The Film:
SPL AKA Sha Po Lang is a film that prior to receiving a copy for review I had read a lot about on many a DVD forum, with the main concensus being that this is a return to form for some of the main cast members including Sammo Hung Kam-Bo who had disappointed in the poor American Jackie Chan vehicle Around The World In 80 Days and for Simon Yam who I had been disppointed with in Wake Of Death, especially after the fantastic Breaking News and PTU. This was also my first foray into Wilson Yip films having only read about him, yet not having enough interest to purchase one of his movies. So, is Sha Po Lang (or Saat Po Long to give it's original title) a return to form for the aforementiioned actors, or does it leave a sour taste in your mouth, and will it interest me into looking at some more Wilson Yip films?
Well, the story is interesting, and one that Asia has always done so well. It follows one of the most successful crime prevention units of a local police force, that is headed by Senior Detective Chan (Simon Yam), which includes a further three members, all from very different backgrounds and they are not afraid to abuse the laws themselves in order to put the bad guys away. However, Detective Chan wishes to retire early and Detective Ma is ready to take his place, and put things right. Detective Chan has one last goal before he goes into retirement though, and that is to put Po (Sammo Hung Kam-Bo) behind bars. Po is an upcoming underworld figure with an interest in getting his hand in as many as pies as possible, along with his cold-blooded killer sidekick, Jack (Jing-Wu). The story is interesting, yet is bit recycled from previous similar films, however the cinematography and direction in this film, along with some amazing action scenes and a couple of unexpected disturbing scenes involving a car crash and a baby means you will not be disappointed, unless you've listened to the hype to much.
All in all, this is not a return to the form that some of the cast members have been in previously, but is still a cut above your average film. Is it their fault they have been in some absolute classics? Watching this, has also made me seek out Wilson Yip's Juliet In Love from somebody in a classified forum. Well worth a watch, though if you are not a fan of the principle cast, actors or genre, you may want to rent it first.
The DVD:
Video:
Deltamac have provided us with the film anamorphically in it's OAR of 1.78:1 slightly cropped from the OAR of 1.85:1. The picture is nothing short of spectacular and is certainly one of those discs you can get out to show off what your home cinema set up is capable of to your friends. Their are lots of vivid colours throughout the film and they are all crystal clear. A great scene to watch so you can really see how good the picture quality is, is the opening scene when the cars crash and you cans ee the shards of glass go everywhere. Excellent.
Audio:
We are given the choice of three different audio tracks on the disc. The first is a Cantonese DTS ES 6.1 Discrete track, followed by a Cantonese Dolby Digital EX 5.1 track and then a dubbed Mandarin Dolby Digital EX 5.1 track. Naturally I listened to the DTS track and it was slightly lacking with not as much directional effects as I have come to expect from action films. Slightly disappointed.
Extras:
Thankfully, as is becoming a growing trend on Asian discs, all the extras have been given optional English subtitles. All extras apart from the trailer are on disc 2.
Theatrical Trailer - First up, we are given the obligatory trailer. It's what you expect and wets your appetite nicely for the film without giving too much away. It runs for one minute 45 seconds.
Press Conference Footage - It's interesting to see the kind of work that goes into a press conference and how the actors and the crew must come up with the answers to the medias questions quickly, politely and above all, to word the answer so that it interests people in the film. The press conference footage shown here is good, though it does drag on a bit long at 22 minutes 58 seconds.
Making Of featurette - A short featurette that looks at how they made the film (the clue was in the title). Some good behind the scenes material and a couple of decent interviews within make way for a half decent making of featurette, though the stars asking you to go see the film can become a bit repetitive.
TV Spots - We are given four TV spots (0:15, 0:20, 0:30 and 0:30) and they are basically shortened variations of the trailer.
Photo Gallery - This is a slideshow, rather than the named photo gallery and runs for 11 minutes and 27 seconds to some of the film's original soundtrack. Basically though, photo galleries never really give any substance to the disc and I never see a need to include them.
