- Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: Thai DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/16-bit), Thai Dolby Digital 2.0
- Subtitles: Partial English, Full English
- Subtitles Color: White
- Region: ABC (Region-Free)
- Rating: Not Rated
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Digital Copies: N/A
- Run Time: 82 Mins.
- Studio: Well Go USA Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: March 26, 2013
- List Price: $29.98
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Overall
[Rating:2/5]
The Film
[Rating:1.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:2/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(The below TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:1.5/5]
This French/Thai production starring Jon Foo (Tekken) and Caroline Ducey (Romance), and directed by Jean-Marc Minéo, seems to exist solely to highlight the occasionally rousing Muay Thai techniques of Foo. Apart from that, the wandering screenplay and plot holes make this a disaster even for the not so subtle martial arts genre.
The young boy Manit is left for dead when his policeman father and his mother are killed by a group of corrupt cops in cahoots with gangsters. Saved by a caring nurse who rescues him from the criminals looking to finish the job while he is still in hospital on life support, Manit is taken to a martial arts expert, bullet firmly lodged in brain, where he barely clings to life. Years later, the grownup Manit (played by Foo) learns of the tragic events surrounding his parents’ murder. Unable to feel any emotion because of the damage to his brain, and highly skilled in Muay Thai, he sets out on an investigation to find the killers to mete out punishment.
Lets start with the good: there are some decent fighting sequences in Bangkok Revenge. Decent, but not great. There have been way better, and far more epic. Now, for the bad, and there is a lot of bad. First, Manit, who was shot in the head and meant to be a vegetable, miraculously recovers and becomes a titan of martial arts who, for whatever reason, speaks nearly flawless, um, English? Yes, despite the brain damage that has robbed him of all emotion, he learns perfect English from a martial arts master who himself speaks English with a rather deep accent. Then there is Caroline Ducey, who plays a French journalist investigating crime and gangs in Thailand who gets caught up in Manit’s investigation. If ever there was an unnecessary character in a story, she’s it. Potential love interest you say? Well, Manit has no emotions, so that can’t be it, or can it? He keeps treating her like crap without batting an eye, and she keeps coming back for more. The acting and characters, even the corrupt cops, are so one-dimensional they are nearly non-existent. Placed against Foo’s dry, emotionless portrayal of a guy with, admittedly, no emotions, it all makes for a rather uninteresting film to watch.
Video Quality
[Rating:2/5]
I could find no technical information on the film’s production, but if I understand the French end credits correctly, it seems it is an original high definition production captured on a Red One (?). That would make a little bit of sense given the amount of horrendous digital anomalies throughout this production, mainly terrible motion artifacts like stairstepping that are normally associated with low budget digital productions done on Canon EOS 5D Mark III or 7D digital cameras. This AVC/MPEG-4 1080p encodement from Well Go USA is middling at best, suffering from soft detail, lots of video noise, some black crush, and the aforementioned aliasing issues around edges. I could see these things happening on a Red with someone who doesn’t know how to use one properly.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
The Thai/English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/16-bit) soundtrack is of a better quality than the video, thankfully. It has a solid low end and active surround panning so that punches and kicks really land with authority and the occasional gunshot can often come at you from any angle. Dialogue is clear, but the high end is just a tad too tweaked.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/5]
This comes with nothing but the theatrical trailer (1.85:1; 1080p/24) for the film and some trailers for additional Well Go USA releases.
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:2/5]
Bangkok Revenge never gets revved up on the vengeance side of things, offering only a timid amount of Muay Thai sequences that are easily bested by numerous other films in this genre. The fact that the film’s dialogue is nearly 80-percent in English is inexplicable, given its French/Thai roots and the backstory of the protagonist. Even in the realm of these usually overblown martial arts films, Bangkok Revenge fails to deliver the goods.
Additional Screen Captures
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Purchase Bangkok Revenge on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
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[amazon-product]B00ATXIIN4[/amazon-product]
Purchase Bangkok Revenge on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:2/5]
The Film
[Rating:1.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:2/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:0/5]
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