Operation Scorpio
Picture: B- Sound: B Extras: C Film: B
Operation Scorpio (1991) is a late entry into the whole Martial Arts genre, but
incorporates some of the best leg fighting and style in recent action films in
the Kung Fu vein. While the plot is
nearly forgettable, we have Yu-Shu, a young student, who lives in a world of
his drawings and dreams more than in reality.
He fantasizes about being a hero, and that chance is given to him when
he rescues a young girl from a prostitution racket, which is headed by the
local police chief of all things. He
draws from his comic book character roots and a Kung Fu master for his
endeavors, as he must protect himself from the chaos he has unraveled.
The film stars Chin Kar
Lok as Yu Shu and the beautiful Ling played by May Law, but there are also some
other familiar faces as the two stars are pursued by the master of the scorpion
fighting style (Korean film star Kim Won-Jun).
Now this might normally be a standard fare title with some good action and
really stunning camerawork to bring forth the fighting scenes, but Fox has been
remastering titles in their vaults for DVD release and this is one of
them. The film is presented in a 1.85 X
1 anamorphic transfer, with Dolby Digital 5.1 English and Cantonese
soundtracks, plus English DTS and Cantonese DTS mixes.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.85 X 1 picture looks fairly good and does not demonstrate an older
look to the film, but has a slight amount of softness from time to time. Overall picture contrast looks good and
colors are nicely balanced throughout.
The 5.1 mixes fare pretty good, with the DTS mixes being the easy
winner. The dialogue is placed in the
center and the Dolby mix almost keeps the entire mix in a central location,
where the DTS becomes more involved and stretched outward more. While these mixes take certain liberties, it
is nice to be drawn into the film more during the action scenes.
Without a doubt these are
fun little films to enjoy and now that they are prepped for home theater with
DTS sound it brings a new experience to the film.
- Nate Goss
