Alex
03-05-2008, 01:38 AM
I figured I'd do them both in one shot since they're both on the same new BCI/Rarescope disc
Shaolin Vs Taichi - started off with this one as I've seen (vs Ninja) before. It was honestly a bit of a disappointment most of the way through, not really that much fighting at all which is kinda weird since these mainland cheapies are usually action packed. In fact I was wondering why Rarescope bothered at all, until the final fight. The choreography throughout was ok up to this point, pretty decent but nothing special, but then for your patience you are treated to an excellent ending where our two heroes take on the main villain. The real standout of this lengthy sequence is an incredible display of mantis fist vs drunken pole - it's relatively short but what a beauty. Hard hitting, acrobatic, creative in choreography, really well shot, pretty much exactly why I love this stuff to begin with. Others might disagree, but those few short minutes made the whole preceeding 80 minutes worth while.
As usual with Rarescope the print is in fairly poor shape, but watchable. There seem to be a few frames missing here and there, scratches are abundant and general wear and tear is apparent. Still, considering this isn't exactly Citizen Kane and the action seems to be intact I'm not complaining.
Shaolin vs Ninja - only watched a few minutes to check the quality, and while it's generally pretty poor it is widescreen which makes a major improvement over the absolutely horrendous pan/scan version of this I've seen prior. The movie itself was pretty great as I remember from past viewings, so I'm looking forward to watching the whole thing as opposed to the roughly 60% of the screen I was able to see before.
Shaolin Vs Taichi - started off with this one as I've seen (vs Ninja) before. It was honestly a bit of a disappointment most of the way through, not really that much fighting at all which is kinda weird since these mainland cheapies are usually action packed. In fact I was wondering why Rarescope bothered at all, until the final fight. The choreography throughout was ok up to this point, pretty decent but nothing special, but then for your patience you are treated to an excellent ending where our two heroes take on the main villain. The real standout of this lengthy sequence is an incredible display of mantis fist vs drunken pole - it's relatively short but what a beauty. Hard hitting, acrobatic, creative in choreography, really well shot, pretty much exactly why I love this stuff to begin with. Others might disagree, but those few short minutes made the whole preceeding 80 minutes worth while.
As usual with Rarescope the print is in fairly poor shape, but watchable. There seem to be a few frames missing here and there, scratches are abundant and general wear and tear is apparent. Still, considering this isn't exactly Citizen Kane and the action seems to be intact I'm not complaining.
Shaolin vs Ninja - only watched a few minutes to check the quality, and while it's generally pretty poor it is widescreen which makes a major improvement over the absolutely horrendous pan/scan version of this I've seen prior. The movie itself was pretty great as I remember from past viewings, so I'm looking forward to watching the whole thing as opposed to the roughly 60% of the screen I was able to see before.