BLU-RAY REVIEW

Bangkok Dangerous

Featured In Issue 138, January/February 2009

Picture3.5
Sound4.5
WSR Score3.5
Basic Information on new release titles is posted as soon as titles are announced. Once reviewed, additional data is added to the database.
(Studio/Distributor):
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
(Catalog Number):
3139810448
(MPAA Rating):
R
(Rating Reason):
Violence, language and some sexuality
(Retail Price):
$39.99
(Disc Type):
Single Side, Dual Layer (BD-50)
(Widescreen Edition):
Yes
(Full Screen Edition):
No
(Running Time In Minutes):
99
(Color Type):
Color
(Chaptered/Scene Access):
Yes
(Closed Captioned):
Yes
(Regional Coding):
Not Indicated
(Theatrical Year):
2008
(Theatrical Release):
Yes
(Direct-To-Video Release):
No
(Disc Release Date):
01/06/09
(THX® Digitally Mastered):
No
(Director):
The Pang Brothers
(Screenplay/Written By):
(Story):
(Music):
(Director Of Photography):
(Production Designer):
(Visual Effects):
(Costume Designer):
(Editor):
(Supervising Sound Editors):
(Re-Recording Mixers):
(Executive Producers):
(Co-Producers):
(Producers):
(Academy Awards):
(Principal Photography):
(Theatrical Aspect Ratio):
(Measured Disc Aspect Ratio):
(Disc Soundtrack):
Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS HD Lossless 7.1
(Theatrical Sound):
(Theatrical Re-Issue Soundtrack):
(DTS Bit Rate):
(Dolby Digital Bit Rate):
(Additional Languages):
(French Language):
(Spanish Language):
(Chinese Language):
(Subtitles):
(Cantonese Language):
(Mandarin Language):
(Japanese Language):
(Italian Language):
(German Language):
(Portuguese Language):

A professional stone-cold hit man by the name of Joe (Cage) takes on an assignment in Bangkok, and as usual, he finds a street kid named Kong (Yamnarm) to help him. After Kong has a close call and learns who Joe is, he asks the hit man to train him. Joe is attracted to a local girl (Young) who is deaf and, against his assassin's creed, spends time with her. Life becomes complicated and Dangerous when Joe finds himself hunted. This remake is based on the 1999 motion picture of the same name written and directed by the Pang Brothers. (Gary Reber)

Special features include an alternate ending; two featurettes: From Hong Kong To Bangkok: A Look At Hong Kong Cinema (SD 15:21) and Bangkok Dangerous: The Execution Of The Film (HD 13:31); an alternate ending (SD 8:38); the theatrical trailer (SD 2;14); six preview trailers; MoLog™, which is a BD-Live™ application that allows users to insert and animate shapes, text, audio, and other graphics right into the film to create "blogs" to share with other MoLog users; and a digital copy of the movie.

The 1080p AVC 1.78:1 picture quality is stylistic, with a gritty and rough character and colors that are slightly desaturated and/or filtered. Some interior scenes exhibit seemingly normal color fidelity, but these are limited. Resolution is excellent, with fine textures and fleshtones finely revealed. Blacks are deep, but with shadow delineation, and often wanting. Noise permeates throughout, with occasional artifacts noticeable. The overall experience is a second-rate 35mm film print. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 7.1-channel soundtrack is generally well recorded with natural dialogue, though often without stereo or surround spatial support. Surround envelopment is often quite aggressive with a holosonic® presence, contributed by the side channels. At times the surrounds are effectively directionalized. The side channels contain essentially the same signal as in the back surrounds, though occasionally, there is a distinction. The full potential is not achieved in this presentation, no doubt due to the audio stem limitations. The 7.1-channel mix was performed by Brant Biles of Mi Casa Multimedia. Unfortunately, the creative community, the studios, and the equipment manufacturers have not dictated a spatial loudspeaker setup standard. Our preferred 7.1-channel setup is a perfect circle with each full-range loudspeaker location equidistant from the sweet spot and equidistant from each other along the perimeter of the 360-degree circle. In this arrangement the added mid-left and mid-right surrounds convey added surround envelopment and dimensionality. Sound effects and Foley effects are well recorded and effectively placed. The music predominates the surround envelopment and is generally well recorded. Bass extension is often deep with, at times, below-25 Hz intensity, and at times there is an aggressive LFE .1 presence. Overall, this is a conventional 7.1-channel production that is satisfying. (Gary Reber)