Demon Warriors (aka Opapatika/2007/Magnolia/MagNet DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: B-     Extras: C-     Film: C

 

 

How about the four ways of birth?   Sweat & dampness, by egg, by womb or a birth out of nowhere, or Opapatika.  That was the original title for Demon Warriors, so you can imagine what one of the fourth-stage of birth possibilities is for this film.  We get this Martial Arts/Supernatural action hybrid from Thailand and Writer/Director Thanakom Pongsuwan.  It does not always work, but it takes itself seriously enough, plus it is a very bloody, brutal, R rated feature.

 

It also philosophizes often, sometimes too much and the English dub is so over-the-top without trying that it is almost spoofy and should be skipped altogether.  The writers (Yutnathorn Kaewthong and Pongsuwan) have plotted out things thoroughly, but that does not mean I was convinced.  The problem is that too much explanation makes this muddled, takes this into the Fantasy genre and kills the supernatural aspect by almost pushing it into Science Fiction.  It is then never more than a fantasy karate film with much blood and violence.  That will be appealing to some hardcore fans, but the approaches backfire in the long term.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image has more digital effects than you would expect and is soft, but CG is not the only reason and neither is stylizing, but it is simply too soft overall.  Wonder how this would look on Blu-ray.  The Dolby Digital Thai 5.1 is the best option, followed by the Thai Dolby 2.0 Stereo, with the English tracks being laughable and dubbing too forward.  The only extras are previews and a making of featurette.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo