Fatal Move (Duo shuai) (2008)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Crime	Trailer-x 4 for other films Trailer-Teaser Trailer, Theatrical Trailer & International Trailer Featurette-Behind The Scenes
Rating
Year Of Production	2008
Running Time	111:53
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Dennis Law
Studio Distributor	Gryphon Entertainment	Starring	Sammo Hung Kam-Bo Simon Yam Niu Tien Danny Lee Jacky Wu Siu-Fai Cheung Maggie Siu Suet Lam Ken Lo Jacky Heung
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Tommy Wai

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Aging triad boss Lin Ho Lung (Sammo Hung) has a range of problems. His volatile and uncompromising younger brother Tung (Simon Yam) has run up a large gambling debt, rival gangs are muscling in on his territory, the police led by Senior Inspector Chung (Danny Lee) are watching his movements and interfering with his business, his wife of thirty years Soso (Kelly Chu) is not pleased that he has fathered a baby with a younger woman and, although he does not realise it, betrayals from those within his own ranks have set his operation on the path to self-destruction.

     Fatal Move (original title Duo shuai although it is also called Triad Wars in the US) is a confusing film. It has an exceedingly dense plot, full of betrayals and double crosses. There is a lot of talk and there are far too many characters involved in some way or another to keep track of. There are five main characters and over eight subsidiary characters and, except for one betrayal by a main character, the double crosses and betrayals are committed by the lesser characters whose motivation is not explained and who often look alike to western audiences; generally they are then killed off and disappear from the plot. Some plot arcs with the major characters are also introduced, such as the more violent younger brother with a gambling problem, or the young up and comer within the group, that go nowhere.

     Amid the talk and the revolving characters there is the action. In Fatal Move there is a drug bust, a kidnapping, torture, executions, gun battles and fights between triad gangs with a range of weapons. This violence is quite bloody and gruesome; arms and fingers are severed in sprays of blood and a woman is tortured by having her teeth removed with a pair of pliers and her fingernails graphically ripped out, justifying its “R” rating. There is also a shootout in a police station which is quite spectacular and a number of action sequences involving vehicles that are loud and reasonably well done, if nothing new or special. There is not a lot of martial arts in the film; most action sequences involve guns except for the one-on-one battle at the end between the wonderful Sammo Hung, who still moves pretty well for his age and bulk, and Wushu champion Wu Jing (who is an up and coming martial arts star who showed his prowess in the recent Shaolin (2011)). This is a decent fight, but the problem is that it feels tacked on, a fight for the sake of having a fight which has nothing to do with the plot. Indeed, Wu’s character is one of the few members of Lung’s triad gang who has stayed loyal throughout, so their fight comes out of nowhere.

     Fatal Move is an action film with talk that does not, however, delve deeper into considerations of honour (although “face” is mentioned a couple of times) or loyalty; the betrayals just seem to happen with little preparation or motivation. There are some quieter moments that allow the audience to gain an understanding of some of the main characters, such as the brothers playing hopscotch in the park or the moment when Soso lets Lung know her thoughts in no uncertain terms, but these moments are too infrequent to sustain the film on any higher level. So in the end Fatal Move comes down to the charisma of the great Sammo Hung and a number of loud action sequences which may just be enough. Indeed, there are worse ways to spend 110 minutes.

Video

     Fatal Move is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the original theatrical ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     This is a soft looking print but not overly so. Detail is acceptable, the colours natural, tending on garish for some interior scenes in the club. Blacks are acceptable but there were a couple of scenes where shadow detail was indistinct. Skin tones, brightness and contrast were good.

     Other than some very slight ghosting, artefacts and are marks were absent.

     The layer change at 63:15 resulted in a slight pause.

    English subtitles are in an easy to read white font that did show some interlacing. They were error free except on one occasion at 17:31 where there is a line translated as “that’s no reason for you not no repay me”.

     A reasonable print.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio choices are Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448 Kbps and Cantonese Dolby Digital 2.0 at 192 Kbps. Note that the default choice is the 2.0.

     I listened to the 5.1 track. Dialogue was clear. For a lot of the film the surrounds were not overused, with music and some panning effects such as passing cars. However, during the vehicle action and gunfights they exploded into action, with shots, bullet hits, smashing glass and crashing cars filling the sound stage. The sub-woofer supported the action and crashes well without unbalancing the audio.

    I did not notice any lip synchronisation issues.

     The original score by Tommy Wai was good, using a single piano theme to good effect. It was nicely represented in the mix.

     The audio track was good, especially when it needed to be.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Trailers

     On start-up there were trailers for Act of Grace (0:54), Yellow Rock (1:42), Yamada: Way of the Samurai (1:31) and Elevator (1:44). These trailers can also be selected from the “Other Attraction” tab in the menu.

Trailer Gallery

     Various trailers for Fatal Move, all very similar: Teaser Trailer (1:31), Theatrical Trailer (1:48) and International Trailer (1:38).

Behind the Scenes (10:00)

     This featurette includes some interesting on set footage including stunts, goofs and injuries interspersed with comments by various members of the cast and crew, none of whom are identified by caption. It has burnt in subtitles in Chinese and English; the English often goes by very fast, and some of the translation is pretty strange! Still worth a look, however.

     In the US the film is called Triad Wars and the Region 1 US DVD release includes an English 5.1 dub as well as the Cantonese 5.1, if that is of value. The extras are pretty much the same as ours, except it adds some deleted scenes. The Region 2 UK release is the same as our Australian Region All version. The Region 3 Hong Kong release is listed as being in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, and including only a trailer. A draw pretty much.

    Fatal Move is a brutal crime thriller with double crosses, a drug bust, a kidnapping, torture, executions, gun battles and fights between triad gangs. It is confusing and overly dense but it does have the great Sammo Hung and up and coming martial arts star Wu Jing which makes it watchable.

     The video is acceptable, the audio good; a short behind the scenes and trailers are the extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall