My only prior experience with the work of director Chang-hwa Jeong came via 1972’s cult classic King Boxer, AKA Five Fingers of Death. Though I felt that became a spotty movie, I figured I’d give the filmmaker another look with 1977’s The Double Crossers.

As logic would dictate, Detective Lung (Shin Il-ryong) investigates the murder of his father. Along the way, he discovers both his parents once worked inside a smuggling ring.

A man named Wang (Chao Hsiung) acts as that organization’s leader and he authorized the hit on Lung’s father. In search of revenge, Lung quits the police force and partners with smuggler Chang (Chan Sing) to go after Wang.

Despite genre expectations, Crossers doesn’t really deliver a martial arts extravaganza. Instead, it becomes much of a police thriller.

Which seems fine, except Crossers suffers from some problematic filmmaking choices. Too much of the film sputters when it needs to click.

This becomes an issue literally from the start. When the movie launches, we find ourselves stuck in a long and stagnant exposition scene in which we must just listen to an audio tape explain plot points.

Lazy to an extreme, this may give us the information we need to set up the story but it becomes poor filmmaking. A better-executed flick would deliver the required content in a more dynamic way and not bore the audience right out of the gate.

Similar inconsistency bogs down Crossers along the way. Though the basic plot shows promise, the movie meanders and lacks coherence too much of the time.

This turns problematic because Crossers turns genuinely awkward when it attempts actual interpersonal drama. Take the scenes between Lung and hotel employee Renee.

These intend to add depth to the roles. Instead, they feel contrived and unconvincing.

Crossers also struggles to integrate action in a logical manner. The film occasionally detours clumsily to toss some fights our way, but these sequences too often feel out of place.

Every once in a while, Crossers does threaten to spring to life. It also concludes with a vibrant finale.

However, viewers encounter rough sledding to get to that point. Awkwardly constructed and edited, Crossers becomes a chore to watch too much of the time.

The Double Crossers appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Overall the movie looked positive.

In general, the movie came with reasonably precise sharpness. Occasional slight soft shots materialized in wider interiors but the majority of the flick seemed well-rendered.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects emerged, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt natural, and print flaws remained absent.

Crossers opted for a fairly natural palette. The hues felt vibrant and full.

Blacks seemed pretty deep and dense, while shadows displayed fine clarity. Overall, this became a more than satisfying presentation.

Don’t expect much from the iffy LPCM monaural soundtrack of Crossers. Speech suffered from a fair amount of edginess and never seemed especially natural, though the lines remained intelligible.

Neither music nor effects boasted much range, and they turned fairly shrill at times. Some mild background hum manifested through the film. I’ve heard worse 1970s Asian soundtracks, but this one nonetheless felt subpar.

Note that in addition to the original Mandarin audio, the Blu-ray comes with an English dub. I sampled some of it and found it predictably awful in terms of acting quality.

The disc includes both the movie’s Hong Kong theatrical cut (1:39:36) as well as an Export Version (1:37:44). How did the two compare?

Most of the differences stem from small trims made throughout the film. However, the Export Version alters dialogue and cuts off the ending to conclude on a happier note.

That becomes the most significant alteration, and a silly one. While fans will be happy to get both versions, the Hong Kong cut remains the superior one.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we find two audio commentaries. Both accompany the Hong Kong cut.

For the first track, we hear from film historian Frank Djeng. He provides a running, screen-specific look at genre domains and Asian cinema, story/characters, cast and crew, sets and locations, and other production notes.

Always an enthusiastic commentator, Djeng’s chat starts off well. However, he starts to fade before too long.

Djeng still provides some good information the rest of the way. Nonetheless, he goes quiet a little too often and that means we get a spotty track.

When we head to the second commentary, we locate a chat with film historians Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. Both sit together for a running, screen-specific discussion of basically the same topics Djeng discusses.

That means some redundant content but not as much as one might expect, especially because they relate their personal experiences a lot of the time. They also make the track move at a rapid pace and boast so much energy that this becomes a fun and informative chat.

A crime thriller at its heart, The Double Crossers boasts the bones of an exciting tale. Unfortunately, it squanders its potential for too much of its running time and falters until it gets to its well-executed action finale. The Blu-ray comes with very good picture, iffy audio and a few good bonus features. Crossers never comes together in a satisfying manner.