Bridge Of Dragons

Bridge Of Dragons (1999)
HBO Home Video
Cast: Dolph Lundgren, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Rachel Shane, Gary Hudson
Extras: Cast & crew biographies
Rating:

HBO Home Video’s release of “Bridge Of Dragons” contains a fullframe transfer of the movie on this DVD. Considering that the movie is a direct-to-video release, this seems to be its original aspect ratio, as no obvious cropping or unbalance in the image composition is evident. The transfer is generally clean and without notable noise or grain. It contains a good level of detail, but some edge over-enhancement is visible throughout the film, creating an image that is a little harsh looking. Color reproduction of the movie is excellent, boldly rendering the colors and hues, and faithfully reproducing the fleshtones. The compression is very good without pixelation or other distracting artifacts.

“Bridge Of Dragons” contains an English and a Spanish language track, presented as a 2-channel Dolby Digital track that comes across very naturally sounding. Dialogues are always understandable and well integrated with the overall ambiance of the movie, never being drowned out by sound effects or the heroic music. The frequency response and dynamic of the track is good, adding to the film’s overall impression.

“Bridge Of Dragons” is a modern day action film that uses the familiar lone-soldier-saves-the-rest-of-the-world model, but the picturesque setting in Japan and the Asian cast add a lot of style to this movie.