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Seven Warriors

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    Ian Jane
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  • Seven Warriors



    Seven Warriors
    Released by: Well Go USA
    Released on: April 22nd, 2014.
    Director: Sammo Hung
    Cast: Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Sammo Hung, Jacky Cheung, Wu Ma
    Year: 1989
    Purchase From Amazon

    The Movie:

    A remake of Akira Kurosawa's classic Seven Samurai, 1989's Seven Warriors is set in the China of the 1920s where poverty runs rampant and many of the soldiers that were once gainfully employed have taken to robbing and thieving to support themselves. In an opening scene we see a man (Sammo Hung) send his wife off on horseback before a gang of these thieves can get to her. When he stands up to them, he is gunned down. This sets in motion an idea brought about by a female villager who offers up what little money she has to hire some mercenaries to protect them from these men. They don't have much, but soon they've rounded up seven skilled combatants - their big brained de facto leader Wong Way-Wu (Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), a strategically minded man named Yung (Max Mok), an old school traditionalist soldier named Ching (Jacky Cheung), a rifleman named Mao (Ben Lam), a sneaky treasure obsessed old man named Ghost (Wu Ma), and a massive behemoth of a warrior named Karl (Shing Fui-On).

    As the men fortify the town and teach the peasants how to defend themselves, Wong becomes intrigued by a pretty young woman hiding from the bandits on the outskirts of town in a set of old ruins. It turns out her family was killed by the same gang that are harassing the villagers. They strike up a romance of sorts, while Karl bonds with one of the children in the village, a daring young boy named Harvest. When the leader of the bandits, Piu (Lo Lieh) learns what's going on, all involved prepare for a final showdown.

    Anyone hoping for a film as layered and nuanced as the one that Kurosawa delivered will be sorely disappointed by this one. Gone is the focus on honor, nobility and the way of the samurai and in its place is a lot of goofy slapstick comedy and shallow characterizations. Granted, this is all accomplished in less than half the time, as Seven Warriors clocks in at a more commercially manageable ninety-five minutes, but the depth just isn't there at all. Having said that, however, this is a fun watch thanks mainly to a good cast and some great stunts and action set pieces.

    The opening sequence, in which top billed Sammo is gunned down (and kind of wasted, really - more Sammo is never a bad thing!) after saving his wife, is shot with some interesting use of yellow coloring to build drama and tension. His death sets all of this off and from there, our intrepid villagers set their plan in motion. This takes a little while but allows the middle part of the film, which is a bit on the slow side, to introduce us to the seven heroes. The action doesn't really pick up until the one hour mark, but once it does, there's a lot to appreciate. There's obviously no CGI used here so the stunts are all done with stuntmen, not pixels. There's some strong fight choreography on display and what is to this point a middling action comedy becomes considerably more serious and intense. Wu Ma and Shing Fui-On tend to steal the scenes they're in but Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Jacky Cheung are both quite good in their roles as well even if they're not given much to really test their skills in terms of drama. The last half hour is what makes this one worth seeing. While Seven Warriors isn't the best action movie to have come out of Hong Kong in the late eighties, it offers up a chance to appreciate what the ensemble cast brings to the picture and it culminates in some fantastic set pieces. For this reason, it's worth seeing.

    Video/Audio/Extras:

    Seven Warriors arrives on Blu-ray framed at 1.78.1 widescreen in AVC encoded 1080p high definition and for the most part it transfers well to the format. There is some mild print damage noticeable here and there but it's never distracting, really. The colors look really good, they're bright and bold but not oversaturated, and if the black levels aren't reference quality they're definitely solid. Some compression artifacts are noticeable in the darker scenes, which is mildly annoying, but otherwise things look good. Some source related softness obviously can't be removed and a few other source related issues do pop up, but overall detail is pretty good as is texture and depth.

    Audio chores are handled by a Cantonese language DTS-HD 5.1 track that sounds basically like a stereo mix. It's quite front heavy and there isn't a whole lot of rear channel action outside of occasional score placement. The clarity is fine, however, and the levels are properly balanced throughout. There's a bit of depth to the music and the sound effects and the track is free of any hiss or distortion. An optional Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo track is also included as are removable English subtitles.

    Extras include a trailer for the feature, previews for a few other Well Go USA properties, menus and chapter selection.

    The Final Word:

    Seven Warriors can't really complete with Kurosawa's original film but like The Magnificent Seven did before it, Seven Warriors puts its own cultural spin on the story and proves to be a fun watch. Though it lags a little bit in the middle part, the finale is fantastic and the stunt work and fight choreography on display are impressive. Well Go USA's Blu-ray release is noticeably short on extras but it looks and sounds pretty decent. A fine presentation for a fun movie.

    Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!






























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