So you can break bricks with your bare hands and fight off ten attackers at once, the real question is: Can you dunk?
What They Say:
Orphaned from birth, Fang Shijie is raised in a martial arts school and becomes an exceptional master in kung fu. When he is expelled for getting into a fight and destroying a night club, he quickly learns that lightning fast reflexes are good for more than just fighting. He agrees to play for a college basketball team in hopes of finding his long-lost family. After a dazzling display of backboard-breaking slam dunks, alley-oops and gravity-defying shots, he emerges as the team’s new star player. However, when faced with a race to the finals against a team of legendary bullies, he soon discovers that skill alone will not bring home the gold.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio options for this release include both an English dub as well as the original Mandarin language and both languages are available with 2.0 and 5.1 options. For the purpose of this review the Mandarin 5.1 track was used and it proved to be a very solid track free of distortions or dropouts. The dialogue is split among front 3 speakers which provides a rich depth and when combined with the rear speakers, which are primarily used for background effects and the soundtrack to sell the presentation which really helps set the tone and mood of the action on screen.
Video:
Originally produced in 2008 the video here is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. There are a few flaws with the presentation as there is a level of noise not quite covered up by the film grain as well as some dot crawl, aliasing, a bit of color bleed with strong red, some after images in a few places and some print pops that occur with the film used to shoot movies. For the most part these issues are on the minor side as both bright and dark colors come across solidly for all but bright red and most of the action is smooth in its presentation.
Packaging:
The DVD is packaged in a standard case that has little raised pieces of plastic that keep the DVD closer to the top of the hub and doesn’t allow for it to nestle as deeply into the DVD groove as with many other cases. The front cover uses a CGI created image that comes across really well mixing a dramatic shot of Fang Shijie staring intently straight ahead in his basketball uniform as he is holding a basketball straight armed behind him that is bursting in purple and white energy effects against a dramatic background. He appears to be standing in a lower ground area as there is a rocky environment behind him that has a few basket ball backboards and hoops at the top of the rock wall and a modern city can be seen in the background. Also present are some very menacing looking storm clouds complete with some lightning effect causing some of the clouds in the center to be a lighter color as the bolts run through them. The title itself is written in the color of these lighter clouds and has lightning bolts streaking through it. The image is a wrap around one as the image carries over the spine to the back. The back has an image of Fang in mid jump, four stills, the copy and bonus material as well as all the technical specs over the same environment carryover image as the front cover. The DVD uses an image of the rocky wall, city and three basketball backboards against the lightning lit clouds from the front cover. Like a number of their other DVD releases Well Go also uses a slipcover for this release that features the title raised and it is printed with a slick font that catches the eye.
Menu:
The main menu uses the background rocky raised ground with the basketball hoops and city image from the front cover but replaces the lightning filled sky with different moments from the feature that flow from one to another. The Kung Fu Dunk logo is present in the center right and is animated so the lightning effect ebbs and flows to give life to the title and the occasional bolt of lightning shoots across the main screen as well. Additionally some purple effects that look like they come from the type of lightning generating toys one sees in stores are present at various places along the screen boarder. The scene select screen uses the same background image as the main menu minus the effects but the clouds return and images representing the chapter stops are present over them four at a time instead. The set up screen also uses the same background but has an image of Fang and Wang Li standing next to each other and is put as if they are giants looming over the city on the right side as the selectable language options are listed horizontally on the left. The extras menu again uses the now familiar background but uses an image of Fang and his crush Lili from the film at a point where they are training on the court looming over the city in the center left part of the screen while the extra options are on the right stacked horizontally. The highlighted option is indicated by a bright purple lightning line under the current option that changes to a yellow look when selected. The options are quick to recognize changes in selection and there is only the briefest of pauses before implementing the selected choice.
Extras:
The extras on the release are a trailer for the feature, three behind the scenes featurettes showing off some of the different aspects and work that went into parts of the feature as well as an interview with the film’s star Jay Chou.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Fang Shijie hasn’t had an easy life. As a newborn he was abandoned near a basketball court with only a letter asking for someone to care for him and an unusual necklace. His crying wakes the homeless man sleeping near him who feels a connection to the boy and takes him to a martial arts temple the man studied at. The man leaves Fang with his Master and also leaves a book of secrets called Altering Universe that if mastered can allow the user to stop time and even reverse it before vanishing from the boy’s life. Sadly when Fang is a young boy the Master attempting to teach it to him fails and becomes frozen and covered in ice.
The story then advances a few years and Fang is now a young man and in love, though the girl in question doesn’t know it. Life isn’t any easier at the temple as Fang used by the headmaster, Wang Biao, as a punching bag so that Wang can show off for the students and Fang lets him despite being far more gifted. Fang irritates the headmaster by using the iron vest technique which causes the headmaster’s punches to be weak though he still sells Biao’s skill. Biao has told Fang not to use the iron vest in the past during demonstrations and punishes Fang by denying him supper. Fang then goes into one of the local parks in the city to spend the night and has an encounter that will change his life.
To alleviate some boredom Fang throws some cans on the ground into the garbage-from long distance. And older gentleman (Wang Li) who is in the park working on his laptop sees this act and suddenly gets an idea. He challenges the young man to throw a coin into Wang’s mouth as a bet with dinner on the line. When Fang wins he is treated to an unusual dinner at a very high class restaurant after a fashion and Wing explains his plan to Fang. The two will use Fang’s talents at a local casino to win big but events go awry which result in the casino being damaged in a fight. To make matters worse, the next morning the headmaster of the temple is bought off by the headmaster of Fireball University and because of his actions the previous night and the poor light they bring to the temple Fang is expelled and now homeless.
As Fang sits in the park he encounters Wang again and discovers that Wang has devised a new scheme to make use of Fang’s talents. Wang gets Fang enrolled at First University so he can play on the basketball team and uses the catch of Fang playing to try to find his missing parents as a hook to draw in the media. Fang’s initial introduction to the team is a little rough but given his talent the team is willing to bring him on despite the many hours of training they will have to give him in the fundamentals of the game. Fang is initially enamored as he finds the girl he has a crush on, Lily, is the team manager though he soon develops another crush when he discovers the thrill of the dunk. With Fang added to their roster and the return of their star player Xiao Lan this unlikely bottom dwelling team may find themselves shooting to the top of the ranks, but only if they can get past Fireball University whose headmaster and members will try every trick in the book from bribery to violence to keep First University down. Will Fang be able to help his team win and will he have to risk everything to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat? And will Fang find his parents or will he confront the idea what family really means to him?
There is a lot to like in this film though it is a touch inconsistent and sets up a few things which it fails to follow through on. Perhaps the greatest strengths the film have going for them are a strong cast and crew that manage to draw the viewer in and make even the most bizarre or implausible martial arts action on the screen come off as credible. The cast also does a very good job with their characters as their charisma helps to draw people into whichever given scene they happen to be in. The movie is fast paced and avoids a good number of the sports movie clichés which helps cover up for its major flaw in that a number of plot lines are set up but never followed through on. When viewing it is easy to miss most of the hanging threads due to pace but after the film is over the viewer maybe left with a number of “Wait, what about that?” moments that make one feel there is a cutting room floor somewhere with a good number of scenes on it. That the film rises above this as well as the incredibly obvious telegraphing of the sports side of the film ending is testament to the heart that overflows from the story. A more cynical or sports movie by the numbers approach would have left the movie a lot lower in score but all the strengths combine with a sense of humor that is a touch over the top at times and spectacular effects work to leave a product that is greater in its final forms than the individual parts might lead one to believe if viewed separately. In the final analysis what one gets is a film that comes in using a “basketball meets Kung Fu” hook that is then turned to revel that it actually hides a heart of gold feel good story that makes for a very positive film that will please a broad swath of people and would make for an excellent family movie night feature.
In Summary:
Kung Fu Dunk is a fast paced, high energy feature that mixes comedy, basketball, martial arts and just a touch of Globetrotter’s style showmanship that is blended together in the story of a few young men all searching for something. After viewing the film the fact it plays fast and loose with the plot and as such has more holes than a basketball net becomes apparent but this fault is easily outweighed by the amount of heart that the film has present as its key player on the court. It isn’t a deep film but its action, humor and uplifting spirit will allow for it to be quite the audience pleaser and to appeal to a rather sizable number of people and its positive glow leaves it as a winning picture. .
Features:
Mandarin 2.0 Language, Mandarin 5.1 Language, English 2.0 Language, English 5.1 Language, English Subtitles, Jay Chou Interviews, Behind the Scenes, Deleted Scenes, Photo Gallery
Content Grade: B-
Audio Grade: B
Video Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B-
Extras Grade: B
Released By: Well Go USA
Release Date: May 3rd, 2011
MSRP: $24.98
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Samsung 50″ Plasma HDTV, Denon AVR-790 Receiver with 5.1 Sony Surround Sound Speakers, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080.