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Released by: Well Go USA
Released on: September 16, 2008.
Director: Cha ChuanYi
Cast: Tung Wei, Alex Man, Chi-Leung, Hui Ying-Hung, Yu An-An, Li Tien-Lang
Year: 1985
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The Movie:
A courtesan named Shui Erh (Fu Yin-yu) is the illegitimate daughter of a prince who is raised in a brothel by a thug named Kao Lao-ta (Tan Hui-wei). When she offends a paying customer the brothel soon becomes scorned and falls into debt. Kao decides to get rid of Shui Erh and sells her off to a young prince (Tony Leung) who intends to use her as a bargaining chip in his attempt to usurp power from the current ruler. The prince sends three of his finest warriors - Lien Fei-hsia, Yen Shih-san and Szema Chung-heng - to transport her to his palace but not before Shui Erh's father learns of the news and sends one of his assassins, Shan Chun, to kill her before they can get to her.
Shan Chun has everyone in the brothel killed and Shui Erh takes off into the forest to hide but is followed by an assassin. Thankfully a knight (Tung Wei) finds her and saves her and when he starts to fall for her, finds that his own life is now in danger as well.
Directed by Cha Chuan-yi, the same man who gave us The Rapist and Supercops, Journey Of The Doomed is fairly sleazy stuff. The emphasis is more on the sexploitative elements in the film rather than on the martial arts though the last half of the film is really an extended chase scene in which Shei Erh and her knight do their best to evade the various factions that want to kill them both. There are a couple of stand out action set pieces, the finale in particular that takes place around a fairly spectacular battle, but there's a lot more attention paid to Fu Yin-yu's frequently naked body than anything else with a few scenes taking place in the brothel gleefully exploiting the female employees residing there.
Throw in a few odd subplots including one involving Shan Chun and some completely bizarre hypnotic abilities and of course the romance between the knight and Shei Erh that make the film a little more complicated than it really needs to be and you're left with an odd film that can't quite figure out what it wants to be or where it wants to go. The picture is certainly entertaining enough but it really is a mish-mash of ideas that never really fully form. Enjoy this one is an exploitation picture rather than as a pure martial arts film and you'll walk away reasonably satisfied as there's enough sex and violence here to ensure that the picture is never dull.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Surprisingly enough, Journey Of The Doomed is presented in an interlaced non-anamorphic transfer. While the image looks quite good for what it is, the lack of 16x9 enhancement is definitely a disappointment. That said, the source material used for this transfer was obviously in good shape. There aren't any problems with dirt or debris on the image nor are there any issues with mpeg compression artifacts or edge enhancement. The color reproduction looks nice and accurate and skin tones look lifelike and natural.
The sole audio option on this release is a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix in Mandarin. Optional subtitles are included in English and Chinese. While it would have been nice to see the original mono mix included here, the 5.1 track sounds pretty good. Surround usage really only occurs during the action scenes with most of the dialogue coming from the front of the mix - it works. There aren't any problems with hiss or distortion to complain about and everything is well balanced.
Aside from some static menus and a chapter selection sub-menu, the only supplement on this release is the film's original theatrical trailer.
The Final Word:
The lack of an anamorphic transfer is a disappointment and the disc doesn't have much going for it in the way of extra features but this an enjoyable and fairly obscure Shaw Brothers exploitation picture that makes for an entertaining mix of martial arts action and exploitative sleaze.