Review of Bichunmoo: Warrior of Virtue

Introduction

Ok, you`re a DVD owner. And maybe you like films from Hong Kong and the surrounding areas. So you probably love those nice people at Hong Kong Legends, who have been wooing DVD owners with nearly every disc they release. With heads so massive they probably can`t get out of the door any more (such is the amount of praise heaped upon them), they must have sat round one day and decided to cast their net a little wider.

And so Premier Asia was born, as a brother/sister to Hong Kong Legends, designed to concentrate on some of the films that don`t fit nicely under the Hong Kong Legends banner. The first of these is Bichunmoo: Warrior of Virtue based on a Korean 1980s comic (aren`t I supposed to say graphic novel, since lots of people get upset when you call a comic a comic). And just to show off, Premier Asia decided to go the whole hog and make this a 2 disc set.

So on to the plot. Errmm, yes, errm, can I get back to you on that one later? It`s a bit complex and tricky to summarise. Part of it is outlined above, and I don`t want to go any further or I might be here all day. And there definitely bits of it missing.

Video

A 1.78:1 anamoprhic transfer, which is slightly cropped down from the original 1.85:1 - not sure why this has happened, but it doesn`t really affect what you see on screen. Most of my reviews of Hong Kong Legends discs talk about them being "up to the usual Hong Kong Legends standards", and I get the feeling that the same is going to be true of Premier Asia.

We get an almost flawless print, with scratches, dirt and dust all absent. The only niggle is mostly at the beginning of the film, where there`s an almost monstrous amount of grain, and things look a little messy. For the rest of the time everything looks just great - apart from some dodgy back projection, and some rather cheap hack`n`slash bits of gore, which look like they come straight from a 1970s film.

Audio

A choice of 3 soundtracks, DD5.1 English (dubbed), DD5.1 Korean (first time I`ve ever written that) and a dts soundtrack also in Korean. The inclusion of the dts track just shows how far we`ve come in recent years. I opted to listen to the dts soundtrack, and it was pretty good. It comes to life mostly during moments when the score comes into play, but it also enhances some of the action sequences with good sound placement.

The DD5.1 Korean track is also good (just not as good as the dts), and the English dub is also fine if you like dubs - I don`t!

Features

A Hong Kong Legends DVD almost inevitably means a commentary track from Bey Logan. And it would seem that Premier Asia will follow suit, as he`s here again, this time backed up by Korean film expert Mike Leeder. It`s another excellent track, as they leave no stone unturned when it comes to the film, film-making, the actors and the inevitable history. A top-notch commentary.

For the rest of the extras, you need to slip disc 2 into your DVD player to be greeted with:-

Interviews - 50 minutes of footage featuring lead actor Shin Hyun-june, director Kim Young-jun and action choreographer Ma Yuk-sheng. They each talk about their past, present and future.

Music Library - a selection of music tracks from the score, presented in DD2.0 stereo.

Candid Camera - 30 minutes of behind the scenes footage, and some more interviews.

CGI montage - 10 minutes covering the scenes which use CGI, but without any narration, which is a shame.

Out-takes - the usual sort of blooper real that you find at the end of many films from this region

Information Library and Promotional Archive - fancy names for trailers, photo galleries and biographies.

As with Hong Kong Legends discs, you`ll also find information and trailers for other films from Hong Kong Legends and Premier Asia.

Conclusion

So the first DVD from Premier Asia is finally here - and I`m afraid it really was a bit of a disappointment to me, largely due to the film itself. I`ve been watching this kind of stuff for years but some of the jumps in the story were just too jarring. Huge bits seem to be missing (scenes were cut from the film by the Korean studio, but no-one could find them to put them back in). And these big gaps (and there are quite a few) just detract from your enjoyment of the film.

And then there`s the fight scenes. Some are pretty good (this is a fantasy film though, so not for those who don`t like wire work), but some of the scenes are just laughable. They`re supposed to be serious, but they look like pure comedy, due to the rather naff looking explosions, exploding bodies and exploding body parts.

Inevitable comparisons will be drawn with Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and in my book Bichunmoo: Warrior of Virtue isn`t in the same league. It`s probably just about worth watching (and it does make a tiny bit more sense second time around), but I wouldn`t be too bothered if I didn`t get round to watching it again.

Probably worth a rental if you`re a fan of Hong Kong Legends and their output - just don`t expect too much. A good 2 disc set, but not such a good film.