5.8 | / 10 |
Users | 4.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.2 |
In early Republican China, rumors were going around about the treasure in Wudang Mountain. An American conspirator took his well-trained kung fu daughter to Wudang by sponsoring a Taoist martial arts competition, to steal the treasure.
Starring: Wenzhuo Zhao, Mi Yang, Jiao Xu, Louis Fan, Yu-Hang ToForeign | 100% |
Action | 61% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Mandarin: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Mandarin: Dolby Digital 2.0
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
There’s one of those unwritten rules of Screenwriting 101 that insists when a character states something like, “I’ll never leave you again, I’ll be right back”, it’s a virtual cinch that that character will disappear sooner rather than later. So you have to give a certain amount of props to Wu Dang that in an opening scene when a nattily dressed professor named Tang Yunlong (Vincent Zhao) tells his daughter Tang Ning (Josie Xu) more or less exactly that, the professor does indeed manage to return, albeit only after having dispatched several goons with guns and flying fists who don’t like the fact that he informs them a supposedly priceless magically endowed sword is a fake, but then ups the ante by purloining a real treasure map he finds in the sword’s packing box. Wu Dang gets off to a fun and furious start, coming across as a kind of Eastern Indiana Jones entry, but things tend to start stumbling rather quickly, kind of like the weirdly slo-mo wire work that becomes a hallmark of this film’s martial arts elements. In fact one of the stumbling blocks is the fact that the film doesn’t seem to know quite what it wants to be: a straight ahead martial arts fantasy, or more of an Indiana Jones adventure yarn. The often uncomfortable melding of these two ideas leads to some occasionally effective sequences, but the ultimate result is kind of like a dim sum experiment where the audience is given little snippets of various tasty treats without ever actually being handed a three course meal.
Wu Dang is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. This is another Red One shot film, but in this case the results are perhaps a bit more traditionally filmic in appearance, at least if one discounts the often less than stellar CGI work that adds an air of unreality to much of the proceedings, as well as casts several shots in a rather gauzy, soft ambience. Colors here are accurate looking if not especially well saturated, and fine detail is quite good throughout the presentation. In fact it's so good at times that it reveals the absolutely fake looking "rocks" that constitute the cave where the characters find the magical sword as well as other artifacts. But in some of the less artificial outdoor sequences, things look very good, and there's also some exceptional depth of field in several wide shots. Shadow detail is also consistent and there is no egregious artifacting to report in this high definition presentation.
Wu Dang features a very well realized lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix which offers some extremely potent sound effects. There were several occasions throughout the film in the many blistering action set pieces where I actually instinctively flinched when things like giant spears suddenly flew into the frame, accompanied by impressive pans and then decisive "thunks" as they hit their target. The mix here is awash in discrete channelization in the fight sequences, with very effective foley effects populating the surrounds. Fidelity is extremely strong, especially in the action sequences. Dialogue is cleanly and clearly presented, and unlike a lot of Chinese films, there doesn't appear to have been a ton of dubbing or post looping. Dynamic range is also very wide throughout the film.
Wu Dang is one of those fitfully entertaining enterprises that reminds me of that old punchline from Get Smart, "Missed it by that much". There's actually a lot to like in the film, including a nice mystical subtext and some very effective fight sequences. But the whole thing smacks of having been written by committee, where the right hand (and/or hands) didn't know what the left was doing. This is a very strange collage built out of disparate ideas that don't really hang together all that well, and once some of the more melodramatic aspects come to the forefront, like the illness of one of the major characters, things start to fall apart in a big hurry. But if you're not too demanding, there's enough action here to at least warrant a rental. The Blu-ray looks fine and sounds fantastic, so fans of this genre may well want to check it out, while leaving their critical faculties checked at the door.
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