Hong Kong Digital #148: The Scorpion King

British Columbia: M (Some Violence)
Great Britain: 15
Netherlands: 12
Ontario: AA (Martial Arts Violence, Violence)
Singapore: PG

PRESENTATION

The cinematography is on the dark side, so the presentation is not as glossy as some HKL releases. However, apart from some mild grain in a few spots, there are no notable flaws and the transfer is quite satisfactory. Unfortunately, as with some other HKL releases, like POLICE STORY II and STORY OF RICKY, there is some monkey business going on with the framing. A comparison between the HKL transfer and the old Star Entertainment laserdisc (1.80) reveals that the DVD is missing picture along the left side of the frame, plus a smaller bit on the right. Aside from the Star TV copyright notices at the very end of the picture not looking properly framed, the problem is not really evident. Regardless, it is baffling that a company would go to the time and expense of digitally cleaning their source prints and then pull these little framing games, particularly on a movie shot with spherical lenses. The stereo re-mix tends to keep things up front but the rear channels do offer some musical accompaniment. At the risk of sounding completely redundant, Bey Logan's audio commentary is extremely good, offering just about everything you need to know about the performers, with a special emphasis on Lau Kar-leung. He does mistakenly credit direction of THE TREASURE HUNTERS to Lau but, otherwise, this is another first rate lecture. The amazing Kim Won-jin is profiled in a 19 minute interview where he discusses his background and experiences working in HK; he also gets to show his stuff in a 2 minute showreel. Chin Kar-lok's interview (17 minutes) covers his ten years as a member of Sammo Hung's stunt team and the creation of the action scenes here. There is a UK promo spot for the film, as well as the HK trailer, which features different titles than are normally seen on this movie (Man wah san kuen, or "Manga Powerful Fist," and "Palette" as the English handle). Spots for ten other HKL titles are also included and Logan supplies a 30 screen essay on Lau Kar-leung, whom he sites in the commentary as one of his personal heroes. There is an awkward layer change at 1:14:10.

Having problems printing this review with Netscape? Go to the File option in the Netscape Task Bar, click the Page Setup from the sub-menu and make sure that in the Page Options listings, the Black Text box is clicked. This should resolve the "no text" printing problem.

Click here for more information about The Hong Kong Filmography