- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: Thai DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles: English, English SDH, Spanish
- Region: A (B? C?)
- Rating: R
- Discs: 1
- Studio: Magnolia Home Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: March 22, 2011
- List Price: $29.98
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BestBuy.com:
Purchase Vanquisher on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
What guy can argue against a film about a group of beautiful, kick-ass, female, samurai assassins in in tight leather outfits? Well, when it comes to Vanquisher, the thrill wears off quickly once the convoluted story from writer/director Manop Udomdej kicks in.
Sophia Sriban plays a special-ops agent operating under the code name “Gunja” who is recruited by American CIA agent Claire to her group of assassins, named project Vanquisher. The problem is, no one, including Gunja, knows that when the CIA is through with Vanquisher, it is to be shutdown, as in, everyone killed. Gunja escapes and disappears, waiting for her revenge. Meanwhile, Claire is tasked to take down an Al-Qaeda terrorist operating in Thailand when Gunja reappears determined to find out who’s behind trying to kill her. The story gets even more complicated as Japanese samurai assassins and undercover African CIA operatives enter the equation. It all leads, apparently, to some supposed grand scheme by the U.S. and Japanese to destabilize the region – or does it? I don’t know, the plot is too confused and burdened with tertiary characters for even me to make any sense of it.
At least Vanquisher does have some nicely choreographed martial arts sequences filmed with a bit of style and, oh, yeah, those great looking, butt kicking ladies in the tight outfits.
Video Quality
[Rating:3.5/5]
Vanquisher’s AVC/MPEG-4 encodement doesn’t show any compression problems, but its image tends towards the typically soft and overwhelming graininess that these Thai martial arts films all seem to suffer from. It looks film-like, but it is a little soft and I don’t think anyone will be using this as a reference piece anytime soon.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
The original language Thai DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtracks packs some wallop and its a bit aggressive as well. The onslaught of gunfire, kicks and punches come from all around, but the high frequencies are just a tad harsh and fatiguing.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
There’s nothing particularly special about Vanquisher’s special features and that isn’t unusual for a Magnolia release. Rather average making of and behind-the-scenes featurettes, both in standard definition, are provided alongside the theatrical trailer.
Supplements provided on this release are:
- The Making of Vanquisher (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:07.58)
- Behind the Scenes (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:07.35)
- International Trailer (1.33:1; 480i/60)
- BD-Live
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3/5]
There are far better martial arts/samurai films than this, but if you want to turn off your brain (or confuse it) then get out the popcorn on a rainy Saturday and rent it.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product align=”right”]B004H83IH8[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Vanquisher on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film
[Rating:2/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:3/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
