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Righting Wrongs – Vinegar Syndrome (Blu-ray)

Theatrical Release Date: Hong Kong, 1986
Director: Corey Yuen
Writers: Cheuk-Hon Szeto, Barry Wong
Cast: Yuen Biao, Cynthia Rothrock, Melvin Wong, Roy Chiao, Corey Yuen, Wu Ma, Siu-Wong Fan, Paul Chang Chung, James Tien, Siu-Ming Lau, Gei Ying Chan, Peter Cunningham, Karen Sheperd

Release Date: July 26th, 2022
Approximate Running Times: 97 Minutes 14 Seconds (Original Hong Kong Cut), 92 Minutes 4 Seconds (Above The Law Cut), 99 Minutes 49 Seconds (Mandarin Language Export Cut)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC (All Versions)
Rating: NR
Sound: DTS-HD Mono Cantonese, DTS-HD Mono Mandarin, DTS-HD Mono English (Original Hong Kong Cut), DTS-HD Mono English (Above The Law Cut), DTS-HD Mono Mandarin (Mandarin Language Export Cut)
Subtitles: English (Original Hong Kong Cut, Mandarin Language Export Cut), English SDH (Original Hong Kong Cut, Above The Law Cut, Mandarin Language Export Cut)
Region Coding: Region A
Retail Price: $54.98

"Martial Arts legend Yuen Biao stars as Ha Ling-Ching, a respected prosecutor who has always followed the rule of law, but has recently found himself frustrated by the ineffectiveness of the court system. Ha is pushed over the edge by the murder of a key witness in a trial along with the witness's entire family. Fed up with the court's inability to punish the guilty and protect the innocent, Ha decides to take the law into his own hands and eliminate those responsible for the murders. Soon, Ha's actions catch the interest of C.I.D. Senior Inspector Cindy See (Cynthia Rothrock) and her slovenly new partner known as Stink Egg (Corey Yuen). While trying to stop Ha, Cindy uncovers who is really behind the recent murders and the two must put aside their differences in order to take down the criminal organization before they go unpunished." - synopsis provided by the distributor

Video: 4.5/5 (Righting Wrongs Original Hong Kong Cut, Above The Law Cut, Righting Wrongs Mandarin Language Export Cut), 3.75/5 (The Best of the Martial Arts Films)

Here’s the information provided about this release's transfers. "Studio supplied master with additional color grading and restoration performed by VS."

Righting Wrongs original Hong Kong cut comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 45.7 GB

Feature: 27.8 GB

Above The Law and Righting Wrongs Mandarin language export cut come on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 46.1 GB

Feature: 22.2 GB (Above The Law), 23 GB (Righting Wrongs Mandarin Language Export Cut)

The transfers for these three versions are comparable. All three transfers are in excellent shape. Colors and flesh tones look correct; image clarity, contrast, and black levels are solid; there are no issues with compression, and grain remains intact.

The Best of the Martial Arts Films comes on a 25 GB single layer Blu-ray.

Disc Size: 22 GB

Feature: 21 GB

The source used for this documentary looks very good. There are a variety of sources: film clips, and interviews, which vary quality-wise.

Audio: 4.25/5 (DTS-HD Mono Cantonese - Original Hong Kong Cut), 4/5 (DTS-HD Mono Mandarin - Original Hong Kong Cut, DTS-HD Mono English - Above The Law, DTS-HD Mono Mandarin - Mandarin Language Export Cut), 3.75/5 (DTS-HD Mono English - Original Hong Kong Cut, The Best of the Martial Arts Films)

The original Hong Kong cut comes with three audio options, a DTS-HD mono mix in Cantonese; a DTS-HD mono mix in Mandarin; and a DTS-HD mono mix in English. Included with this version are removable English subtitles for the Cantonese and Mandarin language tracks, and English SDH subtitles for the English language track. When they should, all three audio tracks sound clean, clear, balanced, and robust. That said, the Cantonese is the strongest of these three audio tracks when it comes to range, and the English language track is the weakest of these three audio tracks range-wise.

Above The Law comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in English, and included with this version are removable English SDH subtitles. There are no issues with background hiss or distortion; dialog comes through clearly; everything sounds balanced; and fight scenes sound robust.

The Mandarin language export cut comes with one audio option, a DTS-HD mono mix in Mandarin, and included with this version are two subtitle options, removable English and removable English SDH subtitles. This audio track sounds clean, clear, balanced and, range-wise, appropriately robust.

Extras:

Extras on disc one include an image gallery with music from the film playing the background, Hong Kong theatrical trailer (3 minutes 57 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), English language theatrical trailer (2 minutes 3 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English with removable English SDH subtitles), an archival interview with actor Peter Cunningham titled From the Ring to the Silver Screen (18 minutes 56 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH subtitles), an archival interview with actress Cynthia Rothrock titled Action Overload (12 minutes 52 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH subtitles), an archival interview with actor Yuen Biao titled The Vigilante (16 minutes 40 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Chinese with removable English subtitles), an interview with Peter Cunningham titled Fighting For Success (20 minutes 50 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH subtitles), an interview with actor Melvin Wong titled Kung Fu Was The Equalizer (20 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH subtitles), an interview with actress Karen Sheperd titled Unscripted Justice (35 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH subtitles), an interview with Cynthia Rothrock titled Fighting Wrongs (24 minutes 58 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH subtitles), a video essay with film historians Samm Deighan and Charles Perks (11 minutes 7 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival audio commentary with Cynthia Rothrock, and a brand new commentary track with Cynthia Rothrock.

Extras for disc two include an audio commentary with martial arts film historians Mike Leeder and Arne Venema for the Mandarin language export cut.

Extras on disc three include a theatrical trailer for The Best of the Martial Arts Films (3 minutes 57 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English SDH subtitles), and the feature length documentary The Best of the Martial Arts Films (91 minutes 19 seconds, 2.35:1 Widescreen & 1.85:1 Windowboxed Widescreen / 1080 Progressive / MPEG-4 AVC, DTS-HD stereo English & Chinese with removable English SDH subtitles).

Other extras include reversible cover art, a forty-page perfect bound book with an essay titled Welcome to Hollywood East, an essay titled What’s the Point of Corey Yuen? and an essay titled Righting Wrongs An Appreciation written by Simon Barrett, and a hard slipcase + slipcover combo limited to 6,000 units.

Summary:

Righting Wrongs brings together Yuen Biao (The Prodigal Son) and Cynthia Rothrock (Yes, Madam!), two martial arts icons who rose to prominence in the 1980’s. And though this was their first time working together, from the first moment their characters appear together on screen, their chemistry is off the charts. Another area where they complement each other extremely well is when it comes to the fight scenes where their characters fight.

Content-wise, Righting Wrongs is much darker than most of the films Yuen Biao had appeared in before this film. And though there are many elements that are synonymous with the type of films that Yuen Biao had appeared in before Righting Wrongs, the result is something that at times bears many similarities to the heroic bloodshed films that John Woo made popular after A Better Tomorrow.

Righting Wrongs’ narrative pits a jaded prosecutor who becomes a vigilante due to a broken system that gives criminals more rights than law-abiding citizens against a no-nonsense detective who is hell-bent on enforcing the law. The narrative does a superb job alternating between these two characters' worlds, and the finale provides an exemplary conclusion to their journeys. That said, depending on which version of Righting Wrongs you watch, the outcome for these two characters is different.

Though the entire cast is very good in their respective roles, Righting Wrongs is carried by Yuen Biao in the role of a prosecutor named Ha Ling-Ching, and Cynthia Rothrock in the role of a C.I.D. senior inspector named Cindy See. Other notable cast members include Siu-Wong Fan (Story of Ricky), James Tien (Fist of Fury), and Melvin Wong (Eastern Condors).

From a production standpoint, there is no area where Righting Wrongs does not excel. Corey Yuen's (Hero) solid direction is one of Righting Wrongs' greatest assets, especially when it comes to the action set pieces and crazy stunt work, which are among the best to ever appear in a Hong Kong martial arts film. Ultimately, Righting Wrongs is an exhilarating film that moves along briskly, and its wall-to-wall action set pieces will leave you breathless.

Righting Wrongs makes its way to Blu-ray via an exceptional release from Vinegar Syndrome that comes with a solid audio/video presentation, three versions of the film, and a wealth of informative extras, highly recommended.

Original Hong Kong Cut Screenshots.