Broken Sword Hero - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Broken Sword Hero

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie
Well Go USA and their foreign action films are some of my favorite treats to look forward to every month or so. I’ve been a huge fan of Asian action films since I was a boy, and have branched out from the classic world of Hong Kong cinema to Thai, Korean, and Japanese horror flicks. Of all the brands of martial arts, and all the different “flavors” of Asian cinema, Thai martial arts flicks have to be some of the most over the top and crazy movies out there. Before Tony Jaa, the Thai films were mostly underground action flicks, or zany period pieces, but Jaa brought the Thai world of kickboxing out into a whole new realm (outside of the Billy Blanks and Van Damme efforts at bring Thai Boxing to the U.S. film market), and Broken Sword Hero feels like a call back to the early 2000, late 90s style of period piece action flicks from the nation. A sort of semi embellished documentation of Phraya Pichai (a famous Thai legend who was known for his white teeth. Something that was rare due to the Thai people chewing betel nuts, which have a side effect of blackening the teeth), Broken Sword Hero chronicles the adventures of Thong Di (Buakaw Banchamek) as a young boy to becoming an ACTUAL broken sword hero (something shown later in the film that really is more of a wink and a nod to his legendary title rather than anything significant). The film is a solid action film, but feels a bit bloated and filled with some melodramatic side material that pushes it about 20 minutes or so past the comfort zone of the actioneer.

Before he was known as Thong Di, the legendary warrior was a little boy named Joi. Joi was a precious youth who just wanted to fight with the other boys and in the process ends up beating up the governor’s son, who usually would pick on Joi. Fast forward years later and we see Joi once again having the governor’s son chasing him down with his men. Whooping their butts quite thoroughly, Joi ends up making more enemies than he really wants, sending the young man off on a quest to better himself fighting wise. Only thing is, Joi isn’t as good of a fighter as he thinks he is. A lone wanderer challenges him in one of his weekly battles, systematically tearing the young fighter apart. Bewildered at his defeat, Joi decides to slip away before too many people find out who he is and renames himself Thong Di, joining up with school after school in order to perfect the perfect style of Thai boxing.

Even though Thong Di was a legendary Thai piece of mythology, the film seems to play out very much like The Karate Kid in many ways. Thong Di is sent from master to master, picking up friends and romantic interests along the way, trying to hone his skills. His interaction with a drunk sword master plays out like a scene from The Karate Kid or Van Damme’s Kickboxer with the old man single handedly teaching the young man some much needed humility (as well as upgrading his skill set). All of this leads to the obligatory end battle where he runs into the warrior that decimated him so many years ago in his youth.

Broken Sword Hero is a simple film at HEART, but ends up like a snowball rolling down hill. With each master and each training regimen that he goes through, the film picks up more and more bloat as well. By the end of the movie we have a whole hero’s journey, along with a romantic sub plot, a military leader side line, as well as countless friends and acquaintances that all tie together in the end. It just feels a bit too unwieldy at time. Had the film stuck to the fight scenes, it would have played out a lot like the old 90s martial arts films that I grew up on. Instead the extra bloat slows down the pacing of the film with too many people, and too many side plots for its own good. However, the Thai boxing (and use of traditional fight machinations) make for a fun watch. The action is smooth, the hits well choreographed (some of the blade work could have used some work), and stunt work is well done (the Thai are known for putting their bodies on the line during stunt work).




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

I can’t find (once again) any information on the filming style or cameras used for this shoot, but Broken Sword Hero has the slightly glossy and flat look of a digital shoot, so I’m going to lean in that direction until otherwise updated. The movie uses what I like to call as the “Asian Gray” look. Meaning that it looks slightly desaturated, with a gray tinge to the color grading. Reds and greens, such as forest foliage, or the dark blood of someone bleeding out pop off the screen decently enough, but for the most part the colors are very subdued and muted. Fine detail looks fine across the spectrum, with the oiled up body of Thong Di looking well defined, and the background details of the surrounding backdrops looking more than detailed enough. Blacks a deep and dark, with some slight grayed out look due to the muted colors, and shadow detail is more than capable.






Audio:

The Thai 5.1 DTS-HD MA track is very robust and clean, with a heavy emphasis of bass on the sound of impacting fists and feet. Dialog is a bit soft, but still intelligible at all times with a good use of basic surround encoding. You can hear the sounds of horse hooves thudding off in the distance, as well as the cheer of the crowd when Thong Di is fighting his opponents from the rear end of the room, while the blows reverberate throughout the system with deep overly hot cooked bass. When the film gets a bit “talky”, the surrounds and LFE fade away into the background, but during the copious action sequences the LFE is used to accentuate the chop socky action, and the surrounds tend to be a bit more active.





Extras:

• Well Go USA Previews
• Broken Sword Hero Trailer

Final Score: ​

I did a little research into Phraya Phichai’s life before doing the review, and I’m a little puzzled by what was left OUT of the film more than what was put in. The man’s life seems to be an incredible story, but Thong Di/Phraya’s characterization in the movie is nothing more than an action stereotype that really doesn’t live up to his legendary status. I mean, I liked the martial arts. The action was fun, but there was so much meat and potatoes that was left out of the film that I’m wondering why that decision was made. It could have been a really interesting epic instead of a standard, run of the mill, action movie that doesn’t explore anything too important or too vital. Well Go USA’s Blu-ray is well done, with good video, good audio, and the standard minimal extras for a film of this type. While it’s not a “go out and buy it NOW!” type of film, Broken Sword Hero is an entertaining enough action film to satisfy the needs for a good beat up up martial arts flick type of night. Rental




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Buakwar Banchamek, Phutharit Prombandal
Directed by: Bin Bunluerit
Aspect Ratio: 2.39.1 AVC
Audio: Thai: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Thai DD 5.1
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 122 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: October 31st, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Rental

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I do like martial art movies so will keep this for a rainy day once it shows up on amazon prime/netflix.