Big Brother Blu-ray Review

Big Brother Blu-ray Review

Story

Martial arts legend Donnie Yen stars as a former soldier recruited for his toughest mission yet – teaching a class of teen delinquents. As he kicks his way into their school and home lives, it becomes clear that his unconventional teaching style might be just what they need.

Review

Donnie Yen of course has become a martial arts and film legend because of his vast filmography and the great fight choreography you can find in most of his films. With Big Brother they bring all of that experience to a family friendly plot. Think of the Pacifier but with a martial arts twist.

Like most of Yen's previous films Big Brother includes quite a few fight scenes. They are expertly choreographed as expected, although I would have liked to have seen a few more. The ones we do get aren't as over the top as I would have wanted but I can understand given the family friendly feel they are going for here.

As far as the family element in the film, it revolves around a few select students of his who are suffering through their own issues at home, much like most of your typical teenagers. Everything from students dealing with alcoholic parents to parents who might not approve of their lifestyle.  What I would have liked to have seen from these scenes is maybe more background and character development. Some of the payoffs and resolutions felt a bit rushed and it just took away some of the feel good moments I wanted to have.

I think the biggest issue with the film is the pacing, it seems to want to settle things early on and then rush the story towards the end. I almost forgot who the antagonist was at various points and found myself asking where this movie was ultimately going. Unfortunately because of that some of the scenes just felt unnecessary and out of of place.

I'll say that Donnie Yen definitely carried this film. He is fun to watch on screen and was totally believable as a teacher with a mysterious background.

Video

Big Brother does surprisingly take place in various environments and settings and all of them looked great on screen. I've had the opportunity to review a few of WellGoUSA's previous Blu-ray releases and I am always pleasantly surprised by the quality of the video transfer and Big Brother is no different. I do watch most Blu-rays on my Xbox One S and I had no issues with the video quality. Everything looked crisp and sharp and had great contrast.

Audio

Most of the time with films that have fight scenes I like to feel the extra thump you hear when punches land and here they are a little subdued. Although it does not take away from the film, I do wish the fights felt a little more impactful. All other audio sounded great and nothing seemed out of place.

Language

• Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Cantonese: Dolby Digital 2.0

Subtitles

• English, Cantonese

Final Thoughts

Big Brother is a solid family film with some great fight choreography however it does lack in character development.

Big Brother is available on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital now from Well Go USA Entertainment!