Back from the dead studio Nikkatsu gave producer Yoshinori Chiba free hands to create new cult film label Sushi Typhoon. Chiba, who in mere 18 months came up with one of the most outrageous film catalogues of all time, started the line up with Alien vs. Ninja. Mini-budget it may be – Chiba-san usually invests about $200 000 per film – but what is lost in relatively dull visual look is taken back with a vengeance in sheer entertainment value. The metro-sexual ninjas (hair’s fine, all’s fine) battle the space bastards with fists, swords, guns, and shuriken, just to mention a few. Yuji Shimomura’s (Versus, Death Trance) action choreography is excellent, total WTF-moments come in 10 minute intervals, and some of the comedy would even embarrass 1980’s Hong Kong audiences. CGI is used here and there, but the aliens are men in rubber suits. Gore is relatively sparse.
in more detail:
http://sketchesofcinema.wordpress.com/2 ... -vs-ninja/
BD
Funimation
Video: 1080i (HD Native)
Audio: Japanese Dolby True HD 5.1, English Dolby True HD 5.1
Subtitles: English (full) and English (lyrics etc. only)
Region A
Extras (all SD)
Making of
Original trailer (real poor quality)
Bonus trailers
While I don't really know jack shit about the tech side, I'm not sure if AvN is ever gonna look much better than this. Having seen the film theatrically, as I have several other new wave JP splatters, none of them looked techically impressive on big screen. In fact, I'd argue they look better on TV screen than they did in cinemas. You have to keep in mind these films were shot without too much concern for the tech side, and with a budget less than 0.2% of Inception... (possibly less than 0.1%, actually). They were never intended for mainstream theatrical distribution.
The BD does seem a bit less colorful than my vague memories of the theatrical digi-beta screening, but the contrast may actually be better here. The image may "require" a bit of adjusting if you want to make it more pleasing for the eye (mainly, more color and warmer palette) but it does serve the film. And the film, well, that's one of the best of 2010. Enjoy!
