Blu-Ray Thoughts 7-5-2019

I got a copy of John Woo’s Heroes Shed No Tears (HSNT). It was the film before his breakout hit A Better Tomorrow. Heroes Shed No Tears is not terrible but having seen it (about half of it before I lost interest), I understand why A Better Tomorrow was his break out film. I might loan HSNT later to a friend to get another opinion. I might try it again in a few months but I liked the article/booklet about the film.

Double Impact is as good as I remembered. Jean Claude Van Damme plays identical twins but they have different enough hairstyles so it is obvious which twin is which. There was more gun action than usual for a Van Damme movie. It might be one of Van Damme’s best films. The action is good, the supporting cast is decent and it was good to see Bolo Young as a henchman. There was a scene where Alex (Van Damme) slaps his girlfriend and even though he was drunk, I don’t remember him apologizing later.  I think that scene would be done differently today.

There are no truth in advertising laws on made for video movie or nobody enforces them if there are. Escape Plan the Extractors features Dave Bautista prominently on the cover but he is missing for large portions of the film. Curtis 50 Cent Jackson is barely in the movie and he is prominently featured on the cover. Max Zhang, from Ip Man 3 and Master Z Ip Man Legacy, probably has more screen time than both of them but he is good in his role. I feel like I got less Bautista and Jackson than promised.  Other than that, the film is above average for its genre.

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