Blu Tuesday is a weekly column where we review the newest Blu-ray and 4K releases, along with a brief rundown of the included bonus material, to determine whether they’re worth buying, renting or skipping.
Pick of the Week: “Flaming Brothers”
Released the same year as other Chow Yun-Fat hits like “A Better Tomorrow II,” “City on Fire” and “Prison on Fire,” “Flaming Brothers” may not be among the actor’s best films from that era, but it’s still a fairly decent heroic bloodshed flick that gets by on his performance alone. Chow really gets to flex his acting chops here, bouncing from action to drama to comedy and back again over the course of the film. Unfortunately, his performance is so good that it only highlights just how bad everyone else is, especially co-star Alan Tang, who comes off incredibly wooden in comparison. Though there isn’t as much bloodshed as you might expect from a heroic bloodshed film, and the middle half is bogged down by a pair of boring romantic subplots, “Flaming Brothers” ends on such a high note — an operatic shootout that would make John Woo proud — that its faults are a little easier to swallow.
Extras include an audio commentary by film historians Mike Leeder and Arne Venema, as well as an archival interview with director Joe Cheung, a featurette on the film’s shooting locations and an essay by Hong Kong cinema expert Camille Zaurin. FINAL VERDICT: RENT
Also Out This Week:
“Krull” — Peter Yates’ sci-fi fantasy film “Krull” was a box-office flop when it was originally released back in 1983, and although it has gained a dedicated cult following over the years, the movie has only gotten worse with age. A dull and derivative sword-and-sorcery movie with one of the blandest leading men in cinematic history, “Krull” throws so much at the wall in the hopes that something will stick — blending elements from wildly different genres, like laser guns and mythical creatures — that it becomes a convoluted mess. Though it’s fun to see actors like Liam Neeson and Robbie Coltrane in early roles, that’s where the amusement ends because “Krull” is so objectively bad that it feels tailor-made for the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” treatment; the kind of movie meant to be mocked, not enjoyed. Extras include an audio commentary by Yates, actors Ken Marshall and Lysette Anthony, and editor Ray Lovejoy, as well as a behind-the-scenes featurette. FINAL VERDICT: SKIP
Disclosure: Bullz-Eye was provided a copy of the above titles for review purposes.
