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analysis w/e 14.5.11 |
DVDs out 9.5.11 |
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@ DVDfever Youtube |
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May 11 2011 
DVDfever co uk
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Director:
Producer:
Screenplay:
Cast:
The Blade
is Tsui Hark's remake of (it says here) The Shaw Brothers' classic, One-Armed
Swordsman.
As a young boy Ding On's (Chiu Cheuk) father is murdered so a master sword-maker
takes him under his wing and adopts him. Later in life he discovers the name of the man
who killed his father, the mysterious and tattooed Fei Lung (Xiong Xin Xin) and its
time to pay the piper. Taking his father's broken sword and seeing the sword-maker's daughter,
Ling (Valerie Chow), under attack, the only thing he gets for his troubles is to lose
an arm.
With no time to hear the sound of one-hand clapping, he seeks to perfect the art of
one-armed swordfighting and returns for a re-match...
The print is framed at a 1.85:1 widescreen ratio but is non-anamorphic and like
Return of the God of Gamblers The sound quality also distorts but by its own choosing when it gets too loud. It states at least a stereo soundtrack, but it may as well be in mono for all the difference it makes.
Extras :
Chapters and Trailer :There are 20 chapters to the disc which is fine and the original theatrical trailer is included.
Languages & Subtitles :The film is in released in the original Cantonese language with English subtitles as part of the picture.
Original movie poster :is what you get inside the case, the size falling somewhere between A4 and A5.
Menu :It's static and silent and contains a shot of the front cover.
Overall, this film didn't grab me at all - although the well-choreographed action sequences are fun for a while - and the presentation didn't help much with this either, especially with the lack of extras. Again, as with Return of the God of Gamblers, when booting up this disc on my DVD-ROM, it never worked properly with no picture at first and lots of sound breaking up for what sounded like the company logo's music. I had to press STOP and then access the menus manually. I don't know what's caused this though.
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B 37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier. PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
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