Search - The Blood of Heroes on DVD

Jax C. (Destructa) from SAN JOSE, CA
Reviewed on 2/8/2008...

Not another Mad Max ripoff, this movie is worth seeing. Well-shot (especially the battlegames), good music, and atmospheric. The plot is character-driven, but a single-track ride, and achieves near-elegance in its simplicity. The filmmakers took the material seriously, and it comes off unpretentious and earnest.

1 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.

"Play hard, you'll forget the fear. "

cookieman108 | Inside the jar... | 10/06/2003

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I was glad to see this movie finally get released on DVD. My friends and I saw this back when it came out in theaters, and it worked well for what it was, a movie about a post apocalyptic sport where the goal is to put a dog skull on an opposing teams' post starring Rutger Hauer? We were so there. And we weren't disappointed.



Rutger Hauer is Sallow, a once great player in the sport, made a mistake of getting too close to a woman outside his class, and is now reduced to playing matches outside of the system, in the rugged, barren, waste world. His team of 'juggers' consists of five people, including himself. There's Young Gar (Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio), Mbulu (Delroy Lindo), Big Cimber (Anna Katerina), and Dog Boy (Justin Monjo). Each player has his or her own responsibilities, but the main goal is to protect the runner, as that is the player that handles the dog skull, and will ultimately decide the outcome of the game based on his/her ability to place the skull on the opposing team's post. The sport is quite brutal, leading to severe injuries, and, sometimes, even death. No penalties, no rules, anything goes. Sallow and his group travel from town to town, challenging the home team, squeaking out a living. The ultimate goal is to win enough games for the honor to petition the league to compete in the league, opening up a world unknown to many as league players are treated very well. Joan Chen plays Kidda, a wannabe runner who gets into Sallow's clan when Dog Boy is injured. Poor little Dog Boy...anyway, as she learns the ropes, Sallow's team advances, and finally collects enough dog skulls (victories) to petition the league. What happens then? Watch and find out...



I enjoyed this movie, even though it's a familiar story. The game, the players, the weapons, it was all very well thought out and the characters motivations seem simple at first become more complicated. The end game will have you rooting for the underdog, even if you don't care for the movie itself. I would have liked to given this movie another star, but I found the DVD presentation to be somewhat lacking. Where's the clarity? The most noticeable problems are with the darker scenes. The definition was very poor, providing a muddled at best picture. I am surprised Lions Gate couldn't find a better copy to put on DVD. And since I saw this in the theaters, I know it was originally presented in wide screen, but not here. And the sound is pretty poor. At least you can view the subtitles, to see what is being said, but why should you have to? A very disappointing release of a great movie."

Poor version of a great movie

whiteshoes | Lorton Va. | 01/07/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"As commented on before this is a very poor quality copy of a great movie, it appears as though someone made the dvd off an old worn out VHS copy that was used as a door stop for 10yrs. The picture is very grainy and washed out and the sound is about 1/2 the volume of other movies. As a matter of fact i have a very old VHS copy of this movie i copied from hbo about 15yrs ago and it still looks better than this one. Thanks to Amazon as always for even having the movie available."

Great movie, not so great DVD version

Runar Magnusson | Reykjavik, Iceland | 11/27/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I love Salute of the Jugger (a.k.a. Blood of Heroes). This movie is a classic. It is one of the very few worth while, sci-fi, bleak future, bloodsport movies. For fans of post-apocalyptic movies and even for cyberpunk genre fans this movie is a must-see.



Unfortunately the DVD version is not very good. At least 9 minutes have been cut from the TV version of the movie. (Warning, spoiler ahead) I fast forwarded through the TV version I have on tape once I had finished watching the DVD version and for one, the ENTIRE post-showdown ending of the original movie is gone, cut in favor of an over-simplified ending that makes it look like Rutger Hauer's character, Sallow, actually came out ahead in stead of leading his team to victory only to be himself banished back to the wastes.



As for my rating, the movie itself gets five stars.

The DVD version loses:

1 star for for crappy vocals. The audio (effects and music) wasn't bad over all, just the vocals in too many places.

1/2 star for not being in wide screen. Not having seen it in theaters I've only ever seen it in full screen, so I'm not that annoyed by the film being full-screen only.

1 star for a completely dumbed down and quite frankly, stupid version of the ending.

The DVD version gains:

1/2 star for simply bringing this great movie out on DVD!!!

Net rating:

3 stars"