Blu-ray Review: BLADE OF KINGS (TWINS EFFECT 2)

US distributor Well Go USA has recently introduced a line of second tier acquisitions for release on home video in the US. The first of this new wave of releases was Donnie Yen's Flashpoint, which eluded me, but this second release marks the international Blu-ray debut of Twins Effect II, here retitled Blade of Kings for the North American market. Surprisingly, this film doesn't have a HK Blu-ray, which means that Well Go is beginning to branch out into older titles, which could potentially be pretty awesome, considering the typical high standards of their discs. Blade of Kings is a very solid disc, however, I'm not entirely certain that the film holds up.

Twins Effect II was a period action piece that was filmed largely as a promotional vehicle for the HK pop group Twins. Twins were a hot pair of pop idols in the early 2000's before their reputations went into freefall following the great Edison Chen cataclysm of 2008. The bulk of the film focuses on Twins, also known as Gillian Chung and Charlene Choi, however, to sweeten the pot, the producers brought in Daniel Wu, Jaycee Chan, Edison Chen, and Fan Bingbing to draw into some viewers who may have been wary of the Twins acting talents. As if that weren't enough, we also get extremely brief, but memorable, appearances from Donnie Yen and Jackie Chan (most likely attempting to bolster his son's film) in a fight sequence.

Given all of the facts, the Blade of Kings kind of sounds like a recipe for failure. A prefab period action film starring a couple of cute singers doesn't exactly inspire confidence. I'm actually of two minds about the film. There is no denying that Blade of Kings is a slight piece of work. There is no meat on these bones, the plot is extremely flimsy, and the acting only just passable. However, on the other hand we have the spectacle of the things, which is actually pretty decent, if you're willing to overlook some typically goofy looking CG, this was 2004 in Hong Kong after all.

As little as I found myself caring about the characters in Blade of Kings, I did find myself rooting for them to get themselves into more trouble. The action sequences aren't half bad, and some of the dodgy CG at least shows a bit of creativity, if not competence. There are enough fight scenes in the film to forgive some of the less than stellar performances, which actually managed to string me along to the end without too much pain. One thing you can't say about Blade of Kings is that they didn't at least try to impress.

All that being said, much of my enjoyment derived almost directly from the Blu-ray presentation from Well Go. If I'd watched this on some crappy Tai Seng DVD, I can pretty much guarantee you that this review wouldn't be anywhere near as positive. Directors Patrick Leung and Cory Yuen each used their skills to make this film as flashy and candy colored as it needed to be to counteract the plot's deficiencies. The film looks remarkable, and the sound is also very impressive, but I'll save that for later.

Blade of Kings is a passable little period martial arts film. This wouldn't be something I'd show to a newb, but for an old hand, there is some nostalgiac satisfaction to be had. A lot of the humorous elements in the film took me back to early '90s Hong Kong features, and it was a warm, fuzzy feeling. Check it out if you like this kind of thing, but if you do choose to watch it, definitely spring for the Blu-ray, it's pretty fantastic.

The Disc:

This is Blade of Kings' Blu-ray debut and the thing look surprisingly good. The transfer looks very passable and does not appear to be an upconvert as far as I can tell, which is the bane of the Hong Kong Blu-ray market. The most impressive part of the disc is the explosive color palette. This disc is bursting with color, at times to a ridiculous degree, but it helps to sell the action, and I found it to be quite pleasing. There are some strange fluctuations in brightness levels from one scene to another, but perhaps not enough to irk anyone but the pickiest of viewers. The audio track is equally impressive, and does a great job of moving the action around the sound field. Overall, much better than I had expected, a commendable job from Well Go.

There isn't much here to talk about in terms of extras.  A brief behind the scenes featurette gives a Twins eye view of the making of the film, and is mercifully brief. Also included is a music video from Twins musical theme for the film. Nothing really of note.

I'd say rent this one first, but as I mentioned above, if you're going to do that, make sure you rent the Blu-ray, it is worth the upgrade for a fan.