The Brink - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

The Brink



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
Max (Jin) Zhang has been at the forefront of Asian cinema for the last half a decade or so, starring opposite Donnie Yen in the last Ip Man film. Grabbing a piece of the pie in Escape Plan: The Extractors (actually taking the brunt of the fight scenes in that one as Sylvester Stallone is a bit long in the tooth for hand to hand combat scenes these days), and starring in countless other action films over the years. 2017’s The Brink was actually put on the back burners for a U.S. release for the last couple of years, having been filmed before Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy, Pacific Rim: Uprising and Escape Plan: The Extractors, but it’s worth the wait as The Brink hearkens back to the good old times of the 1980s and 1990s when cops that are “on the edge” were all the rage in cinema. It’s a strange action film that is party Moby Dick, part Lethal Weapon, and home to some rather nifty fight scenes. Even if those fight scenes are broken up by some introspective look at human greed that doesn’t always pan out thematically.

Sai Gau (Max Zhang) is a cop on the edge who has made his fair share of overenthusiastic mistakes in his day. One of them being the memory of killing his ex-partner for a crime, causing him to raise his daughter as Sai Gau’s own until she comes of age (Cecilia So). Butting heads with everyone around him, the rogue cop is on the hunt for a killer by the name of Shing (Shawn Yue, a name I haven’t seen in Chinese cinema for a few years) who has left a trail of bodies behind him. The amusing thing is, Shing might have more of a code of ethics that Sai Gau or anyone else on the force, going after his own mob boss after he’s betrayed in an effort to keep the men under him employed and fed.

However, Shing and Sai Gau are bound to come together again, as Shing’s merciless tactics cause the cop to lose ANOTHER partner. This time to Shing himself. Enraged and completely devoted to the cause, Sai Gau becomes completely obsessed with finding his target, going so far as to think like the criminal and defy his own “by the numbers” boss’s orders in an attempt to get his prey once and for all.

The Brink is part high flying action movie, and part introspective tale of Moby Dick. Sai Gau becomes so obsessed with finding his prey that he’s willing to give up anyone and do anything to make it happen, while the cruel and merciless Shing (despite his cruelty and violence) had only one seeming fault. The desire to protect his men and avenge his betrayal. The 2nd half of the movie has the two slowly switch characters, with Sai Gau slowly finding his moral center, while Shing’s desire to protect and avenge becomes overcome with the greed of taking his boss’s gold for his own.

It’s a solid film, with some great action sequences, but the overall premise is sometimes a bit too meandering and a bit too artsy for its own good. Some of the fights and action sequences are incredibly done, with fantastic underwater shots taken from multiple angles, and great choreography. My only complaint with the actual action stems from the fact that there are a bit too many moving angles and the camera can’t seem to stay in one place for any length of time. A bit more focus on continuous shots and less quick cuts and fast moving angles would have done wonders for the already good action scenes. The predictability of the cop movie is also a slight negative, with too many scenes able to be predicted quite easily. That being said, it’s still fun to see a real ACTION movie come back into Chinese cinema reminiscent of the good old 80s and 90s days of Hong Kong action movies.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

The Brink was supposedly shot with some variation of the Arri Alexa digital cameras and finished at a 2K resolution master for home video, rendering a rather impressive looking Blu-ray. Despite some odd banding that comes up during under water scenes (water is notorious for causing banding as it’s extremely difficult to render properly), the film looks amazing. There’s an almost impressionist look with the various purples and grays that dot the fight scenes, as well as swathes of amber and ash gray that show a muted look to the otherwise vivid colors throughout the film. Fine details are exceptional, ranging from the rough look of Shawn Yue’s face, to the tight mustache and beard that Max Zhang sports throughout the film. Clothing is intimately done, and the black levels are more than pleasing (outside of those dark underwater banding shots).








Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA Cantonese track is a real crowd pleaser as well. There’s a massive amount of surround activity (a really surprising amount I must say) throughout the film, with lots of outdoor action shots, the tight and close fight scenes in the middle of the ocean, as well as a really nifty underwater action scene that showcases the swirling and claustrophobic sensations of water all around the listener. Bass is powerful but judicious in it’s use, not really becoming too over bloated or aggressive. The dialog is strong and clean, but there was one oddity that kept me from giving this a 5/5 rating, and this was that some of the vocals sounded a bit “thin” and had a strange reverb going on. It was subtle, but just odd enough that the vocals sometimes sounded more distant and thin on the top end.






Extras:

• Making Of Featurettes
• International Teaser
• International Trailer A
• International Trailer B
• U.S. Trailer

Final Score: ​

If you’ve watched Hong Kong action movies over the last 30 years, then you’re probably familiar with the basic plot lines going on. A world weary cop who’s willing to break the rules to get his man. A criminal with a conscience willing to do horrible things. Betrayal, brutality, guns, hand to hand combat. Add in a little bit of a moral dilemma dealing with greed and obsession and you have your typical 80s and 90s actioneer. There’s a sense of well worn predictability to The Brink, and while it really doesn’t bring anything new to the table, is a perfectly enjoyable and serviceable action movie that checks off many of the right check boxes for fun. Well Go USA’s Blu-ray is quite appealing as well, with great technical specs, but the usual meager extras. Good for a Fun Watch.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Max Zhang, Shawn Yue, Janice Man, Wu Yue, Tai Po, Cecilia So, Yauaki Kurata
Directed by: Jonathan Li
Written by: Paco Wong
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: Cantonese: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Cantonese DD 2.0
Subtitles: English
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 100 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: August 20th, 2019

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will catch it on a lazy Sunday once available on amazon prime/netflix.