Prisoner of War - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Prisoner of War



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
I’ve always thought that Scott Adkins was born about a decade (ish) too late, as he came in on the tail end of the 90s action craze in the VERY early 2000s. He soon made a name for himself as a martial arts action guy, using his high flying kicks, tricking, and hard as nails physique. But it was only for a few short years before the early 2000s killed off the classic martial arts film. He still has done quite a bit with his time, coming in for major blockbusters like Wolverine, The Expendables II and a few others, but Scott stays very much in his niche as a martial arts action star. Thus he’s sort of relegated to B movies and foreign films to get his kicks in.

Directed by long time character actor Louis Mandylor, and penned from a story by Scott Adkins himself, Prisoner of War hearkens back to a time long ago when war films by established martial arts/action stars were a big thing. Think Cannon films if it was made in 2010 is the vibe I get off of it. Scott Adkins plays British Wing Commander James Wright, a POW in the infamous Batan region during World War II who is captured by the Japanese in a hidden POW camp. There, under the watchful eye of Col. Benjiro Ito (Peter Shinkoda), James makes his new home.

Set up to murdered as a kick toy for Col. Ito’s men, the British officer unleashes his Japanese trained Karate skills on the men, turning them into cannon fodder. Intrigued by the westerner’s ability to fight like they do, Ito keeps James alive for the time being. But while Ito may be content with keeping James around for entertainment purposes, the British pilot uses the combined might of the remaining prisoners to figure out a way off the island, and let the Americans know that there is a POW camp just off their front bow.

I’m going to give it to you straight. Prisoner of War is not a great film. It’s not even a good film really. Rather this is 100% old school pulp action movie with set in World War II. Similar to the vein of Invasion USA, Missing in Action, or various other 80s exploitation films, Prisoner of War is a male power fantasy pushed to its max. Filled with martial arts action, gun play, and one of those narratives that makes no sense if you actually look at it closely, Prisoner of War is nothing but good old fashioned pulp fiction. It’s not good, it’s not great, but it’s fun if you’re looking for a fun chop sockey film with all the trimmings.




Rating:

Rated R for strong violence and some language.





Video:

The film is presented via Well Go USA with a 2.39:1 AVC encode that that looks quite solid. Like usual, I can’t find any real information on the filming style from IMDB, but I noticed an Arri Alexa logo during the credits, so I can only guess that it featured some sort of Arri Alexa cameras. That being said, this looks really good, with nice clarity and strong detail levels. The film has a mostly natural look, with a little bit of that brown and green grading to give it the typical WWII feel that has become popular. I did notice some mild banding and crush in the night time escape scene, but overall this is artifact free. Very solid all the way around.









Audio:

Despite being labeled English, the film’s singular 5.1 DTS-HD Ma audio track is a MOSTLY English experience with a good bit of Japanese thrown in for good measure. The track gets some great surround usage with all the battles and fisticuffs, and the bass is actually really impressive for the most part. There’s one scene right around the 13 minute mark where James is about to get beheaded that puts out a freaking low frequency sine wave level pulse for about 10 seconds that was causing my twin SVS-PB3000 subs to start quaking like crazy (It actually hit at a direct sympathetic pulse to the back of my TV, causing it to vibrate so loud I thought there locusts in the room). Vocals are clean and clear as expected, and directionality is solid for things like the planes roaring overhead.









Extras:

• Theatrical Trailer
• Well Go USA Previews

Final Score:

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Prisoner of War hit all the right beats for this old school action fan. Is it great? HAHAAHAHA!! Nah, this is almost Cannon level of quality, and it’s not AS fun, but still a good martial arts film with a slight twist. There’s nothing to surprise you, nothing to be shocked at, but it’s got some fun fights and has been way better of a watch over the last few movies that he’s made. The Blu-ray from Well Go USA looks and sounds solid, and of course the very anemic extras that we’ve all come to expect. Fun watch, worth a decent rental at least.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Scott Adkins, Peter Shinkoda, Gabbie Garcia, Michael Copon, Donal Cerrone
Directed by: Louis Mandylor
Written by: Scott Adkins, Marc Clebanoff
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DD 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, French
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: R
Runtime: 113 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: November 11th, 2025

Recommendation: Fun Rental

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