Bloody Ties (DTS/Tartan)
Picture:
B- Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C+
Korea
continues to have the most interesting and vibrant of all the Asian cinema
centers, with even a lesser Gangster genre effort like Ho Choi’s Bloody Ties (2006, aka Bloody Tie and
Sasaeng gyeoldan) being more watchable than works in the genre from just about
anywhere else. The ideas and situations
are wearing thin, even for Martin Scorsese, who’s The Departed was a remake.
Though this film is not as complicated as Scorsese’s blockbuster hit, it
does have revenge elements as a cop decides to avenge his partner and all hell
breaks loose.
Though
the film could have been more graphic, the weak screenplay and half-hearted
attempts at comedy do not help what could have been a great film if it had all
just been thought out properly. Instead,
we get fancy camerawork trying to cover up for the same old story and though
the cast is not bad, nothing stands out and it ultimately gets lost in its
clichés.
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image is consistent, on the clear side and
sports nice color despite the genre and how dark many scenes are. Sometimes, Hyun-jae Oh’s cinematography saves
the film form being worse, but uses of things like the split screen are
desperate. The DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1
mixes are also weak and the surrounds cannot make up for the lack of fidelity
or good soundfield throughout. The only
extras are the trailers for this and five other Tartan DVDs and a short making
of featurette.
- Nicholas Sheffo
