The Prodigal Son (1983, Fox DTS version)
Picture: B- Sound: C+
Extras: D Film: B-
By the time the 1980’s
came about the Martial Art/Kung Fu movement was nearly dead in terms of
originality and very few films during that time period have lasted over the
years due to being very forgettable in just about every aspect. However, as action films turned more into
special effects, some of the better films were still being shot in China that incorporated all the old school methods of
fighting.
1983’s The Prodigal Son is said to be director
Sammo Hung’s crowning achievement combining all the fun elements of cinema
together for a great story, lots of action, comedy, and anything else along the
way. The film works well, even after all
these years, which is something to say since most films of this nature date
very poorly.
Our story focuses on a
spoiled kung fu champion, who does not even realize that his own father pays
off his opponents, until one particular opponent refuses to lose to the ways of
this young scoundrel (played by Yuen Biao).
His new match (Lam Ching-ying) proves just how sad the fighter is as he
is beaten easily. Upon his defeat he
asks the new champ to train him so that he can really become a great
fighter. The new champ is not quick to
train him, but a series of events lead to them pairing up with many other
adrenaline rush sequences all on the way as a few surprises come about.
Fox has issued this film
to DVD in with some of their other Kung Fu movies, all of which are being remastered
and with the inclusion of DTS for a second audio option to a 5.1 Dolby Digital
mix. The film also contains both the
English 5.1 mix and the Cantonese 5.1, but out of all the titles, for some
reason the mix on this film is messed up really bad! The DTS mix brings it out even more, but the
film is unbalanced and dialogue comes out the front left as if that channel is
acting like the center speaker, this becomes quite annoying and makes the film
almost impossible to watch this way because all the action and dialogue is
off.
As far as the transfer
goes, the film is presented in its scope 2.35 x 1 ratio with an anamorphically
enhanced transfer, and while the film shows some age, it still looks good and
demonstrates just why scope can look so good for staging fight scenes of this
nature. The biggest drawback is the lack
of detail from time to time and colors seem to shift or become muted way too
often. The film should have a much brighter color scheme and not have the softness in the darker areas of
the print, such as blacks or other dark colors.
The film contains no
extras, but is a good recommendation to fans of the genre, unfortunately with
this audio mix problem it makes it hard to push on someone since it becomes
such a distraction. This is a mistake
that even the most unaware person can pick up on and realize that something is
wrong with the mix. Hopefully for future
releases this will be taken care of.
- Nate Goss
