Jet Li’s The Enforcer (1995/Genius/Dragon Dynasty DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C+     Film: C+

 

 

NOTE: This edition has no original Cantonese/Chinese track or any DTS sound like DVDs in this series usually do.

 

 

One of the earlier films that brought Jet Li attention in the U.S., Cory Yuen’s crime actioner The Enforcer (1995) actually gives Li more of a character than usual to play before the bullets and karate chops start flying.  This was considered a landmark for its fights and is one of the reasons Li is the most successful martial arts star since Bruce Lee to make this genre of film.

 

Of course, the storyline overall is still a bit thin and outside of the fights, wears thin quickly, but Li is giving one of his better current time performances with little pretension and that is why it is still talked about.  However, the film is far from a classic outside of its genre and what was fresh then seems somewhat played out after being imitated and duplicated so often since, but fans will be happy, save the missing original audio track

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image looks like it is form a new print, yet the image is softer than usual, flat and something is wrong with this transfer.  The Dragon Dynasty transfers are usually so good, but this definitely falls short.  The dark scenes suffer more than the light ones.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is an English dub and not very impressive.  You’d think it would be if the original audio was not available, but it also disappoints.  Extras include yet another feature length audio commentary by Bey Logan – an expert on these films and three on-camera interviews: Producer Wong Ling, former child star Tse Miu and actor Ken Lo.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo