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Feature

The Burma Conspiracy (or Largo Winch II in France) tells the tale of Largo (Tomer Sisley) as he inherits his father’s massive corporation and decides to shift its focus to humanitarian projects. However when it emerges that Largo’s father may have used a secret fund known as Pandora to wipe out a village in Burma three years ago, officials try to tie Largo to the events and he fights to find out the truth.


With a kick ass opening car chase which is very Bond in style, The Burma Conspiracy gets off to a cracking start with super kinetic action and some damn impressive car crashes. This well shot action continues throughout with fast paced down and dirty fight scenes and a fair few explosions to boot. However this is not really an action movie but more a corporate thriller with multiple layers of corruption and conflicting interests.

The majority of the movie is dialogue based with conversations revolving around Largo's humanitarian pursuits and the different factions discussing whats next. Enemies close in and the danger ramps up, from corrupt generals and mercenaries to officials like Sharon Stone (still holding on to that skin tight white dress) trying to get Largo via legal routes. The story covers quite a lot of ground with mini adventures in Burma, Thailand, Hong Kong and other locations. There’s even a delightfully fun little sub plot with Largo’s well mannered helper trying to track down someone who might be able to help Largo out which is a nice change of pace from the heavier elements of the story.

All in all The Burma Conspiracy feels a little like a Van Damme move from the nineties without all the fighting and its star doing the splits. It’s a good story that covers a lot of ground with some enjoyable characters and even though Sisley rocks the blue steel brood more than Daniel Craig, he provides a lead performance that gives the story a likeable character to get behind.

Video

This big ‘n’ bright thriller comes with some big ‘n’ bright visuals. Warmly lit exotic locations, crisp cold office scenes and night set pieces are all shot with thriller-slick good looks. Colours run a little too warm at times especially in the Burma scenes, skin tones are healthy and tanned with good textures and even though the straight laced characters in the story are pale as ghosts in their stark office settings, wrinkles and skin textures still look very good.

There are some deep blacks throughout and some good detail from time to time, though elements do often feel a little soft. Night scenes also hold up well with strong lighting and rich colours making for an all round good transfer.

Audio

This multi lingual 5.1 track is a full sounding affair with a constant level of ambience always underpinning the dialogue whether it’s the clicking wildlife or hum of an engine. The centrally placed dialogue is consistently crisp and the score has an almost superhero movie feel to it. Sweeping strings and a nice bit of power has moments of feeling like Spider-man and even Burton's Batman movies and with the film based on a Belgian comic book, I guess that fits the desired mood.

Extras

The only extra on the disc is the trailer (01:56).

Overall

The Burma Conspiracy is an easy watch with plenty to keep its audience occupied, providing just as many thrills as any big Hollywood affair (even if it falls more towards thrillers of the nineties quite a lot of the time). The disc looks and sounds good but it's thin on extras so anyone interested might want to consider a rental.