Z Storm Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Z Storm Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov December 19, 2014

David Lam's thriller "Z Storm" (2014) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Vicol Entertainment. The supplemental features on the disc include an original trailer for the film, original teaser, and making of featurette. In Cantonese and English, with optional English, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese subtitles for the main feature. Region-Free.

"Listen, these men have worked with me for years. I may command them at work, but I don't control them after they leave their offices."

ICAC (Independent Commission Against Corruption) agent William Luk (Louis Koo, Drug War, The White Storm) is given less than a week to prove that a big multinational corporation with ties to the government has been involved in a series of illegal operations. Luk begins working on the case and quickly discovers that one of the key figures in the corporation is Malcolm Wu (Michael Wong, Firestorm, From Vegas to Macau), a prominent lawyer with plenty of powerful friends. After his men begin monitoring him, Luk meets the beautiful Angel (Dada Chan, Vulgaria), who is in a relationship with Wu and possibly even other men from the corporation’s executive body. Around the same time a group of foreign killers appear and attempt to eliminate Luk.

Directed by David Lam (Hong Kong Gigolo), Z Storm is a fast and flashy action thriller that aims high but suffers from a bad case of paranoia. Indeed, there is a part of it that tries very hard to convince the viewer that in the wired world we live in dirty money are everywhere and waiting to be collected by people who no longer care about right and wrong. And there is another part of it which speculates that because globalization has irreversibly changed the business climate, the institutions that used to monitor and control how business is done are now essentially useless.

While different men are questioned by the authorities, a series of flashbacks reveal why Luk’s private life is in shambles -- the woman he loved has died in an accident and he has started drinking to numb the pain. The entire subplot about Luk and the tragic death of his wife, however, is used to add up to the paranoia mentioned earlier -- people like Luk who have lost everything are the only ones willing to go after the new kind of criminals globalization has created.

These very pessimistic views make the rest of the film quite predictable. There are minor triumphs for Luk and his team, but the bad guys are always a few steps ahead of them. More importantly, Hong Kong is only a minor target for them.

On paper the cast looks impressive, but the talent is mismanaged here. There are sequences in which Koo and Wong for instance are very good, but the story lacks credibility and the end result is definitely underwhelming.

The visual design is difficult to fault. Director of photography Tony Cheung’s excellent lensing gives the film a very stylish look, while Poon Hung and Kwong Chi-Leung precise editing ensures that it never drags. Especially during the second half where the different flashbacks pop up and the action picks up the film looks expertly polished.

The energetic soundtrack was created by Anthony Chue (Benny Chan’s Invisible Target, Ann Hui’s All About Love).

Z Storm Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 2.38:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, David Lam's Z Storm arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Hong Kong-based distributors Vicol Entertainment.

Shot with the Red Epic camera, the film looks appropriately smooth and vibrant. When there is an abundance of natural light detail and clarity are enormously impressive, but even some of the darker sequences look fantastic. Contrast levels remain stable throughout the entire film. Colors are lush and exceptionally well saturated. In fact, many of the close-ups are so crisp and clean that they actually look like digital photographs. Overall image stability is outstanding. Lastly, I noticed some extremely light banding sneaking in, but there are no serious encoding anomalies to report in this review. (Note: This is a Region-Free Blu-ray release. Therefore, you will be able to play it on your PS3 or SA regardless of your geographical location).

Z Storm Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There are two standard audio tracks on this Blu-ray release: Cantonese: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (96kHz, 24-bit) and Mandarin: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (96kHz, 24-bit). For the record, Vicol Entertainment have provided optional English, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they appear inside the image frame.

The Cantonese track uses advanced 96K upsampling and the quality of the sound is indeed very impressive (another Asian discs that uses the same advanced upsampling on a 7.1 track which I really liked is Motorway). There aren't too many elaborate audio effects, but during the shootouts the dynamic intensity is excellent and depth very impressive. Elsewhere there are various random sounds and noises that also incredibly well enhanced and easy to recognize (screeching tires, the spray noise, etc). The dialog is exceptionally clean, crisp, stable, and easy to follow.

Z Storm Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - original theatrical trailer for Z Storm. In Cantonese, with optional English, Traditional Mandarin and Simplified Mandarin subtitles. (2 min, 1080p).

• Teaser - original teaser for Z Storm. In Cantonese, with optional English, Traditional Chinese and Simplified Chinese subtitles. (2 min, 1080p).

• Making of Featurette - standard featurette with raw footage from the shooting of the film and interviews with cast and crew members. In Cantonese, with imposed Traditional Chinese subtitles. Presented in two parts.
  
  1. Part One (3 min, 1080i).
  2. Part Two (3 min, 1080i).

Z Storm Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

David Lam's Z Storm has a very impressive cast, but the manner in which it delivers its message definitely hurts its credibility. It is possible to enjoy the film because it is very well polished, but I am unsure if it is possible to take it seriously. Vicol Entertainment's technical presentation of Z Storm is very good. The Blu-ray is English-friendly and Region-Free. If you can, RENT IT first.