The Adventurers appears in an aspect ratio of on this Blu-ray Disc. Though a little erratic at times, this usually turned into a solid image.
For the most part, sharpness worked fine. Some shots seemed a little loose, but overall definition satisfied.
No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain seemed reasonably natural, and I witnessed no source defects.
Colors leaned natural, albeit with a slightly pale side. Even though the hues could’ve seemed more robust, they still appeared more than adequate.
Blacks felt largely deep, while low-light shots offered appealing delineation. Nothing here dazzled but the visuals appeared pretty positive.
The Blu-ray comes with two separate LPCM stereo options – one “restored”, one “unrestored” – as well as a DTS-HD MA 5.1 presentation. I flipped among the options as I watched. What differences did I hear between restored and unrestored “stereo”?
First off, neither showed any indications of actual discrete two-channel audio. Both felt entirely monaural, though not always centered, as the track could lean left or right at times.
Still, if the viewer wanted to hear directional information, it didn’t appear during the “stereo” tracks. Both showed identical “imaging”.
However, quality differed, as each came with pros and cons. “Unrestored” tended to sound flat and lifeless, but it also lacked distortion.
“Restored” seemed brighter and more vibrant. However, it suffered from a lot of edginess to speech and roughness that impacted it in other ways.
I found it tough to recommend one over the other. While “restored” showed greater dynamic range, all that distortion turned into a drag. Whichever the viewer chooses, problems will ensue.
How did the 5.1 mix fare? Not really any better, unfortunately, as it suffered from its own issues.
Once again, distortion became a problem. Like “restored”, the 5.1 track displayed edgy speech, rough effects and shrill music.
If anything, these factors seemed exacerbated because the use of multiple channels meant the flawed elements became even more obvious. Spread the issues with “restored” to all five speakers and we end up with the same concerns magnified.
Whoever mastered the 5.1 mix did so at a painfully loud level, and even when I reduced the volume on my receiver, it still felt like it pushed the envelope. Essentially it sounded like someone used the “restored” stems and cranked them to “11”.
The 5.1 track did use the various channels actively, but not in a smooth and natural manner. Instead, information popped up in vaguely logical spots but not in a way that made the elements seem realistic.
Granted, some terrible foley work didn’t help, but even without that, I thought the soundscape placed components in various spots willy-nilly. Though these choices seemed vaguely accurate, the end result gave us a soundfield that failed to involve the viewer in the action.
Indeed, the decisions made the movie less intriguing, mainly because the 5.1 felt so phony and contrived. It could’ve been worse, but it sure didn’t satisfy.
That said, none of the three audio choices worked. I’d probably pick “unrestored” as the best option just because it lacked the persistent roughness of the other two, but regard that as a lukewarm “recommendation” at best.
A few extras flesh out the disc, and we get an audio commentary from film critic David West. He delivers a running, screen-specific discussion of story/characters, genre domains, cast and crew, production notes, and his thoughts about the movie.
While West often gives us useful details, he also tends to stick with “glorified IMDB profile” a lot of the time. That doesn’t make this a bad track, but it focuses more on cast/crew histories than I’d like.
Though West does note that it seems tough to find much concrete info about the shoot, which seems weird given that Adventurers came out only 30 years ago and presumably many of the folks involved remain alive. I’m sure he tried his best to locate production details, but it remains perplexing that these facts appear elusive.
With Two Adventurers, we find a 21-minute, 26-second featurette. It brings notes from Asian Cinema Journal editor Gary Bettinson.
The program covers Hong Kong cinema in general and the careers of director Ringo Lam and actor Andy Lau. Bettinson delivers a succinct overview.
Writing for the Dark-Faced God goes for 14 minutes, 26 seconds. It provides an archival interview with screenwriter Sandy Shaw.
She discusses aspects of her career as well as her work on Adventurers. Shaw offers some useful details.
By the way, although the package’s description of this as an “archival” interview seems to imply “old”, the high quality of the visuals indicates it can’t have been shot too long ago.
The disc concludes with a trailer.
As a tale of revenge, The Adventurers lacks real passion. Oh, it makes its lead seem obsessed, but the movie’s lackluster pacing ensures the drama never really takes flight. The Blu-ray comes with fairly positive visuals, a variety of problematic audio options, and a handful of informative supplements. Nothing about Adventurers makes it a genuinely bad movie, but it also fails to turn into anything memorable.
