Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Last Tycoon, The

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Last Tycoon, The



    Released by: Well Go USA
    Released on: September 17, 2013.
    Director: Jing Wong
    Cast: Chow Yun Fat, Sammo Hung, Francis Ng, Li Yuan
    Year: 2012
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    Jing Wong's The Last Tycoon begins in China in a village circa 1913 where we meet a young man named Cheng Daqi Huang Xiaoming) who falls in love with an opera singer named Ye Zhiqiu (Feng Wenjuan). Before he can make his aspirations with her a reality, he messes up and after being framed for a murder, he winds up being put in prison where he meets Mao Zai (Francis Ng). Through this connection he winds up out of prison and shipped off to Shanghai where he winds up working for a mobster named Hong Shouting (Sammo Hung).

    Fast forward twenty-four years to 1937 (where Cheng is now played by Chow Yun-Fat) and we see that Cheng has remained very loyal for Hong. In fact, he's really taken to organized crime and climbed the ladder to the point where he's now a major player. He's quite wealthy and fairly powerful and he, along with his lovely wife Bao (Monika Mok), seem to be living the good life. In fact, everything seems to be on the upswing for him until Zhiqiu and her husband arrive in town. Of course, when Cheng sees Zhiqiu again, his old feelings for her are rekindled. Around the same time, Japanese forces start moving in on Shanghai. As this becomes an area of grave concern for all in Shanghai, loyalties will be tested and blood will be shed…

    This is a pretty solid mix of action, adventure, romance and drama. Like a lot of Chinese period films, The Last Tycoon pulls at your heart strings, often times in ways that feel contrived and nationalistic, but you can't help but get sucked into all of this. We get action during a few intense scenes of combat and crime, we get adventure in the scenes where the Japanese forces are moving in, we get romance in the relationships that exist between Cheng and both his wife and his old flame and we get drama pretty much consistently throughout the entire movie. It's one of those films where it seems like those behind it wanted to include something for everyone, and in this case, they more or less succeeded.

    On top of that we get loads of seriously impressive visuals. Jing Wong and his team do a great job with color here, using lots of ornate costumes and sets to bring pre-war China to vibrant life and, in some of the darker scenes, toying with shadows to make for some impressive scenes of stark visual contrast. There are a few spots where the pacing gets a bit sluggish and where the melodrama gets to be a little much, but for the most part this one sets out to entertain and does just that. On top of that we get a few first rate action scenes, some of which conjure up memories of some of Chow's eighties era classics. His performance here is top notch and he fits the role very well. Throw in some excellent supporting performances the always awesome Sammo Hung and the gorgeous Monika Mok as the completely sympathetic bride of the gangster and you wind up with a movie that looks great and which features an equally great cast. Just a fun mix of action and drama all around and although it's a little long for what it is, the visuals ensure that even when it slows down it always looks fantastic.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    The AVC encoded 2.35.1 widescreen 1080p high definition picture on this disc is excellent. Detail is strong, colors are reproduced really nicely, with some interesting emphasis on primary colors to nice effect in a few scenes. Black levels are nice and deep throughout the presentation. Generally the transfer excels in areas of both detail and texture. There are no issues at all with dirt, debris or visual detriments of any kind and the disc (the movie was shot digitally) is well authored, showing no noise reduction or heavy edge enhancement. Outside of some slight shimmer here and there, the movie looks excellent in high definition.

    The main audio option on the disc is a Chinese language (some parts are spoken in English) track provided in DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio with removable subtitles available in English and in Chinese. The lossless track here is a good one, though there isn't quite as much rear channel activity as you might expect. The score is spread around perfectly with some nice pans thrown in for dramatic effect while bass response is consistent tight and strong. All in all, this is a nice, well directed mix that does a fine job with the movie. An optional Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix is also included.

    There aren't a ton of extras here but aside from menus and chapter selection we also get a trailer for the feature and an eleven minute long behind the scenes featurette that includes some brief comments from the cast and crew as well as some footage shot on the set during production. A few previews for other Well Go USA properties play before the main menu loads and the Blu-ray case comes housed inside a cardboard slipcase featuring identical cover art.

    The Final Word:

    It might be consistently over the top and ridiculously melodramatic at times, but damn it, The Last Tycoon is seriously entertaining and it's great to see Chow back as a pistol packing ladies' man. There's a lot of style here, and maybe not as much substance as you might want but as far as pure, unadulterated cinematic fun is concerned, this definitely fits the bill. Well Go USA's Blu-ray isn't stacked with extras but it looks very nice and sounds great too.

    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!





















      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Lee Frost
      Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
      Year: 1969
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hot Spur – Movie Review:

      Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Mondo Macabro
      Released on: April 9th, 2024.
      Director: Max Pecas
      Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
      Year: 1985
      Purchase From Amazon

      Death Squad – Movie Review:

      Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Blue Underground
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Jess Franco
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
      Year: 1970
      Purchase From Amazon

      Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

      Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Saul Bass
      Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Phase IV – Movie Review:

      Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X