Badges of Fury - Blu-ray

Content: Everything indicates that famous actress Liu Jin Shui (Shishi Liu) is somehow involved in the mysterious smile deaths that have claimed three victims in a short period of time. That's because all three of the dead were ex-boyfriends of the actress. Together with her colleagues, the somewhat hot-headed greenhorn Wang Bu`er (Wen Zhang) and the experienced Huang Fei Hong (Jet Li), the tough cop Angela (Michelle Chen) has to find out if Liu Jin Shui is really behind the deaths, or maybe her beguiling and inscrutable half-sister Dai Yiyi (Yan Liu). After all, Dai Yiyi had an affair with all three of her exes, and shortly before their involuntary demise, she had sold them life insurance policies with herself listed as the beneficiary. So the case seems clear. But during their investigation the uneven trio of cops gets on the track of a conspiracy that could also be extremely dangerous for themselves...

With Badges of Fury Tsz Ming Wong has directed a partly very over-the-top action comedy that has some very amusing fight scenes to offer. The mixture of classic martial arts and comic-like special effects reminds a bit of the hit movie Kung Fu Hustle. However, the whole thing is much sillier here, which all in all takes a little getting used to. The interplay between the rather serious Jet Li and the badass Wen Zhang is a nice parody of the usual buddy cop clichés. However, Wen Zhang's somewhat hysterical acting runs the risk of quickly getting on the audience's nerves. A little more restraint would have been desirable here.

There are numerous ideas that are successful in approach, but their too exaggerated execution ultimately dulls the fun. Especially the scenes, in which it depends more on dialogues, than on martial arts and slapstick, reveal clearly the weak points of script and production, which then can be compensated by the really entertaining action scenes also only conditionally again. Even if especially the implementation of the fight sequences makes it clear that the director and his actors here with a lot of joy and enthusiasm have approached the matter, many gags are simply too flat and turned up to give the audience a lot of fun.

Dennoch: Even if Badges of Fury with its very special humor will not necessarily meet a broad mass taste, the film has overall a decent entertainment and show value, so that fans of Asian action comedies in the style of Kung Fu Hustle may well have fun here.

Image + Sound: The Blu-ray's image pleases with a high level of detail and bright colors. Contrasts and black levels are well matched and only minimal blurring can be detected in some darker moments. Overall though, there isn't really anything to complain about here. The sound is also convincing with a very lively mix, with the surround channels really getting a lot to do, especially in the action sequences. Good!

Extras: The extras of the Blu-ray are in large parts just as wacky as the film itself. Those who didn't like its very specific humor won't necessarily get their money's worth here either. Everyone else is offered a making of, which focuses especially on the comedy part of the film (approx. 14:59 min.), as well as a much shorter one about the action in the film (approx. 2:43 min.). There are also a couple of outtakes (approx. 1:31 min.), as well as a featurette about Wen Zhang in action (approx. 2:57 min.). This is followed by a rather bizarre press conference (approx. 2:11 min.), interviews with the attractive actresses (approx. 3:59 min.), and the cast-related featurettes Kings and Queens (approx. 13:53 min.) and Counting the Stars (approx. 2:02 min.). A couple of short clips (approx. 1:13 min.), a rap video (approx. 2:05 min.) and a mini-music video (approx. 1 min.) round out the additional offerings with the trailer and image galleries. Good!

Conclusion: Badges of Fury is a very over-the-top action-comedy, which has some very amusing and also worth seeing fight interludes to offer, but whose humor is very accustomed and will not necessarily appeal to a very wide audience. However, if you like movies like Kung Fu Hustle and want to see Jet Li in a comedic role for once, you can definitely give this technically well-executed Blu-ray a chance

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp