Search - Full Contact on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Graphic Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Not For Children, Sexual Situations Movie Release: 1992 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: Cantonese, Mandarin Subtitles: Bahasa, Japanese, Thai SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 38 mins Studio: Tai Seng Members Wishing: 0 Genres: Action, Crime, Action Thriller, Gangster Film See Also: Full Contact [Subtitled], Full Contact [Dubbed], Full Contact [Special Edition]

Another entry into the "cheer for the most likeable bad guy" series of Hong Kong action flicks, Full Contact tells the oft-told tale of betrayal and revenge, but serves it up as a potent cocktail of Western convention mixed with the trademarked Hong Kong style. When Jeff's (Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun Fat in true hard-case form) friend Sam (Anthony Wong) steps on the feet of a local loan shark, Jeff comes to his rescue, creating a powerful enemy in the vengeful gangster. Seeking to skip town and make good, the two hatch a plan to hijack an arms shipment with the help of Sam's flamboyant and malicious cousin Judge (a delightfully sleazy Simon Yam) and his gang of dysfunctional thugs. What Jeff doesn't know is that he's being double-crossed by the wild group of brutal killers, who plan to bury him as they make their getaway. Judge forces Sam to off his loyal friend Jeff, but Sam botches the job, leaving Jeff to return for bitter revenge after dealing with an emotionally painful betrayal and a physically challenging rehabilitation. Director Ringo Lam foregoes the melodrama of Hong Kong counterpart John Woo and goes straight for the jugular with unremittingly stark and graphic violence. At the same time, the characters retain a certain amount of sympathy, keeping their relationships and reactions realistic and identifiable.
~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Chow Yun-Fat - Jeff

The DVD edition of Full Contact from Mei Ah has its pluses and minuses, though overall it leans more toward the positive side. The picture quality, unfortunately, is one of the negatives; it's little better than previous video editions, and since most of the action takes place in dark settings, the view tends to be rather muddy. It does look better on larger screens, though, and the letterboxing is most welcome. Sound options include Dolby Surround 5.1 or Dolby Digital; both sound fine, and in one particular scene, the surround-sound option will probably startle viewers. Dialogue options are Mandarin or Cantonese (the latter is the language in which the film was made), but subtitling includes English as well as Chinese, Korean, Malaysian, Japanese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, and Thai. The English, at least, is marred by grammatical errors, but it's still quite possible to follow what's going on. Getting the subtitles to play, on the other hand, is somewhat problematic; it looks like you have to start the movie from the subtitles menu to get them to work, and, in fact, navigating the menus in general is rather counter-intuitive. Other features include a text synopsis and cast/crew list in English and Chinese; a couple of trailers for other movies under "Best Buy"; and a trailer for the film, accompanied by the song "Get the Funk Out" from early-'90s headbangers Extreme, which lends the whole thing a surreal sort of ambiance. Overall, it's worth getting, especially since footage missing from earlier editions is restored. ~ Genevieve Williams, All Movie Guide