![Inception (Two-Disc Edition) [Blu-ray]](http://cdn.avsforum.com/4/46/50x50px-ZC-462439c0_B002ZG981E-510BJ7kkgNL.jpeg)
Shogun Assassin
recommendation: Tier 4.5*
Shogun Assassin is the 1980 Samurai film that became wildly influential in various forms, from Tarantino's Kill Bill to the music of the Wu-Tang Clan. Animeigo has gone back and transferred the movie to high-definition from the best possible, extant film elements. This is not a case of a small distributor taking a DVD master and calling it a day, as every effort has been made to create the best Blu-ray possible. The 84-minute movie is encoded in AVC on a BD-25. Average video bitrate for the main feature is a satisfactory 24.99 Mbps. It was first released on Blu-ray in August of 2010.
The strongest aspect of the disc is the excellent facial detail in the numerous close-ups of the actors. One can make out the hair pieces and prosthetics used for makeup, while singular details such as pores and wrinkles are plainly visible in almost every shot. The transfer is completely free of digital filtering, leaving copious amounts of grain in the film.
Print damage is minimal, but several scenes give indicators the original negatives were likely not available for all scenes. A number of things, such as white specks and gate scratches on the print, indicate a film print or interpositive as the likely source for the transfer.
Only the slightest amount of ringing shows any untoward problems added to the transfer. The vast majority of problems with the image appear as a result of principal photography and the original budgetary limitations of the production. Given the strong levels of grain present in many scenes, the video encode rarely even hints of showing compression artifacts.
A number of scenes, particularly the ones that take place at night, crush shadow detail and are severely underexposed. That dragged my final score down quite a bit, because a good number of scenes in the film look much better than Tier Four in quality. But there are moments when almost nothing is visible and one would be hard-pressed to not nominate the disc for Tier Five.
Do not let a placement as low as Tier 4.5 fool you, I am personally recommending this transfer as a strong improvement over any prior version of Shogun Assassin. For years it was only available as a bootleg and looked wretched. This new transfer is an amazement in comparison and truly shows potential at times. Certain moments might be considered good enough for Tier Two, but the overall assessment has to be lowered with the general condition and inconsistency of the image.
BDInfo scan (courtesy of eric.exe):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...6#post19111456
recommendation: Tier 4.5*
“Your technique is magnificent. When cut across the neck, a sound like wailing winter winds is heard, they say. I'd always hoped to cut someone like that someday, to hear that sound.”
Shogun Assassin is the 1980 Samurai film that became wildly influential in various forms, from Tarantino's Kill Bill to the music of the Wu-Tang Clan. Animeigo has gone back and transferred the movie to high-definition from the best possible, extant film elements. This is not a case of a small distributor taking a DVD master and calling it a day, as every effort has been made to create the best Blu-ray possible. The 84-minute movie is encoded in AVC on a BD-25. Average video bitrate for the main feature is a satisfactory 24.99 Mbps. It was first released on Blu-ray in August of 2010.
The strongest aspect of the disc is the excellent facial detail in the numerous close-ups of the actors. One can make out the hair pieces and prosthetics used for makeup, while singular details such as pores and wrinkles are plainly visible in almost every shot. The transfer is completely free of digital filtering, leaving copious amounts of grain in the film.
Print damage is minimal, but several scenes give indicators the original negatives were likely not available for all scenes. A number of things, such as white specks and gate scratches on the print, indicate a film print or interpositive as the likely source for the transfer.
Only the slightest amount of ringing shows any untoward problems added to the transfer. The vast majority of problems with the image appear as a result of principal photography and the original budgetary limitations of the production. Given the strong levels of grain present in many scenes, the video encode rarely even hints of showing compression artifacts.
A number of scenes, particularly the ones that take place at night, crush shadow detail and are severely underexposed. That dragged my final score down quite a bit, because a good number of scenes in the film look much better than Tier Four in quality. But there are moments when almost nothing is visible and one would be hard-pressed to not nominate the disc for Tier Five.
Do not let a placement as low as Tier 4.5 fool you, I am personally recommending this transfer as a strong improvement over any prior version of Shogun Assassin. For years it was only available as a bootleg and looked wretched. This new transfer is an amazement in comparison and truly shows potential at times. Certain moments might be considered good enough for Tier Two, but the overall assessment has to be lowered with the general condition and inconsistency of the image.
BDInfo scan (courtesy of eric.exe):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...6#post19111456
It did help make that Drake character vampirically sinister in one of the blue-hued scenes.
