Dragon Blade

In Dragon Blade, when corrupt Roman leader Tiberius (Brody) arrives with a giant army to claim the Silk Road, Huo An (Chan) and his group of trained warriors team up with an elite legion of defected Roman soldiers, led by General Lucius (Cusack), to maintain the delicate balance of power in the region. To protect his country and his new friends, Huo An gathers the warriors of 36 ethnic nations together to fight Tiberius in an incredible, epic battle. (Gary Reber)

Special features include a behind-the-scenes featurette (HD 1:28), extended interviews with cast and crew (HD 56:13), music videos featuring Jackie Chan, a trailer, upfront previews, and an UltraViolet digital copy.

The 2.38:1 1080p AVC picture is majestic, with huge projection sets and vast on-location terrains of desert and mountains. The imagery is spectacular and exhibits excellent resolution, with fine detail exhibited earthy and structural textures, objects, clothing, hair, and facial features. Contrast is generally excellent throughout, with good shadow definition. Costumes are quite intricate and revealing in fine detail, even during darkened segments. The production was designed for 3D and photographed natively in 3D, though, this is a 2D release. Still the imagery is quite dimensional. The hand combat and martial arts segments are exciting. The color palette is warmly hued and primarily exhibits earthy tones, with weather-ravaged fleshtones that are generally naturally hued. Blacks are deeply saturated, yet exhibit textural detail. This is an epic cinematic visual experience that is engaging throughout. (Gary Reber)

The DTS-HD Master Audio™ 5.1-channel soundtrack is presented simultaneously in Mandarin with English subtitles and English. The sound is dynamic and dominated with a powerful orchestral and choral score that spans the soundstage wide and deep and aggressively extends to the surrounds. Fidelity is excellent. Deep bass is often energized and extended to sub-25 Hz frequencies. The Chinese drum adds a cultural flavor to the proceedings. Crowd noises also envelop the soundfield. The singing segments completely lack in spatial integration, but dialogue fares far better. Atmospherics are nicely articulated, especially during construction sequences, and sound effects provide effective support. The final battle scenes are scaled with sonic intensity. Foley is quite prominent, especially during one-to-one sword, dagger, and bow-and-arrow fight scenes.This is often an exciting holosonic® experience that immerses the soundfield with engaging directionalized atmospherics and sound effects. (Gary Reber)