Customer Reviews

The Blood of Heroes

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(22)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was glad to see this movie finally get released on DVD. My friends and I saw this back when it came out in theaters, and it worked well for what it was, a movie about a post apocalyptic sport where the goal is to put a dog skull on an opposing teams' post starring Rutger Hauer? We were so there. And we weren't disappointed.

Rutger Hauer is Sallow, a once great player in the sport, made a mistake of getting too close to a woman outside his class, and is now reduced to playing matches outside of the system, in the rugged, barren, waste world. His team of 'juggers' consists of five people, including himself. There's Young Gar (Vincent Phillip D'Onofrio), Mbulu (Delroy Lindo), Big Cimber (Anna Katerina), and Dog Boy (Justin Monjo). Each player has his or her own responsibilities, but the main goal is to protect the runner, as that is the player that handles the dog skull, and will ultimately decide the outcome of the game based on his/her ability to place the skull on the opposing team's post. The sport is quite brutal, leading to severe injuries, and, sometimes, even death. No penalties, no rules, anything goes. Sallow and his group travel from town to town, challenging the home team, squeaking out a living. The ultimate goal is to win enough games for the honor to petition the league to compete in the league, opening up a world unknown to many as league players are treated very well. Joan Chen plays Kidda, a wannabe runner who gets into Sallow's clan when Dog Boy is injured. Poor little Dog Boy...anyway, as she learns the ropes, Sallow's team advances, and finally collects enough dog skulls (victories) to petition the league. What happens then? Watch and find out...

I enjoyed this movie, even though it's a familiar story. The game, the players, the weapons, it was all very well thought out and the characters motivations seem simple at first become more complicated. The end game will have you rooting for the underdog, even if you don't care for the movie itself. I would have liked to given this movie another star, but I found the DVD presentation to be somewhat lacking. Where's the clarity? The most noticeable problems are with the darker scenes. The definition was very poor, providing a muddled at best picture. I am surprised Lions Gate couldn't find a better copy to put on DVD. And since I saw this in the theaters, I know it was originally presented in wide screen, but not here. And the sound is pretty poor. At least you can view the subtitles, to see what is being said, but why should you have to? A very disappointing release of a great movie.

I saw this movie in the theater long ago, and could hardly wait for it to come out on DVD. But when it did... Ouch.

Three HUGE problems with the DVD: 1) The color/brightness are terrible, some scenes so dark that they're almost impossible to see -- you have to crank up your TV's brightness to get a clue. 2) The sound is totally muddy -- several lines we had to replay to decipher at all. And 3) why is there no widescreen option?

All of these problems could have been avoided. In theaters, the movie was widescreen, well-lit, and sounded good.

Lions Gate has taken a great post-apocalypse action movie and released a DVD that's best used as a coaster for your drink. I love the movie, but DO NOT BUY THIS DVD.

As commented on before this is a very poor quality copy of a great movie, it appears as though someone made the dvd off an old worn out VHS copy that was used as a door stop for 10yrs. The picture is very grainy and washed out and the sound is about 1/2 the volume of other movies. As a matter of fact i have a very old VHS copy of this movie i copied from hbo about 15yrs ago and it still looks better than this one. Thanks to Amazon as always for even having the movie available.

I love Salute of the Jugger (a.k.a. Blood of Heroes). This movie is a classic. It is one of the very few worth while, sci-fi, bleak future, bloodsport movies. For fans of post-apocalyptic movies and even for cyberpunk genre fans this movie is a must-see.

Unfortunately the DVD version is not very good. At least 9 minutes have been cut from the TV version of the movie. (Warning, spoiler ahead) I fast forwarded through the TV version I have on tape once I had finished watching the DVD version and for one, the ENTIRE post-showdown ending of the original movie is gone, cut in favor of an over-simplified ending that makes it look like Rutger Hauer's character, Sallow, actually came out ahead in stead of leading his team to victory only to be himself banished back to the wastes.

As for my rating, the movie itself gets five stars.
The DVD version loses:
1 star for for crappy vocals. The audio (effects and music) wasn't bad over all, just the vocals in too many places.
1/2 star for not being in wide screen. Not having seen it in theaters I've only ever seen it in full screen, so I'm not that annoyed by the film being full-screen only.
1 star for a completely dumbed down and quite frankly, stupid version of the ending.
The DVD version gains:
1/2 star for simply bringing this great movie out on DVD!!!
Net rating:
3 stars

It's been stated before, but I'll state it again; This is a great movie. I own both the VHS and DVD versions of the film but was very disappointed in the DVD release. Presumably, they used the best film version they had to create the DVD, but it still suffers from a decided lack of post-production work. In many scenes the color is washed out, and for the life of me I don't understand why they couldn't have done something about the cigarette burns (used in theatres to to signal an upcoming reel change) which are present in the DVD version.

The upshot is that for all the advantages DVD has over VHS, I would suggest you consider purchasing the VHS version over the DVD version. Beyond the usual trailers for other movies, the DVD version offers nothing that the VHS version doesn't already have.

I was very disappointed to find out that this was the American version, it lacks 10 minutes of footage, and has sort of a happy ending for Sallow.
Apart from that this is still a very solid post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie.

I've seen BLOOD OF HEROES about 10 times. Some people find it primitive and bad (all of my friends, unfortunately), and I have no one to talk this film with, so far. I find this movie excellent because of its music and actors (actresses). It has fantastic music and sounds (including the sound of the juggers' stick hitting the other's stick). The plot is excellent. David Peoples is my favourite director, Rutger Hauer is my fav. actor. So, if you like sci-fi movies, you'll have to see this magnificent creation. If anyone wants to talk about this movie, please write me on my e-mail address.

I became a huge fan of this film when it first came out in cinemas in the late eighties. Here in Australia, it was called "Salute of the Jugger" (personally, I think a better title than "Blood of Heroes" - more relevant, for a start). I was so impressed by it that I even created a set of rules for The Game for use in my favourite roleplaying game! I've watched the rental VHS version countless times and loved every frame. However, I was a little shocked that some of the scenes that featured in the theatrical release (e.g. paying the toll to the Enforcers, the extended end scene) don't appear in the DVD. Why couldn't they have been included at the very least as deleted scenes? The DVD features (or general lack of) are also disappointing, and the image quality of the movie itself is very ordinary - and what, no widescreen? However, watching the DVD again the other day reminded me that this movie has not aged a bit - it is still great fun to watch. And if you love the DVD, don't forget to get the CD as well - the music is excellent!

THE BLOOD OF HEROES is yet another example of a good post-apocalyptic movie about life lived by remnants of a once great civilization. If you liked the ROAD WARRIOR trilogy you will most definitely find this movie enticing. Pay close attention to the music, dialogue,background sets, and general psychology of town inhabitants as you walk with Rutger Hauer, and an all-star cast on a journey from dogtown to dogtown toward the fabled NINE CITIES in which the brutal rugby/gladiator-like game to pin the dogskull on the opponents' stake is played. I particulary fancy movies that take time to think about what people would be like if they were subjected to the conditions brought on by extreme global changes. It is a movie with good action sequences, thought-provoking vision, and even some comic relief. I recommend it to people who enjoy exploring the human condition,the darker side of life and its struggles, and reading between its lines to see what makes up the time period.

This is one of my favorite movies. Not sure why. Honestly.

First off this movie is essentially a sports movie wrapped into a post-apocalyptic setting.

This movie is full of character actors we all know as well. Rutger is his usual awesome self in this well written, well acted, low-budged faire. The script and pacing is tight and the final playing of "The Game" plays better than many other sport movies.

Now for my main complaint. This movie is in 4:3! No widescreen presentation? This movie has played on Bravo plenty of times in Widescreen. It had a theatrical release this was no direct to video movie.

On the off-chance this movie is ever remastered and released in its original aspect ratio I will be the first to buy it!