If I want a sheer unadulterated good time with a movie, I turn to no one else but Brian Trenchard-Smith. Trenchard-Smith who could be considered one of the Kings of Ozploitation cinema made high adrenaline, super action packed cinema that was sheer fun from start to finish, and it was ALWAYS like this. His debut feature film was 1975’s SUPERB Man from Hong Kong.
The film follows Inspector Fang Sing Leng (Jimmy Wang-Yu, MASTER OF THE FLYING GUILLOTINE), as he travels to Sydney, Australia from Hong Kong on a drug case. His mission is to interrogate Win Chan (Sammo Hung, Pedicab Driver). Of course, Chan is assassinated, and makes things crazier for for Fang. He ends up teaming up with Aussie cops Morrie Grosse and Bob Taylor to take on the crime lord behind it all Jack Wilton (George Lazenby).
This is the first film by Brian Trenchard-Smith, and damn it if he did not know exactly what he wanted to make right out of the gate. This film is filled with fights, car chases, stunts, and more zaniness than you can imagine. I had zero idea a domestic disc of the film would be out in 2021, and so ended up watching this last year on my birthday last June. Honestly, I’ve seen this film at least a dozen times through, and my enjoyment of it never wavers.
The film is well-directed by Trenchard-Smith. The cast is spectacular. We have some HK action greats meeting up with Ozsploitation awesomeness like Hugh Keays-Byrnes, and then James Bond himself, George Lazenby. This film is a delight top to bottom, and if you don’t have a copy on your shelf this is the way to do it (if you already have the Umbrella disc though, you are all set).
The Blu-ray from the newly revitalized Twilight Time is a 2:35:1 1080p transfer that seems to match the overall look of the Umbrella disc. So what we have here is a very solid natural looking transfer with a 5.1 Dolby Digital and 2.0 LPCM audio track that sounds quite solid. Extras don’t match the Umbrella, but a lot of those were SD anyway, but we do get an excellent commentary track with Trenchard-Smith, Grant Page, and Keays-Byrnes. A bunch of Not Quite Hollywood interviews and a trailer. HIGHLY RECOMMNEDED.