Why So Blu?

Heavenly Sword (Blu-ray Review)

I remember it like it was only yesterday.  The year was 2006.  It was a cold, blistery night in the month of December in Cleveland, OH.  I had just taken lunch at my third shift job and ventured out into the tundra to hit up Wal-Mart.  I was literally one patron away from scoring a Sony PlayStation 3 on its debut night.  I was livid and pissed, but what could I do?  I have to work for a living and so the weeks went on when just before the Christmas holiday after almost giving up I called a far away Wal-Mart during the witching hour of 3 AM and low and behold they had one in stock.  I begged them to hold it for me.  They said I had one hour to come and get it.  As soon as my co-worker got back from lunch I rushed out and drove like a maniac 45-minutes away to claim my prize.  It was finally mine!  The cheapest (at the time) and still best Blu-ray player (IMO) on the market was finally mine!

Film 

So you’re probably all wondering why did I tell you all of that up above.  Am I right?  I know I would be curious as to why.  Is there a purpose or a method to my madness?  I guarantee you there is (at least for the former).  It’s because not only was the purchase of the PS3 my venture into the magical world of Blu-ray, but it also is directly responsible for the birth of this site, fueled by my love of the premium HD format.  However, I’m rekindling on another topic as it relates to today’s Blu-ray review, that of the game Heavenly Sword.  Now let’s get one thing straight.  In now way, shape or form am I a big gamer.  Hell!  I just sold Aaron Neuwirth my PS4 version of The Last of Us: Remastered because it literally bored me.  What is wrong with me?  Well maybe we shouldn’t address that question as that would open up a whole other can of worms.  Haha.  I digress.  Maybe it was that hot cartoon chick on the PS3’s games cover or maybe it was because it was billed as the female equivalent of the God of War games and starred Andy Serkis, I dunno.  What I do know was that upon playing it I was instantly hooked on the stunning and gorgeous graphics, the cutthroat fighting and challenging gameplay and oh hell, guiding those arrows by tilting the PS3 Dual-Shock controller.  At the time, kiddies, this game was pretty revolutionary and I loved it to pieces.

Today awards me with great pleasure to talk about the CG animated film Heavenly Sword, based on that incredible PS3 game I just got done raving about up above.  And why shouldn’t I?  It’s one of the best selling Sony PlayStation games of all time.  It also boasts an all-star voice cast which includes Anna Torv (Fringe), Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2, Chocolate) and Thomas Jane (Hung, The Mist).  My only thought going in was this just going to be a mixture of all the cut scenes and rendered gameplay that married those scenes I fondly remember from the game or was this going to be something all together more incredible and of course new.  That’s really what I was eager to find out and why I jumped on this Blu-ray assignment when it was initially announced last month.  So let’s spend a few minutes talking about what the story of Heavenly Sword is all about and then most importantly, expand upon what I thought of this CG adaptation.  Here goes nothing.  

Quite honestly, I’m not sure what has taken so long for this adaptation film to come to fruition.  What I mean by that is what audience is left that’s still interested in this?  I say that only because this game came out in 2007 and there has never been a sequel released despite talks of one.  So I’ll say it again.  Where’s the audience for this one?  I know I’m all in when this was first announced, but are all of you who are reading this in too?  Well hopefully I can convince you it’s worth taking the trip and if not we’ll just call it Brian White’s professional Blu-ray review #187.

So my score up above is probably a little generous because there’s really nothing you haven’t seen here before in a story of this genre, but by golly did watching this ever bring back fond memories of that swirling red hair across my 1080p screen as I knocked one bad guy after another over with the powers of my “heavenly sword” in the PS3 game.  And yes, I’ll admit, for the most part this one was like watching one video game cut scene after another play on continuously (with a few new additions to the story), but then again so what.  So what that I enjoy this story so much.  Like Gremlins, E.T. and Goonies to my generation, this one is all nostalgia to me and I’m not ashamed to stand behind it.  It’s not perfect and nor is the game compared to today’s superior titles like the last Tomb Raider that got rebooted and remastered for the next-gen consoles, but back in the day Heavenly Sword was all the rage on the PS3 console.  Here’s hoping they finally get around to making a sequel on the PS4.  I would be there day 1.

I guess you can call the narrative of Heavenly Sword a revenge tale, albeit a not too convincing one in my opinion.  There are much better ones and that’s all I’ll say on the subject.  Again, Nariko’s long, flowing red hair gets me at hello every time.  Oh Nariko!  She’s our main protagonist here.  She is what you may or may not call the “Chosen One,” who wields the heavenly sword where others have miserably failed in the past as the sword basically consumes you (think the one ring in the LOTR franchise).  Nariko, who is voiced by Anna Torv here and in the original game, is part of a clan whose sole purpose on this planet is to protect the heavenly sword from falling into the wrong hands.  Those wrong hands I speak of are that of King Bohan (voiced by Molina here and formerly Andy Serkis in the 2007 game), who will literally stop at nothing until he possesses the sword.  And that ladies and gentlemen is the main gist of our story.  Sure you’ll see a few plot twist and revelations, but they are simple ones and much of the bulk 86-minute runtime here is just one action cut scene after another.  Let’s not also forget about Thomas Jane.  He voices a character in this too, but his screen time is all too short.  The only other odd thing that overtook me here was the fact that here we are in the middle of a CG action film and some of the flashback moments were told through the employment of Jonah Hex-like cartoon moments.  I’m not complaining, but that just struck me as a bit odd and I digress.  So I think instead of me rambling about the plot, or lack of, let’s get to the real reason you are all here…the meat and potatoes of the Blu-ray specs!

Video 

So even though this looked and played out like one big video game cutscene after another, I have to give praise where it’s due to the good folks at Cinedigm for delivering one hell of a fine looking Blu-ray presentation to us all here.  Read on below to see how nice things look in this Blu-ray release.

• Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC
• Resolution: 1080p
• Aspect Ratio: Widescreen 1.78:1
• Clarity/Detail:  Cinedigm apparently really had one mission here…make things as detailed as possible.  Holy hell!  They succeeded in that effort!  Fine details are abound here in most of the scenery and backgrounds (some do get washed out though), textures and most impressively in skin as you see every single facial hair stubble, pore and freckle on a character.
• Depth: I know I wasn’t watching a 3-D presentation, but holy hell on a stick again here.  The depth of field and fine detail in the characters made me feel like I was watching a 3-D presentation.  The characters literally popped off the screen.  The depth of field of the characters versus the backgrounds were stunning (hence my comment up above about some backgrounds being washed out).  
• Black Levels: I don’t think you will find any complaints here as every instance of black was dark, deep and inky throughout.
• Color Reproduction: The colors were all bright and vibrant, when it matched the onscreen tone for them to be so.  I have no complaints here again either.  This one was spot on and the colors always pleasantly matched the onscreen subject matter.
• Flesh Tones: Since this is an animated CG presentation I don’t think this would be a fair category to accurately grade although I had zero problems with any of the onscreen flesh tones.
• Noise/Artifacts: Other than a few moments of haloing I once again have zero complaints here.  There’s no noise or distractions anywhere to be found in this Blu-ray presentation.  Enjoy it!

Audio 

Cinedigm delivers in the bombastic audio section as well.  Read on to find out how hot things sound and whether or not you should keep your A/V remote close as to not wake the kiddies.

• Audio Format(s): English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Subtitles: English
• Dynamics:  The first thing that infected me here with this surround track was the swirling score that swept through my viewing room.  The second thing was the authenticity of everything happening on screen here.  There’s a lot of action that happens in this film so I’m pleased to report it’s all reflected rather well in the final product of the HD surround track.
• Low Frequency Extension: While the subwoofer is present throughout I think it could have been a tad more aggressive, but that’s just me nitpicking of course.  The LFE comes alive with every kick, thud and punch as well as staff throw downs, sword smashing moments and even onscreen characters beating drums.
• Surround Sound Presentation:  This is where this surround track truly excels.  There’s enough sword slashing and swirling and arrows flying to choke five horses.  The rear speakers do not let you forget they’re alive and kicking throughout here.  Another scene I really loved was where this waterfall was onscreen and the water gushed down behind you.  I’m a sucker for moments like that.
• Dialogue Reproduction:  This category really surprised me too because not once did I have to strain to hear what was being said no matter how much I lowered the volume.  All dialogue was loud, clear and intelligible throughout.

Extras 

There’s not much to write home about in the Extras section here.  Sadly, there’s not even a Digital Copy for anyone who wants to enjoy this flick on the road or while away from home.  So in essence, all we have to work with here are three lonely supplements.  I’ll dispense with the usual chatter I make to extend paragraphs and make them seem big, impressive and full of important expose and just move on with talking about the three extras we have below.

• The Making of Heavenly Sword (HD, 14:55) – Originally this one was intended as a television mini series as I found out from watching this extra hearing the cast and crew chat about it all.  They also talk about how Anna Torv was the voice of this game way before she was famous and the crew was nervous as to whether or not she would come back.  Of course, Anna chimes in on the subject too as she discusses motion capture and the character she brings to life, Nariko.  Andy Serkis was the original voice of King Bohan, but he was pretty booked up to say the least for this project so that’s how Alfred Molina got involved with the project.  Alfred talks about how he’s been involved with animation as of late.  The crew discusses how they wanted to bring new elements into the story to flush things out, hence the character of Loki voiced by Thomas Jane.  Also discussed here are the characters of Roach and Kai.  The filmmakers expressed how they wanted to keep the same look of the PS3 game.  They also talk about the possibility of a sequel whether it’s a game or another movie.  In all honesty, this extra made me appreciate the film I just watched up above even more.
• Teasers (HD, 6:04) – There are a total of four different teaser trailers here for the film.
• Trailer (HD, 1:34) – This is nothing more than the trailer for the film.  You can watch this trailer for yourself in the video embedded below.

Summary 

In conclusion, although the filmmakers dispute this argument in length in the only real extra up above, I believe this film has come to us 7 years too late.  I talked to a lot of people recently about this film over the past week and not one of them remember the PS3 game fondly like I do.  I’m honestly not sure how well this is going to sell and who this one is going to appeal to.  If the CG animation was groundbreaking and revolutionary, then maybe so.  In essence, all we really have here are the original video game cut scenes plus the action of playing mixed in with a few new elements (won’t divulge because of my spoiler free promises I make to each and everyone of you).  However, on the flip side, it was a trip down memory lane for me and while I grew a little anxious at times during the 86-minute runtime I ultimately did have a good time with this feature.  So I guess it’s one of those moments where it’s to each their own really.  Your mileage will definitely vary with this one.  I’m not sure when I’ll ever get around to popping this in again, but I’m happy to add it to my Blu-ray collection with asset tag #597 and it did make me want to play the hell out of the PS3 game again.  So if that was Sony’s intent and hopes to light interest in a sequel one day, then I believe they succeeded here.  With an outstanding audio and video presentation it’s hard not to recommend this Blu-ray title, but I would encourage purchases from the hardcore fans of the 2007 video game only.  That’s my two cents on the matter.

Heavenly Sword releases on Blu-ray and DVD September 2nd, but you can help support our site by pre-ordering it here or by clicking the link below.  Thanks for reading.