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Ironheart
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray B - United Kingdom - 101 Films Review written by and copyright: Samuel Scott (5th July 2015). |
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The Film
 ***This is an A/V and Extras review only. For reviews on the movie from various critics, we recommend visiting HERE.*** Starring martial arts legend Bolo Yeung (Game of Death, Bloodsport, Way of the Dragon). Ironheart tells the story of an LA cop called John Keem (Britton K Lee), looking for the criminal gang who murdered his partner. While in Portland investigating the case he gets involved with Milverstead (Richard Norton), who’s gang deal guns, drugs and people traffic. Can Keem find the evidence he needs to bring Milverstead to justice and avenge the death of his partner? From Robert Clouse, director of Enter the Dragon, Ironheart is an action packed martial arts adventure featuring some amazing fight action.
Video
Independent British distributor have released "Ironheart" in what is its world wide debut on the Blu-ray format (released two weeks before the German release). They present the film in the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The transfer is 1080p and receives an AVC MPEG-4 encode. Unfortunately, it isn't very good. "Ironheart" is literally littered with problems. The print is far from clean and has a lot of specks and large obtrusive black blobs at various points, usually running down the right hand side of the frame. In fact, kudos to 101 Films for keeping the original aspect ratio rather than cropping the picture slightly to remove some of these unsightly blemishes. One of the poorest looking scenes takes place at 67:25 where scratches running the length of the picture stream down the centre of the screen and there is a sudden change in colour levels for roughly five seconds. There are several other issues to speak of too. There is some occasional ringing such as at 77:07, and the overall picture is rather murky. Black levels are inconsistent, and there is significant crush and a lack of detail in any scene not taking place in blistering sunlight (and even then, details are barely mediocre at best). There is some unsightly blocking at times, most notably at the beginning of the film which also suffers from some compression issues. I have no previous experience with this title so I can't say how it compares to DVD releases, though I imagine this has never looked particularly good. That's no excuse for what we have here, but I would guess that people that want this title will have to like it or lump it for the considerable future as the fan base simply isn't there to invest in a restoration. It needs to be said it is far from unwatchable though. I've seen better low budget DVDs, and worse Blu-rays. The film is uncut and runs 92:16.
Audio
101 Films have provided a single English LPCM 2.0 Stereo track for this release, and to be frank, it's dreadful. I'm not sure where this was sourced from, but the biggest issue for the whole disc is the inconsistent volume levels. In some scenes, dialogue is loud and clear, then in scenes immediately after, you need to double the volume in order to barely hear it. Several times I found myself replaying scenes and changing the volume levels so I knew what was being said. The track is also very flat with no depth at all. The score is lifeless and the sound effects have absolutely no impact. Often, dialogue can sound a little tinny too. Another big issue is the background hiss which runs throughout and is quite intrusive. A big disappointment, even for a film of this ilk. No subtitles have been included. A shame, as I would have rather had subtitles on than replay scenes.
Extras
None.
Overall
This is far from Robert Clouse's best work, and certainly not Bolo Yeung's shining hour either. Still, despite the fact the disc has poor video and audio, I can't see it getting a better release any time soon. Strictly for Yeung completists only.
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