After a string of solid releases in 2004,
with DVDs such as Onibaba
and The
Lower Depths, Criterion, sadly, drops
the ball on their first release of 2005. The company's
The Sword of Doom simply fails to excel
in any particular area, with a meager video presentation,
an adequate audio presentation, and almost no
real extras to speak of.
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Video: |
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Considering the film's age, the video presentation
to be found on The Sword of Doom is pretty
middle of the road. On the positive side, the
brightness level is set just right here, as details
are mostly readily visible. Digital inconsistencies
also appear to be under control here. Artifacting,
a side effect of video compression, is unnoticeable
on this disc, while the film looks generally sharp,
without much visible edge enhancement.
Despite these positive aspects, the print itself
has seen better days. The start of the film, for
example, contains noticeable light flickering,
a rabid change in brightness occurring near the
border of the screen. Thankfully, this does diminish
over time to the point where it's a non-issue,
although other problems don't. In terms of the noise levels, the DVD does instead contain a
very thick layer of grain through out the course
of the movie. As expected, the grain is quite
noticeable during the lighter scenes in the film,
while the darker settings tend to mask this. That said, at least the print used is in good condition, with
no noticeable scratches during the two hour length
time.
The Sword of Doom
is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1,
and is Anamorphic for widescreen TVs.
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Audio: |
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The Sword of Doom contains a 1.0
mono audio track of the film in Japanese. The
audio itself sounds very well preserved, or in
this case restored, as no audible pops or crackles
can be heard. As expected, the mono presention
has its limitions. As always, a stereo or surround
mix as an addition would have been nice, but seeing
as how the film was originally presented in monaural,
the 1.0 track more than gets the job done. The
audio track is accompanied here with, removable,
English subtitles. The subtitles found on this
release are brand new and, as expected from later
Criterion discs, is relatively spot on in terms
of dialogue accuracy.
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Extras: |
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It's unfortunate to see a company that has
strived to stock their discs with supplementary
material score so low in this area. The disc itself
is about as barebones as they come. There isn't
a single extra to be found on the DVD, not even
the film's trailer. In a bid to compensate, Criterion
did stock the disc's booklet with a three page
essay by critic Geoffrey O'Brien. The essay itself
is short, but informative, and makes for a nice
brisk read. Although it hardly counteracts the
disc's lack of additional features.
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Overview: |
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Bottom line, if one truly enjoys the film, or
the genre, this disc is still worth a purchase.
However, at the higher than normal prices that Criterion
releases tend to go for, and the lack of anything
significant about this release of the film, The
Sword of Doom is a DVD that might best be reserved
for a bargain hunt. |
-Anthony Romero |