Batman: Soul of the Dragon - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Batman: Soul of the Dragon



Movie:
4K Video:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
The whole Elseworlds series that the DCAU has dabbled with the last few years has been entertaining, if usually only middlingly so. Stories are usually taken from the Elseworlds comics and adapted for animated video, but Soul of the Dragon is actually an original story, not taken from any comics (well, except for the characters and the general premise). It’s a sly little tale that feels a lot like 1970s James Bond meets Batman, and one of the more entertaining Elseworlds stories they’ve done in recent times. The last act suffers a bit from being a bit TOOOOO cheesy, but all in all it’s a highly entertaining side romp from the typical Batman and Justice League tales that DCAU uses as their bread and butter stories.

The story uses past and present to tell the story, with the audience being introduced to Bruce Wayne (David Giuntoli) and Richard Dragon (Mark Dracascos) in the first few minutes of the film. Bruce is setting up shop as a swanky club owner in Gotham where he dons the cap of the Batman, while Richard Dragon is a high flying super spy. Richard comes to Bruce with news that a mysterious “gate” has been stolen and he needs Bruce’s help to get it back.

In cuts the flashbacks, as we see where Bruce and Dragon first started their friendship. Years past they were once students to a powerful monk (James Hong) who trained Bruce and 6 other students in the ways of spiritualism and martial arts. However, one of the students betrayed his brethren and Sensei, opening up the mysterious gate that Sensei kept hidden away, and almost unleashing a serpent demon named the Great Naga on Earth. Fast forward a few years and we see why Richard Dragon is so worried about the Gate being stolen. Turns out, it was a snake worshiping cult known as Kobra Cult, and they’re going to use the gate to bring forth the Great Naga once more. Now it’s up to Bruce, Dragon, and the remaining 2 students of their Sensei to stop this cult from bringing forth the apocalypse.

Batman: Soul of the Dragon runs a fine line between serious R rated action movie and sly “wink and nods” to 1970s James Bond action tropes. The funky score keeps things loose and light hearted, and Richard Dragon is DEFINITELY a wink and a nod to the old Bruce Lee 70s films. However, the story itself is rather dark and grim, but the 70s nostalgia vibes do keep that in check. The high flying martial arts action is a blast to watch, as is the introduction of Shiva (Kelly Hu) and Bronze Tiger (Michael Jai White) as a hero. However, the 3rd act start to fall apart just a tad during the battle with the Great Naga. It’s not that the action isn’t fun, nor that the villains are bad. It’s just that the dialog starts to get a bit stilted, and the cheese factors moves from campy nostalgia, to full on cheese for the final 15 minutes. It’s not to say that the movie isn’t entertaining, just that the last 15-20 minutes could have used some fine tuning to make it better.




Rating:

Rated R for some Violence




4K Video: Video:

Soul of the Dragon is pretty much on par with the rest of the modern DCAU films in 4K UHD. It shows modest improvement over it’s 1080p counterpart, but it’s never leaps and bounds better. The visual clarity is generally about the same, with slight improvements in textures and details due to the simplistic nature of the animation. However, the tweaks in HDR colors and black levels makes for a solidly better image than the Blu-ray. The HDR really makes the muted colors pop a good bit more, especially things like red blood, or the golden hues of flame and the greens of the Naga world. Black levels are tangibly better with less color banding (near nonexistent) vs. The obvious banding on the Blu-ray. Overall not a MASSIVE improvement, but the modest upgrades make the choice pretty clear. The 4K UHD is definitely the superior disc.








Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA track (found on both the 4K disc and the Blu-ray) is, again, right on par with other DCAU films of the past. It’s got a lot of oomph and power to it, showing off great surround activity during the battle and solid dialog. It’s never one to reach the pinnacles of greatness, but it most certainly is a very pleasing 5.1 mix, despite the limited budget of the animated film. Bass is deep and punchy, adding a lot of weight to punches, kicks and car chases, and the surrounds are generally rather active with all of the fisticuffs going on, as well as the 70s camp score.







Extras:

• Batman – Raw Groove (New Featurette)– From the explosion of gritty cinema and kung fu to the cultural changes spreading across the U.S., we explore the early '70s and how they inspired Batman: Soul of the Dragon.
• Producer Jim Krieg's Far Out Highlights (New Featurette)– It's an off-the-hook and out-of-sight supercut of one of Producer Jim Krieg's funniest in-character appearances.
• A Sneak Peek at the next DC Universe Movie – An advance look at the next animated film in the popular DC Universe Movies collection, Justice Society: World War II.
• Look Back: Superman: Red Son (Featurette) – Kal-El's rocket fleeing Krypton never reaches Smallville, but instead lands in the Soviet Union, single-handedly shifting the new world order. This is the epic re-imagining of Superman's origin story.
• Look Back: Batman: Gotham By Gaslight (Featurette) – Set against the backdrop of turn of the century Gotham, Batman is involved in a hunt for a criminal who has committed the most heinous acts of murder. This is Batman versus Jack the Ripper!
• From the DC Vault: Batman: The Animated Series, "Day of the Samurai"
• From the DC Vault: Batman: The Animated Series, "Night of the Ninja"

Final Score: ​

Enter the Batman would be the most accurate way to describe the 83 minute Elseworlds tale, and I thoroughly enjoyed the nostalgic camp that comes with the movie. The action is definitely R-rated, but barely so in reality. Had the blood been edited out of the film it would have been an easy PG-13, so don’t go in thinking it’s going to be a shockingly brutal film. Batman sadly plays a bit of a back seat to the rest of the characters in the film, but he’s in it enough to make it interesting. Warner’s 4K UHD disc looks and sounds great, and the extras are surprisingly robust. Definitely worth checking out if you’ve enjoyed the previous DCAU films so far.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: James Hong, Mark Dracascos, Kelly Hu, Michael Jai White, Eric Bauza, Jamie Chung
Directed by: Sam Liu
Written by: Jeremy Adams
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 HEVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Spanish DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Warner Brothers
Rated: R
Runtime: 83 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: January 26th, 2021

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. This one looks interesting.. Will check it out.