Search - Opium and the Kung Fu Master [Blu-ray] on Blu-ray

Great Movie, Obvious Upscale of DVD Print, Awful Audio

Ted J. Nemeth | 08/17/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This film has been difficult to find in the past. Not exactly a lost classic, certainly not obscure -given the cast, but I am certainly grateful to Celestial and Jade Tiger for making this fine print available. I have been waiting for someone to transfer some of these classics on to Blu Ray. Celestial bought the rights to DVD release the entire Shaw filmography and the have done a great job. Films that have been available only as awful VHS prints were digitally remastered lovingly, way beyond what I thoght possible.

That said- this has not been mastered from an original film print but instead is an upscaled DVD, mastered as a Blu Ray disc. Anime fans have been getting this shaft for a while, now it looks like martial arts movie fans are the latest victims.

Don't get me wrong, this is a beautiful print, like most Celestial prints, it is not however true HD.

The sound on this disc is poor, I have Celestial DVD's with far better sound quality, I am not sure what the issue was with the audio.

Shaw Brothers fans will have to wait with their fingers crossed hoping someone will be willing to put the effort Celestial did with DVD for true HD Shaw titles.

This disc comes included with a beautiful liner notes booklet, filled with great photos and information.



Movie- 5 Stars

Print- 4 Stars

Audio- 2 Stars

Extras- 4 Stars (beautifl liner notes, interviews etc.)"

WOW

Paul Scott | CENTRAL COAST,, N.S.W. Australia | 03/30/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Excellent film from Shaw Brother.

Fantastic quality on Blu-ray,it looks better than many top Hollywood films.



Ti Lung is magnificent as the hero, great fight sequences.



The standard DVD also is top quality.



Beautifully coloured and in 2.35 CinemaScope(ShawScope)



Recommended Highly

"

Entertaining

monkuboy | Temple City, CA United States | 06/23/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you are looking for a lot of martial arts action that is well choreographed, it's worth spending the money to get this relatively inexpensive blu ray. I'd never heard of this movie until I read the review on bluray.com and since the price was so reasonable on Amazon, I decided to buy it.



The plot is predictable and laughingly melodramatic - my wife and I sat there cracking up at the cheesy acting - but the fight scenes are very well executed. And there are plenty of fight scenes, starting up at the slightest provocation.



The picture quality in blu ray is excellent, especially considering the age of the movie. Sound quality is okay, about as good as you can expect. The sound effects of things like swords clinking against each other are pretty repetitive, just the same effect used over and over no matter what part of the swords hit each other.



If you want a good martial arts action flick and aren't looking for something deep, plus you want good picture quality, this movie would be a good choice."