| DVD Released by : Guang Dong Tung Ah |
| Player reviewed with : Malata DVD-N996 |
| Receiver reviewed with : Sony 925 |
| Features: |
| Cantonese and Mandarin Soundtracks |
| English and Chinese Subtitles |
| Not enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs |
| Running Time : 86 mins. |
An assassin should have no love, history or name. Ng Sin-Lin is the perfect killer. She is efficient and shows literally no remorse for her hits. It is fitting that her blood temperature is some degrees lower than normal. The only pleasure this killer allows herself is a bowl of steaming hot noodles from Lau Ching-Wan's noodle shop. His life is simple, only caring about making the best noodles and fried squid until this woman walks into his life. She doesn't speak much and disappears as soon as she is finished but he is smitten. Ng Sin-lin soon finds that she does need love in her life. This becomes difficult when she knocks off a Triad boss and his sworn protector vows revenge.
Need a Johnny To or John Woo fix? BEYOND HYPOTHERMIA may be right up your alley. Not quite the same caliber of To or Woo but in the same ballpark. BEYOND HYPOTHERMIA is unevenly paced but just when you feel that things get too slow the action kicks in. The movie doesn't pull any punches. Let's just say that when the killer gets rid of witnesses, she doesn't discriminate. This isn't really an action movie yet it's not a love story. It's somewhere in between. Lau Ching-Wan is very good as the noodle shop owner. Some will argue this but it's great seeing him play a regular guy instead of a hard boiled cop.
The video quality is acceptable but nothing to rave about. The source print is pretty free of damage and specks but the overall image is rather soft. The transfer isn't bad and it holds up fairly well on the 47 inch screen. There are very little artifacts and the picture doesn't look bad during the dark scenes. The overall quality is just about average when compared to other import DVD's. There are much better looking ones but there are also much worse.
The audio options are Cantonese or Mandarin. These can be selected "on the fly" since there is no menu. The sound comes from the front speakers and appears to be a stereo mix. The audio is functional and is comparable to other import DVD's.
Subtitles are easy to read. They are white and are non-removable and are in Chinese and English. These are on the image and not the bottom black bar so you can get the most of the picture on a 16X9 TV. There a few spelling and grammatical errors but nothing too distracting. They also stay on the screen long enough to read and are in sync with what is being said.
This is pretty much as "no frills" as you can get for a DVD. No trailers and no menus.
BEYOND HYPOTHERMIA is a decent movie. It's worth a watch for any Johnny To or John Woo fans. The movie has much the same style as other Milkyway films. There are some interesting camera shots and the cinematography is very good. I tried to pick screen shots that reflect this. The actors do their jobs well. Ng Sin-Lin portrays the assassin almost like a female Terminator. There's a reason why ice turns up in her scenes very often. Lau Ching-Wan gives the movie a heart as the noodle shop owner. BEYOND HYPOTHERMIA is best explained as the movie you would watch if you went to the video store and they were out of THE ODD ONE DIES, FULLTIME KILLER and THE KILLER.
Reviewed - 7/26/2002
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