" (1984) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include vintage promotional materials for the film, as well as archival interviews with cast and crew members. The release also arrives with an illustrated booklet featuring a new essay by James Oliver. In Cantonese or English, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".
Foreign fighters
Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Sammo Hung's Wheels on Meals arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Eureka Entertainment.
The release is sourced from a 2K remaster that is every bit as strong as the one that was used for the recent release of City Hunter. Depth, clarity, and fluidity are excellent. Folks with projectors will be pleased to hear that fluidity is also very good and the visuals hold up really well. There are a few spots where it feels like the blacks are slightly elevated and as a result mild crushing eliminates tiny nuances, but the end result is still very strong. The color grading is convincing. There are solid and healthy primaries with lovely ranges of nuances. Image stability is outstanding. All in all, this is a very strong presentation of the film that will unquestionably please folks that have been waiting for a quality upgrade of it. My score is 4.75/5.00. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free player in order to access its content).
There are six standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Cantonese: LPCM Mono (Original), Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Cantonese LPCM 2.0 (Alternate Soundtrack), English LPCM Mono (Classic Dub), English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (Classic Dub), and English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (2006 Dub).
I decided to view the film with the Alternate Cantonese track, which is exclusive to this release and utilizes original Cantonese dialog plus bits of the soundtrack from the original Internationale release. I did not finish the film with it. My impression is that it will probably be appreciated by fans of the film, but casual viewers viewers will likely not find the differences/additions too meaningful. So, I switched to the classic English dub, which made me smile a bit more than some of the funny scenes from the film (the fake Italian accent in particular). The big picture is this: as expected, there is plenty of unevenness and random flat moments all over the film. Some of the accents make the exchanges difficult to follow, but this is how the dub was recorded. The range of dynamics is good. Also, I did not detect any distracting age-related imperfections.
It is pretty obvious that Wheels on Meals was conceived as a 'East-meets-West' type of action comedy that would appeal to a very diverse group of viewers, especially in foreign markets. It is a nice concept for a film, but I think that some of the folks that polished it might have had a bit too much fun with it. It just feels this way. The writing is pretty wild, and not in a good way, and at the end it is only the incredible athleticism of the three leads that actually produces some memorable moments. Eureka Entertainment's new release is sourced from a very nice 2K remaster is guaranteed to please fans of the film. RECOMMENDED.
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