Seven
Warriors (1989/Well Go USA Blu-ray)
Picture:
C+ Sound: B- Extras: D Film: C+
From
an earlier time when might made right, many ex-soldiers become
marauding bandits, robbers, and highway men, preying on helpless
villagers and travelers, taking their harvest, women, money and
whatever they want. The village elder finally decides they had
enough and hires seven warriors to help, train the villagers, and to
fight back to protect what is theirs and that tiny village, harassed
by corrupted soldiers-turned-bandits is the subject of Sammo Hung's
Seven Warriors (1989)
The
village's only hope is to find 7 honorable soldiers who would be
willing to fight for the village. Unfortunately, when the 7 soldiers
arrive to help, the villagers are paranoid, paranoid that the
soldiers they hired would end up no better than the bandits
afterwards. These 7 warriors prepare traps, fortify the village and
train the villagers, they eventually earn the villager's trust. The
warriors are able to systematically destroy the bandits, but not
without losing a few of their own in the process.
This
was retelling of Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai with a Chinese
twist, particularly in the themes loyalty and respecting elders and
chain of command. The young men and soldiers who rushed into the
fight without a plan usually got themselves or others killed. This
movie looked like it was filmed years ago from the grain in the 1.78
X 1 digital high Definition transfer looking older than it should for
a Blu-ray, while the theatrical monophonic sound has been upgraded to
DTS-HD Master Audio (MA) 5.1 sound with mixed results. The only
improvement was crisper subtitles.
-
Ricky Chiang
