At this point I'm going to just go ahead and assume that any regular readers of Twitch are already going to be well familiar with John Woo's Hard Boiled. It's a classic for a reason and it's a film that is absolutely essential for any fan of action film. And so, rather than rehash what has already been said many time about the film I just wanted to throw out a few thoughts on the new Dragon Dynasty DVD release.
Disc one is the film itself, presented in a clean, anamorphic transfer. There are reports out there that the image had been cropped very slightly then subsequently stretched back out to the correct ratio which results in a slight distortion of the image. Viewing this version on its own it isn't an alteration that I noticed but when comparing screen images from other releases there clearly is a slight stretch. There are a couple different cuts of Hard Boiled floating around out there, this is the two hour and six minute one which is the preferred version. Audio comes in 5.1 and DTS varieties of the original Cantonese, while English dubs come in 5.1 and the original mono. The English subtitles are clear and easy to read but are, unfortunately, based on the English dub script rather than on the original Cantonese script meaning there are some alterations made to the dialog. The sole special feature on disc one is the audio commentary provided by Bey Logan. While I'd always prefer my commentaries to be provided by people directly connected to the film so that you can hear behind the scenes stories while watching - and there are Woo commentary tracks out there that could have been used - there is no faulting Logan for his work here. The man's range of knowledge is simply enormous and his commentary is insightful and hugely informative with Logan giving histories of the actors, film makers, sets, and anything else that may pop up on screen.
Disc two is the special features. While there are a couple other things on there the only ones of any note are the interviews, all of which are lengthy and very informative. Woo talks about the film for nearly forty minutes. Producer Terence Chang turns in about twenty five on his working history with Woo in general and this film in particular. Villain and choreographer Kwok Choi gives another twenty five minutes or so and supporting actor - and real life former cop who actually supervised undercover squads - Phillip Chan turns in about fifteen. There is also a very brief location tour and a promo reel for the new Stranglehold video game.
On the whole this is a strongly mixed release. In some areas - notably the features and, even with the slight stretch, the transfer - it is a significant improvement over many other versions that have circulated over the years while in others it is flawed enough that it doesn't seem to merit the "Ultimate Edition" tag that Dragon Dynasty have given it. There is definite room for improvement.
I thought this particular disc had DUBTITLES rather than properly translated subtitles. If that is true (I've not had it confirmed, but many suggestions that this is true), than that is inexcusable.
Why oh why has the Criterion version of the disc been OOP for almost a decade?
Definitely dub-titled (see DVDBEAVER review). People are also stating the image may be slightly stretched or not transfered correctly.
Thanks guys. Found confirmation on that and updated the post to reflect.
Well, no reason to really pick this up. As far as I can tell, the old Criterion release was the Ultimate release. That commentary track with Woo and Avary is as informative as it is hilarious. If you can track it down, get it.
Regarding an earlier question, the Criterion release is OOP because they only had the rights for a short time. Also the transfer on that disc is not anamorphic and comes from a slightly battered print. After reading several reviews I was expecting this to just look awful but apart from the slight stretching (which I doubt I would have noted without bein told) this is a welcome release for an essential work of action cinema that has been missing from shelves for far too long. As for it being "Ultimate", why does anyone fixate on these (purely) marketing terms? Almsot every other disc out there from any major studio is the "Ultimate" or "Complete" or whatever, at least DD didn't call it "Extreme"! All in all while DD did slip on this relase, their Shaw Bros line out now is excellent, in almost every case superior to the Celestial Region 3 releases. Even "The Protector" and "Killzone" were released uncut and packed with extras, not to mention great Region 1 editions of Righting Wrongs and Millionaire's Express. I have to say past behavior (and in the case of theatrical treatment, current behavoir) aside the brothers W have gone a long way in making good on their oft stated love of asian action cinema.