- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (24Hz)
- Audio Codec: Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/16-bit) & Dolby Digital 2.0
- Subtitles: English
- Subtitles Color: White
- Region: ABC (Region-Free)
- Rating: Not Rated
- Run Time: 114 Mins.
- Discs: 1 (1 x Blu-ray)
- Studio: Well Go USA
- Blu-ray Release Date: July 3, 2012
- List Price: $29.98
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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:2.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All 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:2.5/5]
Director Gao Qunshu’s “wonton western” Wind Blast (Xi feng lie; 礦內暴風) takes the contemporary western head-on, no re-imagining, no deconstructions, no need to worry who the good guys are. From the very opening moments, it is a nonstop blast of edge-of-the-seat action. Set in the starkly beautiful landscape of China’s Gobi, the vague story consists of wanted killer and underground boxer Zhang Ning (Yu Xia) fleeing the country through the desert with his pregnant girlfriend Sun Jing (Charlie Yeung). The couple not only have a posse of cops led by Detective Leopard (Yihong Dua) hot on their trail, but also a pair of highly skilled hired assassins that want to capture them, Mai Gao (Francis Ng) and Nuo A (Nan Yu). After briefly falling into police custody, a battle ensues, with guns blasting, fires blazing, fists flying, and Zhang and Sun falling into the hands of the assassins. From then on, it’s a nonstop back and forth of guns, martial arts, explosions and car chases through the desert to claim Zhang and his girlfriend Sun.
While there is no arguing against the intensity of the action in Wind Blast (it absolutely kicks ass), the story on the whole is too, well, nonexistent, to be wholly enjoyable. Just ten or twenty minutes in and I was so confused as to what was going on and why everybody wanted Zhang so badly, that it defeated the purpose of all the action.
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Wind Blast‘s 35mm (Super 35 3-perf) source looks rather good in this AVC/MPEG-4 1080p transfer from Well Go. Of course, the setting of the film doesn’t always lend itself to the best imagery, with the dusty desert terrain often softening the details, but the image always maintains a good film-like quality with no evident electronic issues creeping into the picture.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
This hyperactive Mandarin DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz/16-bit) soundtrack would have been perfect with its balance of deep explosions, galloping horses and rumbling engines that come at you from all angles, clear dialogue and spacious spread across the front were it not for one flaw – really edgy sounding higher frequencies that make all the relentless gunshots become a bit fatiguing.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
The standard definition “making of “ and “behind the scenes” are nothing extraordinary, really, and the only other “supplement” is the theatrical trailer in HD.
The supplements:
- Making Of (1.33:1; SD; 00:25:05)
- Behind the Scenes (1.33:1; SD; 00:23:40)
- Wind Blast Trailer (2.35:1; 1080p/24)
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
Wind Blast gets an A+ for effort, especially for the “false” ending (I won’t give too much away) that kicks the action up to 112 when you least expect it, but there’s not much else to recommend this one for.
Additional Screen Captures
[amazon-product]B007S0DCAK[/amazon-product]
Purchase Wind Blast on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
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[amazon-product]B007S0DCAK[/amazon-product]
Purchase Wind Blast on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:2.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2/5]
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