Iron Protector - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Iron Protector

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

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Movie

I’m a huge, HUGE fan of Hong Kong and Chinese cinema, as I grew up watching Bruce Lee in the 80s, Donnie Yen and Jet Li during the 90s with Jackie Chan, and pretty much watched as the mass hysteria for legendary martial artists cooled down during the 2005 onwards stage. About that time we had the Bourne films that introduced shaky cam and 10 million cuts per second so that we never got to see a single coherent fight scene played out on screen. Couple that with the decline of Hong Kong Cinema as a whole and this sad panda has been making doing with re-runs of Shaw Brothers films and his old Blu-rays and DVDs of his classic favorites. Well, Iron Protector promised to bring us back to the days of Bruce Lee, using limited camera effects and little to no wirework as well. A Chinese action flick that brings us back to the good old days. I won’t say that Iron Protector lives up to those claims, but martial arts auteur Yue Song really tries his best to bring back those days of no plot-high action films that we grew up on.

There really isn’t a whole lot to describe about the film. Director/Writer/Actor Yue Song plays Wu-Lin, a martial arts student who makes his way to the big city when his master dies. Wearing nothing but his peasant clothing and wearing steel boots (part of his training/mourning ritual for his master), Wu-Lin is trying to make his way into the world when he meets his estranged brother (played by Xing Wu, Wrath of Vajra) who was thrown out by their master as a child. His brother is now a big shot in the modern world, making a name for himself as owning a bodyguard company. Taking pity on his peasant brother, the businessman sets Wu-Lin up with protecting the daughter of a rich businessman in the city. Things naturally turn south in a hurry, and Wu-Lin watches as the daughter, Fei Fei is kidnapped by gangsters.

Refusing to give up on his ward, Wu-Lin wages a one man war against the gangster of the city, tearing through them like paper mache, until he finds himself face to face with the man at the head of the snake. A man who will unlock and reveal his own checkered past at the same time. Yup, that’s about it. The first 30 minutes of the film are Wu-Lin and Fei Fei having some sort of awkward romance/friendship type of relationship, but we’re really not interested in that. The last hour kicks into full gear when Wu-Lin is betrayed by his brother and it’s one non stop action ride to till the end credits, complete with stunning martial arts fight scenes that basically take up the last 40 minutes of the run time.

I love the “no plot, lets kick butt” type of Chinese action films, as that’s what I grew up on as a child. The story is nothing but a small framework that is used to cobble together fight scene after fight scene. Yue Song really follows this mantra to the letter, and we have one strung together martial arts scene after the other. The thing is, second time director/actor Yue Son doesn’t really have a grasp on the behind the camera work. He really IS a talented marital artist, and the choreography is really good. It brings me back to the 80s where heroes were running around with handicaps to limit their powers, and the use of up close camera work is really raw and exciting. However, Song utilizes a series of comic book style editing procedures and backdrops that make the flow of the fights really weird, and some of the editing is so sharp and harsh that it appears amateurish at times.

I can’t really comment on the acting, as there isn’t a whole lot of it. There’s some forced exposition, and a few crude jokes, but the rest of the movie is there to satisfy the urge to watch the hero beat up villain after villain on his way to the top. The limited drama that IS there is only so so, and the actors do what they can wit the cheesy script that Yue Song has crafted together. It’s not a bad movie, and the action scenes are a lot of fun, but the awkward editing and script writing show that Song has a ways to go before he’s completely comfortable behind the camera.





Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Iron Protector is given a solid looking encode from Well Go USA, and employs the typical deasaturated and lightly gray look that many Chinese films seem to be addicted to. The whites are pushed rather hot, and the whole image is ever so slightly washed out, with bright sequences looking overly bright, and darker shots have grayed out blacks as a result. Most of the color has been sucked out of the picture, and what colors are there (such as the red of Fei Fei’s sports car, or the yellow of a piece of clothing) is slightly dark as a result. Fine detail can be excellent, with some mild softness here and there, but you can see just about every line on Wu-Lin’s constantly sweaty face (it’s a hilarious little thing had me chuckling a bit), as well as every stitch and line on clothing material. Blacks are a bit washed out, as I said, but they show good shadow detail, and there’s only minimal banding to fear.




Audio:

The 5.1 Mandarin DTS-HD MA track is quite pleasing, and would be AMAZING if not for one small feature. A distinct lack of bass. The dialog is crisp, clean and locked up in the center channel, and the mains handle the majority of the action with aplomb. Surrounds get all sorts of crashes, bangs and fist’s smashing through things, while the bass channel gets...well… not a whole lot. I should clarity. There IS a lot of activity in the subs, but it’s just not a LOT of activity. I watched my amps light up quite a bit and could tell there was some mild low end, but the entire bottom end of the sound track felt like it got the life sucked out of it as punches lacked power, crashed the resounding thuds we’ve come to expect, and a distinct feeling of thickness that makes action tracks so fun to listen to. It’s a very competently done track otherwise, but that lack of LFE is noticeable.
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Extras:

• Three Featurettes
• “The Chase”
• “The Final Battle”
• “Training, Stunts and Fighting Highlights”

Final Score: ​

I really do commend Director/Writer/Actor Yue Song for his sophomoric directorial debut. He puts a lot of action into his work and really tries to bring back that old fashioned “low on plot, high on high octane action” mentality of the 80s and 90s that I grew up on. However, he’s still a bit rusty in the directing and writing department, as the rough plot is extremely awkward, the comic book editing is harsh, but the action sequences are a lot of fun. This is one of those movies where you OBVIOUSLY don’t care about what’s going on, but just sit back with a bowl of popcorn and grin as highly athletic men and women beat the ever loving snot out of each other Bruce Lee style.




Technical Specifications:

Starring: Wai-Man Chan, Collin Chou, Yue Song
Directed by: Yue Song
Written by: Yue Song
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: Mandarin: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Mandarin DD 2.0
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 89 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: September 5th, 2017

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• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Solid Rental

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I will add this to my watch list.