Martial Arts on Blu-ray

[Woochifer]

This was a topic of discussion a while ago.

2009 Video sales&rental figures

At the moment, there's not a whole lot of martial arts movies on Blu-ray. Not surprising given that martial arts is very much a niche genre with a relatively small but very devoted audience. Also, with classic Asian martial arts pics, many of the original source prints are in horrible condition and would require extensive (and expensive) restoration work. Given the narrow market for martial arts movies, it's kind of a bleak outlook for martial arts movies on Blu-ray because the returns would not make that kind of investment worthwhile to restoring most of those titles. Without that restoration work, even if somebody wanted to put some of the classic martial arts movies out on Blu-ray, they simply won't look very good.

I'd mentioned that the Weinstein Company's Dragon Dynasty series might be the godsend for martial arts fans. They have already issued some great titles on DVD, most of which have surprisingly good picture quality. And they hold the U.S. rights to the Shaw Brothers film library. Unlike other Hong Kong studios, the Shaw Brothers did a great job at preserving their illustrious film library.

The Dragon Dynasty series already issued several of these titles on DVD, and this week they will put out their first Blu-ray release! And appropriately, it will be the Shaw Brothers classic The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, easily one of the greatest martial arts movies ever made. I have the 2007 DVD release, and the picture quality was great -- testament to the great care that Shaw Brothers studio took in preserving and restoring their classic titles. I would expect nothing less from this BD release.



Another upcoming gem from the Dragon Dynasty series is John Woo's 1989 gangster epic The Killer. Featuring a tour de force performance from Chow Yun-Fat and some of the most jawdropping gun battles ever filed, this is one of the great masterworks of Hong Kong cinema. It comes out on both DVD and Blu-ray soon, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed on the picture quality. No word on whether any of the previously released Dragon Dynasty titles will also come out on Blu-ray.

[eisforelectronic]

Check out "Ip Man"

[poppachubby]

Great write up Woochifer and thank you. Perhaps you'd be interested to read what Kungfucinema.com is saying. This article was released Feb.21st.

http://www.kungfucinema.com/blu-ray-...n-for-now-1262

I've seen some other titles too.

One of my faves, Iron Monkey

[poppachubby]

14 Blades looks awesome...

[Woochifer]

Great write up Woochifer and thank you. Perhaps you'd be interested to read what Kungfucinema.com is saying. This article was released Feb.21st.

http://www.kungfucinema.com/blu-ray-...n-for-now-1262

I've seen some other titles too.

One of my faves, Iron Monkey

Iron Monkey is also one of my favorites. It encapsulates so much of what's great about the Asian martial arts genre, and a Hollywood studio would never make it like this.

Oh gawd and looking at the box cover for "Legend of the Drunken Master" was PAINFUL! That's basically a butchered version of Drunken Master II, and it pains me to see that Blu-ray release knowing that the full unedited and undubbed version might never make it to DVD or Blu-ray. Drunken Master II remains the last truly great Jackie Chan movie, and it's a shame that American audiences will likely never see that masterwork in its original form. The U.S. release simply does not fully capture the greatness of that movie (in particular, the late Anita Mui's riotous performance as Chan's mother, even though she was 9 years younger than him!).

I actually have a VHS copy that got taped from the original Laserdisc release (even now, this remains the only high quality version that retains the original soundtrack, the full theatrical cut, and the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio). Looks like I'll have to keep it for a while longer!

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I'd mentioned that the Weinstein Company's Dragon Dynasty series might be the godsend for martial arts fans. They have already issued some great titles on DVD, most of which have surprisingly good picture quality. And they hold the U.S. rights to the Shaw Brothers film library. Unlike other Hong Kong studios, the Shaw Brothers did a great job at preserving their illustrious film library.

Unfortunately Weinstein Co. is having some financial problems, and they have basically burned every post and authoring house in Hollywood, so don't expect them to release a lot of these titles anytime in the near future.

There is hope though.

There is Stephen Chow's Kung Fu Hustle, which I thought was terrific out there, Kiss of a Dragon featuring Jet LI on Blu ray. Both titles have excellent AQ and PQ, and offer a great night of viewing.