36th Chamber of Shaolin (Blu-Ray)

A lot of kung fu film fans have no doubt eagerly been awaiting Vivendi's line of Dragon Dynasty Blu's. Unfortunately, if The 36th Chamber of Shaolin is any indication of what's in store down the line, Vivendi has drastically underestimated the tolerance level of high definition aficionados. Somewhat unbelievably, this is a 1080i transfer, which in and of itself isn't horrible, except that the source elements of this ShawScope (OAR 2.39:1) film vary widely in consistency, and combing artifacts do rear their ugly heads from time to time. Colors (especially reds) bloom repeatedly, leaving large swaths of the screen seeming to literally bleed outside the lines of their colored objects. Even worse, the final 15 minutes or so of the film undergo a rather substantial quality change, with inconsistent contrast and an overall yellow sheen. The entire film in fact looks rather soft, and while some may be excited enough with an anamorphically enhanced Blu that at least isn't downright horrible, my hunch is the more shall we say persnickety videophiles are going to be really, really disappointed with this effort, especially for a film which is so widely beloved. Is it better than a standard def DVD? Probably--a little. Though the fact that I'm even asking that question should be warning enough that there's not enough of a difference here to even really mention.

Though this Blu does come with a dubbed English track, stick with the original Chinese, even if it (like the English) is delivered via a standard Dolby Digital 2.0 mix. This certainly would have been a fun film for a 5.1 retrofit, especially in the foley-centric baton sequences, but what's here is reasonably robust, without that thrilling rumble on the low end that a lossless track provides. Several actors were obviously post-dubbed, even in the original language track, and so there is the odd disparity of seeing lips not quite synched to the soundtrack, but dialogue is clear and at times at least passably directional. Sound effects and underscore are well mixed into the proceedings, and there were no egregious dropouts or annoying hiss. The English dub is simply laughable, with lame voice "actors" spewing ridiculous dialogue. Of course, if you're in the mood for a good laugh, you may want to opt for that track on a repeat viewing.