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Released by: Crash Cinema
Released on: 5/11/2004
Director: Kao Pao-Shu
Cast: Casanova Wong, Ching Siu Tung, Yang Yee Kwan, Eddy Ko, Meng Yuan Man
Year: 1980
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The Movie:
Casanova Wong plays Tseng, a young tuff hired by a local wealthy man (Yang Yee Kwan) to escort an extremely valuable jade statuette. He gives the job his all in hopes that it'll make it to its destination, the hands of a man named Liang, safe and sound, but sadly, he's outsmarted and a few thieves make off with the goods. Tseng agrees to sell all his worldly goods to make up for the loss, and to save his honor.
When two, no good shysters find out about Tseng's connection to the treasure, the pretend to want to help him get it back under the guise of a pair of good Samaritans. It doesn't take him too long though to figure out just what they're up to, and mondo ass whupping ensues shortly after. When Tseng figures out the Liang is involved, more ass whupping happens and he tries to set things right.
You're not going to want to watch this one for the intricacies of its story or the moving performances of its cast. It's not that type of film. Why would you want to watch it? Plenty of ass whupping, that's why. And it does deliver on that level, and it does so with style. You want red tinted flashbacks and crazy camera zooms to punctuate anger? You got it. You want an inordinate amount of yelping and whooping during the fight scenes? Check. It's here too. All the elements that kung fu fans recognize in good fight scenes are here.
So with the action turned up to eleven and the killer screen presence of Casanova Wong and Yang Yee Kwan, The Master Strikes is a good action movie with some stand out duels. What it lacks in characterization, it makes up for in violence so if you're able to turn off your brain and just enjoy the film for what it is, it'll satisfy your kung fu cravings. If you're looking for an interesting story or reasonably well-developed characters, there are other martial arts movies out there that'll do a better job in that department and this movie isn't for you. It's a six-pack film.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The Master Strikes is presented in a non-anamorphic widescreen transfer that looks like it was taken from a print that has seen some better days. The first few minutes are pretty soft looking but thankfully this clears itself up fairly quickly. There is a whole lot of print damage going on here though - splices, specks, horizontal and vertical cracks, that type of thing.
The film is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono in Cantonese with English subtitles. Unfortunately, these subtitles are burned in and are underneath some Mandarin subtitles, which are also burned in. To make matters worse, there are a few spots in the film where the subtitles run off of the screen on the left and right sides. Subs aside, the quality of the track isn't bad. There's not too much background hissing and the levels seem well balanced and accurate.
Extras are limited to a trailer for the feature and two bonus trailers for other films in the Crash Masters series.
The Final Word:
While The Master Strikes is a fast paced fight film with plenty of action to keep things moving along at a nice, quick pace, the DVD leaves a bit to be desired. While it's nice to see it in widescreen, the burned in Chinese subtitles on top of the English subtitles are distracting, as is the print damage. The movie is worth a look though, just don't go in expecting top quality.