Drug War (Du zhan) (Blu-ray) (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Crime Drama	Theatrical Trailer Trailer-x 3 for other films
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	106:42 (Case: 105)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Johnnie To
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Sun Honglei Louis Koo Huang Yi Ha Ping
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Xavier Jamaux

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Chinese DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 Chinese Dolby Digital 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Illegal drug manufacturer and supplier Timmy Choi (Louis Koo) is captured in the course of an anti-drug police operation conducted by Captain Zhang (Sun Honglei). In China the penalty for drug trafficking is death; to save his life Choi offers to provide information and to introduce Zhang into a major drug cartel’s operation, commencing that night. Zhang agrees and impersonates a drug dealer, going with Choi to meetings with a major supplier and distributor. These meetings are under intensive police surveillance as Zhang works his way up the chain towards the king-pins of the operation; but Zhang knows that Choi is not to be trusted and when the operation goes astray and the bullets fly few will be left standing.

     With mainland China becoming more affluent it is inevitable that drugs, and films to do with drugs, will be made by Chinese companies (although it should be noted that in this film the character of Choi is from Hong Kong). Drug War (Du zhan) was made with Chinese funding by Hong Kong director / producer Johnnie To, who is an interesting and inventive director; his best films, such as the excellent Election (2005) or Mad Detective (2007), contain action but are more about character and events. Drug War is a bit of a departure, more than anything a police procedural film taking place over the course of only a few days so that character development is limited.

     Drug War gains its tension from being essentially one long, developing, wide ranging anti-drug operation, filmed almost exclusively from the point of view of the police. As Zhang and his team delve deeper into Choi’s operation and the drug labs, we really only get to see what Zhang, or his surveillance teams, see; exposition is limited and the introduction of the various criminals fragmentary. Indeed, Drug War drops the audience without preliminaries right into the middle of the anti-drug operation: the shadowing and camera surveillance by various police units of a suspect truck, the crash of a car, a bus full of drug mules, and it introduces us to the driven Captain Zhang and his female offsider Xiao Bei (Huang Yi). This preliminary section takes up the first 25 minutes of the film, before the next act commences with Zhang’s impersonation and introduction to the cartel which leads to a number of well-staged police raids and the gun battle at the climax. In true To style the gun battles are slick, loud and chaotic with quick editing and hundreds of bullets flying from a multitude of gunmen and police.

     Indeed, one problem with Drug Wars is the number of characters. The film is quite wide ranging and the concentration upon the police surveillance and tracking procedures introduces police from a number of different city forces as well as Zhang’s team. Towards the end an additional group of drug cartel members are also introduced so when the shooting starts there are so many characters involved it is hard to know who is who and, with only a few exceptions, we really don’t know enough about them to care about their fate. However, there are exceptions. Sun Honglei is very good: as Zhang he is single-minded and deadpan, but he becomes another character entirely when he impersonates the gregarious HaHa (Ha Ping) in his dealings with the cartel. Louis Koo in a less showy role is also very good; there is so much going on behind his eyes and we never quite know what he is up to until the end.

     Drug War is an entertaining film, tense and exciting that wastes no time getting started and then seldom pauses for breath. If as a consequence the film has little time for character development, the police procedures feel genuine, the development of the plot is interesting, and the action slick and well-staged.

Video

     Drug War is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, the original ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG-4 AVC code.

     The print of Drug War is not crystal clear, which I think is deliberate. To add to the feeling of realism in this police procedural there is a fair bit of lens flare, and a number of shots are taken through car and truck windows giving a reflected, muted look. Close-ups however are sharp enough when they want to be. Elsewhere colours are natural although not overbright, blacks and shadow detail fine. Skin tones, contrast and brightness are all consistent.

     The print shows some light grain and there is occasional motion blur but otherwise marks and other artefacts were absent.

     English subtitles in a white font are clear and error free.

     The video is good.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     The audio choice is either Chinese DTS-MA HD 5.1 or Chinese Dolby Digital 2.0. I listened to the 5.1.

     Dialogue is always clear and centred. The surrounds are not overused, but do produce music, the noise of car engines as well as bullet hits during the action. The sub-woofer mainly supported the engines and crashes.

     The predominately electronic score by Xavier Jamaux was atmospheric and effective in supporting the visuals.

     Lip synchronisation was fine.

     The audio track was not one to test your system, but did what was required without fuss.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Trailers

     On start up a promotions reel for Well Go USA (1:00) plays followed by trailers for Ip Man: The Final Fight (1:46), The Guillotines (1:56) and New World (1:39). These trailers can also be selected from the menu.

Theatrical Trailer (2:03)

     Our release is identical to the US Region A Blu-ray, including the FBI warning. There is not currently a UK Region B release. The Hong Kong Region A Blu-ray is listed as having 7.1 audio, English subtitles and a making of, but I do not have any details about the value of the making of or whether it has English subtitles.

     Drug War is a mainland Chinese film from Hong Kong director / producer Johnnie To that wastes no time getting going, the police procedures feel real and the action is slick and well-staged. It may not be top draw Johnny To, but his films are always worth watching.

     The video and audio are fine, the extras only trailers.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall