REVIEW

DVD Review: Above the Law

Written by Chris Beaumont
Published May 28, 2007
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As he goes about his side work, a new wrinkle is thrown into the mix. Cynthia Rothrock, playing a member of the Hong King police force, is assigned to investigate the murder of one of the defendants. So, we get these two good guys butting heads as they have differing opinions on the pursuit of justice. Of course, as the movie progresses, it shifts a bit from the vigilantism, which is still a big thing, but there is the reveal of a certain high profile villain in a position of power who takes some focus for his attempts to clean up the wrongdoings.

That is pretty much the story. Not a lot to it, but this is a Hong Kong martial arts action flick, and that is what you are going to watch it for. Intermixed with the drama and the broad comedy are some great fights. The fights include one-on-one battles between Yuen Biao and Cynthia Rothrock, Biao and Peter Cunningham (a world champion kickboxer from Canada), Cynthia and Karen Sheperd, and Biao and Melvin Wong. There are a couple of others, but these are the main fights. Now the fight between Rothrock and Shepard is spectacular; the two knew each other from being in martial arts competitions together and worked together to put on a great fight using acrobatics and weapons, particularly a belt that is actually a chain link weapon with a blade on the end. The fights are incredible and really show what Biao can do. I think this may be the first time I have seen Biao away from his action star brethren Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung.

So, while the story is rather simplistic and relies on a string of handy coincidences, I found it easy to ignore in the face of the great fights and stunts. There is a great sequence that ends up in a fight, but starts as a battle of cars against Biao. Again, do not watch this for the story, watch it for the great fights which are invigorating and inventive.

Audio/Video. The '80s-era Hong Kong films are not known for being preserved very well, but this transfer looks very good. The colors are muted, but it is free of any major defects and retains a good amount of detail. The 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen looks very good. The audio is decent , but since everything is dubbed it has a disconnect to the dialog; overall it is decent and definitely does the trick.

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Christopher Beaumont spends much of his time writing about entertainment when he isn't sitting in a movie theater. He is known around the office as the "Movie Guy" and is always ready to talk about his favorite form of entertainment and offer up recommendations. Interests include science fiction, horror, and metal music. His writings can be found at Draven99's Musings and Draven99's Media Center.
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DVD Review: Above the Law
Published: May 28, 2007
Type: Review
Section: Video
Filed Under: Video: Foreign Language, Video: Action
Writer: Chris Beaumont
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