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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers (1990)

No Retreat, No Surrender 3: Blood Brothers (1990)

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Released 23-Feb-2004

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Action Main Menu Audio
Theatrical Trailer
Trailer-No Retreat, No Surrender I & II, King Of Kickboxers
Trailer-King Of Kickboxers - American Shaolin,Superfights, Bloodmoon
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1990
Running Time 97:52
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Lucas Lowe
Studio
Distributor
Seasonal Film Corp
Beyond Home Entertainment
Starring Loren Avedon
Keith Vitali
Joseph Campanella
Wanda Acuna
Luke Askew
Rion Hunter
Mark Russo
David Michael Sterling
Philip Benson
Sherrie Rose
Mike Genova
D. Christian Gottshall
Brett Ancell
Case C-Button-Version 1
RPI $19.95 Music Richard Huen


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Screen, not known whether Pan & Scan or Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio Unknown Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    No Retreat, No Surrender was a movie about blackmail, No Retreat, No Surrender II was a movie about, Vietnam, and finally No Retreat, No Surrender III is a movie about ... um ... mmm. The storylines started thin and are getting thinner. In this, the third and final of the box set (more on that later) we have the father, who is ex-CIA, killed. The brothers are like chalk and cheese - well, it's more than that. They are like oil and water. Not only are they completely different but they don't mix well neither.

Will Alexander "My brother is nothing like you!"

Atteron (Luke Askew) "Your brother is dead"

    John Alexander (Joseph Campanella) is the father of Will (Loren Avedon) and Casey (Keith Vitali). John is a retired CIA head honcho, whom international terrorist and all round baddy Franco (Rion Hunter) has killed, as payback for John killing Franco's son some time in the past. Predictably the brothers seek out their own vengeance. The CIA, also promising to get Franco, are conspicuous by their absence. This then turns into the story of how each brother tries to track down Franco in their own individual ways. I'm not giving anything away by saying the brothers catch up with Franco at about the same time.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    It's another rough start in the video department. There are lots of artefacts and grain in the first 20 minutes or so, though they are not as obvious or regular as in No Retreat, No Surrender II. The examples of each imperfection, however, are bigger.

   The movie is shown as full screen in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

    This film doesn't have as many night scenes in it which helps in the shadow detail and low level noise department. The colours are softer than previous movies in the series, which suits the wardrobe now that we have (barely) made it into the 1990s.

     Again, like previous movies in the box set there are no subtitles. Only once in this movie did I fail to understand any dialogue and it was only a single line.

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

Audio

    The audio was better in this movie than in prior movies again. No frills, but functional. The audio in fight scenes suffers from a lack of punch and the effects themselves sound quite unrealistic. But that is not the audio track's fault.

    We have an English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) soundtrack on offer here. Lip sync is slightly out early in the movie, but improves after it gets past that first 20 minute mark.

    There is no surround channel or subwoofer usage.

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

Extras

Trailer

We have the same twenty plus minutes of trailers that appeared in the first two movies of this box set. American Shaolin, No Retreat, No Surrender II (Raging Thunder), No Retreat, No Surrender, Super Fights, The King of the Kick Boxers, No Retreat, No Surrender III (Blood Brothers) and Bloodmoon are all martial arts action flix.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This movie is also known as Karate Tiger 3 in Europe.

    I could not find any differences between the R4 and R1 release, however since this movie is part of a box set, I'll award this one to R4.

Summary

    We wrote earlier this film was about vengeance. But perhaps it's closer to family feud. While we don't see Campanella's character kill Hunter's son, we do witness Hunter killing Campanella as payback and then his two sons each try and exact vengeance in their own way on Hunter.

    The video gets off to a rough start, but is improved over earlier movies and is quite good after the initial 20 minutes.

    Audio is consistently functional throughout.

    The extras are good, although getting a little tiresome since they appear on each of the earlier two movies also.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Kristen Clark & Ryan Woodforde (I love the smell of bio in the morning.)
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-533K, using Component output
DisplayPioneer PDP436HD 43" Plasma Display Panel. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to Amplifier.
AmplificationOnkyo TX-DS494
SpeakersKrix Lyrix front speakers, Krix KDX-C centre speaker, Krix Equinox rear speakers, BIC D-121OR 12' 200 watt powered sub-woofer.

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