HOME VIDEO: ‘Flash Point,’ ‘Pistol Whipped,’ Yul Brynner

Dragon Dynasty’s “Two-Disc Ultimate Edition” DVD release of FLASH POINT tops the list of new martial arts and related action and adventure films hitting stores this week. Donnie Yen stars as Det. Sgt. Ma Jun, a ruthless and efficient member of the Serious Crimes Unit intent on destroying three Vietnamese gang brothers played by Collin Chou, Ray Lui and Xing Yu. When the identity of his undercover partner, Wilson (Louis Koo), is revealed, Jun fights to protect him and put the gang out of business.

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The film features mixed martial arts choreography and brutal screen fighting from action director Donnie Yen. FLASH POINT has been well received by fans at film festivals and overseas where it performed well at Hong Kong’s box office.

Bonus features on the disc include audio commentary from Bey Logan, deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes gallery, “Collateral Damage: The Making of FLASH POINT,” “FLASH POINT Explored,” “Perpetual Motion,” The Ultimate Fighters,” “Gladiators,” “MMA on Display,” a promotional gallery, interview with Donnie Yen, and trailers.

Tech specs include an 88-minute running time, widescreen presentation, DTS and Dolby 5.1 Cantonese audio, English Dolby 5.1 audio, Spanish and English subtitles, and closed captioning.

Sony Pictures drags out yet another Steven Seagal flick with the release of PISTOL WHIPPED. Seagal has been making two to three action movies a year for some time now and almost none of them are worth even a rental by anyone other than his dwindling diehard fanbase. Judging from the lousy cover art, this one doesn’t look any more promising. The hands look like someone else’s, which is a reminder of the doubling and over-dubbing that has come to define Seagal as a distracted action star with no heart for his work. It’s time for him to retire from the movie business and stick with his blues.

Another surefire disaster is IN THE NAME OF THE KING where Uwe Boll, the filmmaker film geeks love to hate, tries to turn the video game “Dungeon Siege,” into a low-budget LORD OF THE RINGS. The film is noteworthy for featuring the wire workings of master action director Ching Siu-tung. It also stars a lot of great screen talents including action star Jason Statham, Burt Reynolds, Ron Perlman, Claire Forlani, Leelee Sobieski, Ray Liotta, and John Rhys-Davies. Boll must be throwing a lot of money at these stars for them to whore themselves out. I actually thought the trailers looked decent but widespread reviews online have confirmed that this is nothing more than business as usual for the Bollmeister.

CHAOS is another Jason Statham action film out this week that comes closer to what fans might expect from the star of THE TRANSPORTER. Statham plays a police officer who ends up pitted against his old partner, played by Wesley Snipes. Lionsgate’s DVD comes with an audio commentary from director Tony Giglio, a filmmaker who oddly went from helming SOCCER DOG to the gory thriller TIMBER FALLS.

Gunplay fans will want to take note of HITMAN, the stylish adaptation of the popular video game series starring Timophy Olyphant as Agent 47, a cold-hearted gun-for-hire. The film has been well received, a familiar sentiment being that it exceeded generally modest expectations for a video game adaptation. Director Xavier Gans previously worked as an assistant director on MAXIMUM RISK and DOUBLE TEAM. Although the latter was probably one of Tsui Hark’s worst films, it couldn’t have hurt Gans’ development as a filmmaker to see one of Hong Kong’s best filmmakers in action. 20th Century Fox offers standard, unrated and unrated special editions.

Fans of period action have a number of treats to check out. BEOWULF arrives on DVD and Blu-ray from Paramount Pictures. It features the writing of sci-fi author Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary who did a great job of adapting the “Silent Hill” video game series to the big screen for director Christophe Gans. The film is based on a famous Old English poem where the hero Beowulf is sent to battle the monster Grendal, who is terrorizing a Danish community. He then has to contend with Grendal’s mother. The film looks much better than the goofy 1999 screen adaptation starring Christopher Lambert. The film also features stunt work from familiar folks including J.J. Perry, the action coordinator of a couple of Isaac Florentine’s films, and Jesse Johnson, the director of PIT FIGHTER.

Reaching back into their archives, MGM/UA unearths a couple Yul Brynner classics. In TARAS BULBA (1962), Brynner is a 16th-century Cossack warlord who battles Polish invaders. Tony Curtis co-stars as his son. The film is described as an epic containing spectacular battle scenes and nonstop action. Brynner also stars in KINGS OF THE SUN (1963) as a Native American tribal leader battling a rival Mayan tribe.

Mill Creek Entertainment presents THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, the classic TV series that originally ran from 1955-1960 and starred Richard Greene as the swashbuckling bandit from Sherwood Forest. I’ve actually seen some of these episodes online and they’re not half bad. The box set includes over 16 hours on three DVDs. With a list price of $14.98, that’s a pretty good deal.

There isn’t much out internationally. In Hong Kong, Kam & Ronson is releasing FATAL MOVE, an actioner from director Dennis Law that stars Sammo Hung, Simon Yam and Wu Jing. It’s something of a reunion for these stars who previously worked together with Donnie Yen on KILL ZONE. Unfortunately, the film has not generated the same level of buzz or praise.

Joy Sales releases the mondo classic SEVENTH CURSE, starring Maggie Cheung and Chow Yun-fat. This is one of Hong Kong’s more notorious splatter flicks where a HK cop travels to Thailand and gets mixed up with a witch doctor and black magic while trying to rescue a sacrificial victim.