HTF BLU-RAY REVIEW: Human Weapon: The Complete Season One

 

Human Weapon: The Complete Season One
Release Date: November 23, 2010
Studio: A&E Home Entertainment
Packaging/Materials: Four-disc Blu-ray case
Year: 2007
Rating: NR
Running Time: 12:32:00
MSRP: $49.95
 

Video	1080p high definition 16x9 1.78:1
Audio	DTS-HD Master Audio: English 2.0
Subtitles	None

The Season: 4/5
As much as I love a well-made martial arts film - my favorites being Jackie Chan's "Drunken Master 2" and Jet Li's "Fist of Legend" - I am endlessly fascinated by martial arts in the real world. In fact the fascination with the latter drives the unending interest in the former, and ultimately I am most drawn to films that accurately depict or represent a specific fighting style. There aren't many of them, unfortunately, but film's like "The Prodigal Son," "Ong Bak" and yes, even "Drunken Master," whet my appetite for more. 

Of course if I'm looking for accuracy and an in-depth examination of a style, a documentary piece is what's really going to deliver (though dramatizations can better convey the spirit or philosophy behind martial arts, as many of Jet Li's films do). Enter the History Channel's "Human Weapon," a 2007 program that followed a pair of trained fighters as they explored the styles, techniques, culture and history behind martial arts both familiar and relatively obscure. The show is not to be confused with the Travel Channel's "Fight Quest," which aired the same year. Both shows had the same basic structure - the hosts would visit the fighting style's country of origin, explore its history and culture, learn some of its key techniques, and then square off in an exhibition match with an expert. What made "Human Weapon" distinctive was its computer animated models that illustrated the technique, physics and physical effect of various moves, like Taekwondo's signature Tornado Kick or Muay Thai's powerful elbow strike. Where both shows suffered was in the exhibition match, which was usually a foregone conclusion due to limited training time and the fact it's probably unwise to show up martial arts experts on their home turf! Still, the strength of the program was in the preceding material - an intriguing blend of culture, history, science and athletics that represents what I find so compelling about martial arts in general. It also didn't hurt that likable hosts Jason Chambers and Bill Duff were game for anything, fueled by their obvious passion for and fascination with the fighting arts, though sometimes that meant risking significant injury. Though it would have been nice for the show to continue beyond one season, it did manage to cover a wide variety of forms over 16 episodes (although the 14th episode is a recap of the first 13). A second season would have meant exploring even more obscure fighting styles, and as much as I would have enjoyed that, I recognize the limited appeal and impracticality of producing such a program.

"Human Weapon: The Complete Season One" on Blu-ray includes all 16 episodes that aired on the History Channel in 2007. Spread across four discs, each episode runs around 45 minutes.

Disc 2
Episode 6: Pankration: The Original Martial Art
Episode 7: Krav Maga of the Israeli Commandos
Episode 8: Marine Corps Martial Arts
Episode 9: MMA: America's Extreme Fighting
Episode 10: Kung Fu

Disc 3
Episode 11: Sambo: Russia's Extreme Fighting
Episode 12: Cambodian Blood Sport
Episode 13: Silat: Martial Art of Malaysia
Episode 14: Passport to Pain -- Highlights from the previous episodes.

Disc 4
Episode 15: Ninjitsu
Episode 16: Taekwondo

Video Quality: 4/5
Episodes are correctly framed at 1.78:1 and presented in 1080p with the AVC codec. Shot on high definition video in the typical broadcast news style, the image shows very good detail and sharpness, color depth and contrast and appears free of compression or motion-related artifacts (though there are some signs of noise). Given the higher bandwidth capabilities of the Blu-ray format compared to cable or satellite, I suspect this is the best the program has looked.