The Adventurers (1995) Blu-ray Review

Estimated reading time: 11 minutes

Ringo Lam’s Explosive Farewell to Hong Kong Cinema

Ringo Lam’s The Adventurers (1995) is a visceral, globe-hopping action epic that marries the director’s signature intensity with a sprawling narrative of vengeance, loyalty, and fractured identities. Starring Andy Lau in one of his most physically demanding roles, alongside Rosamund Kwan and Jacklyn Wu, the film serves as Lam’s final Hong Kong production before his brief Hollywood pivot—a swan song that pulses with the chaotic energy of a filmmaker eager to leave an indelible mark. Shot across Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines, and the United States, The Adventurers is both a love letter to ’90s action excess and a surprisingly introspective character study, blending pyrotechnics with moral ambiguity. 

Plot: A Revenge Saga Spun Across Continents

The film opens in 1975 Cambodia, where a young Wai Lok-yan (Andy Lau) witnesses the slaughter of his parents at the hands of Ray Lui (Ray Lui), a former CIA ally turned Khmer Rouge mercenary. This trauma propels Yan into a life of militarized discipline under the wing of Seung (veteran actor Paul Chun), a family friend who trains him as a Thai Air Force pilot. By 1995, Yan’s thirst for revenge drives him to infiltrate Ray’s criminal empire, now a billion-dollar arms-dealing operation. 

Lam’s narrative sprawls like a chess game played with grenades. After a botched assassination attempt in Thailand, Yan flees to San Francisco under CIA orders, adopting the alias “Mandy Chan” to infiltrate Ray’s inner circle by seducing his daughter, Crystal (Rosamund Kwan). The plot thickens with kidnappings, gang wars between Vietnamese and Hong Kong syndicates, and a marriage of convenience that morphs into emotional quicksand. Yet Lam never loses sight of Yan’s internal conflict: Is he a righteous avenger or a pawn in a geopolitical game? 

The third act shifts to Cambodia’s war-torn landscapes, where Yan confronts Ray amidst betrayals and helicopter chase sequences. In a climactic twist, Yan spares Ray’s life—not out of mercy, but exhaustion—allowing military forces to arrest him. The film closes on an ambivalent note, with Crystal’s tentative letter hinting at reconciliation, leaving Yan’s future as uncertain as the moral lines he’s crossed. 

Themes: Identity in the Crosshairs 

At its core, The Adventurers interrogates the cost of vengeance. Yan’s transformation from orphaned child to suave gang leader to remorseful survivor mirrors Hong Kong’s own identity crisis pre-1997 handover. His aliases—pilot, gangster, son-in-law—reflect a man unmoored by loss, echoing Lam’s fascination with dualities (see: City on Fire). Even Ray, the archetypal villain, is driven by greed and paranoia rather than pure evil, his CIA ties blurring the line between patriot and profiteer. 

The women in Yan’s life further complicate his mission. Jacklyn Wu’s Mona—Ray’s mistreated mistress—embodies desperate agency, her love-hate dynamic with Yan culminating in a hotel-room confrontation that nearly destroys Crystal. Kwan’s Crystal, meanwhile, is no passive heiress; her resilience after surviving Mona’s attack forces Yan to confront the collateral damage of his obsession. These relationships elevate the film beyond mere shoot-’em-up fare, offering a bruised heart beneath the bulletproof vests.  

Style: Lam’s Frenetic Poetry 

Lam’s direction is both brutal and balletic. The opening Cambodian massacre, shot in suffocating close-ups and lurid red lighting, feels like a nightmare ripped from a war documentary. Later set pieces—a San Francisco gang raid, a wedding shootout that decimates a banquet hall—balance operatic chaos with precise choreography. Yet Lam’s true genius lies in quieter moments: Yan’s confession to a comatose Crystal, or the haunting final shot of her letter fluttering in the wind, underscoring the fragility of human connection. 

Andy Lau delivers a career-defining performance, his stoicism cracking in subtle glances and clenched fists. Rosamund Kwan radiates vulnerability without veering into melodrama, while Ray Lui’s Ray exudes reptilian charm, making his eventual downfall perversely tragic. 

Legacy: Lam’s Bridge to the West

Though overshadowed by John Woo’s Hard Boiled (1992) in the pantheon of ’90s Hong Kong classics, The Adventurers remains pivotal as Lam’s bridge to Hollywood. Its multinational cast, English dialogue scenes, and Stateside locales foreshadow his Jean-Claude Van Damme collaboration, Maximum Risk (1996). Yet the film is unmistakably a product of Hong Kong’s golden age—a time when auteurs like Lam could fuse social commentary with spectacle, no studio notes attached. 

A Bloody, Beating Heart 

The Adventurers isn’t a perfect film. Its labyrinthine plot occasionally buckles under geopolitical subplots, and the pacing lags in the second act. But these flaws pale against its ambition—a blockbuster unafraid to ask if revenge is worth the soul it consumes. Today, as action cinema leans into CGI soullessness, Lam’s practical explosions and moral complexity feel like relics of a bolder era. 

For fans of unfiltered ’90s grit and the halcyon days of Hong Kong cinema, The Adventurers is essential viewing—a farewell kiss from a director who understood that even in chaos, humanity flickers. As Yan learns, sometimes the hardest kill to make is the one you walk away from.

The Video

Eureka licensed this release from Fortune Star. It is taken from a 2K restoration of the original 35mm negative. The film is presented in a 1.85:1 AVC 1080p encodement on Blu-ray. It does look a bit rough at times, but clean. There is a coarse layer of grain, but the detail is good even if the grain structure often tips over into looking noisy. Still, this restoration is about as good as it gets for most of these films from Hong Kong given the low budget productions and how they used to look years ago.

The Audio

The Adventurers offers several audio options: a restored Cantonese LPCM 2.0 stereo mix, an unrestored Cantonese LPCM 2.0 stereo mix, and a Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. While the stereo mix has a narrow stereo field and limited dynamic range, evidenced by clipping in dialogue and other sounds, the unrestored mix sounds muffled. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix provides more breadth, although clipping remains present.

The Supplements

This edition of The Adventurers includes a high-quality audio commentary by David West, two interviews, and a collector’s booklet featuring an essay. While it may not be packed with bonus features, it offers valuable content for enthusiasts.

Bonus Features:

• Limited edition of 2000 copies (per territory) exclusively featuring an O-card slipcase and collector’s booklet
• Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Time Tomorrow
•  A Limited edition collector’s booklet featuring a new essay by Hong Kong cinema scholar Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park
• Audio Commentary by David West
• Two Adventurers – Interview with Gary Bettinson
• Writing for the Dark-Faced God – Interview with Screenwriter Sandy Shaw
• Trailer

The Final Assessment

The Adventurers is an action-packed thrill ride that is classic Andy Lau and Ringo Lam. Fans of the genre will appreciate this new, restored release on Blu-ray from Eureka Entertainment.

The Adventurers is out on Blu-ray April 29, 2025 from Eureka Entertainment

• Rating Certificate: Not Rated
• Studios & Distributors: China Star Entertainment | Win’s Entertainment Ltd. | Win’s Production | Eureka Entertainment
• Director: Ringo Lam
• Written By: Ringo Lam | Sandy Shaw | Kwong-Yam Yip
• Run Time: 110 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Video Format: AVC 1080p
• Primary Audio: Restored Cantonese LPCM 2.0 Stereo
• Secondary Audio: Unrestored Cantonese LPCM 2.0 Stereo | Cantonese DTS-HD MA 5.1
• Subtitles: English
• Street Date: 29 April 2025