A question for anyone has a legitimate copy of this film:

Are the liner notes printed on a different kind of paper than most other early releases? The copy that I bought (from a highly rated Amazon seller, for decent price--not too cheap to be believed) has its liner notes on an almost glossy kind of paper. Almost as though it were laminated, but not quite.

Also, printed on the cover of the DVD is "The Killer DVD"

AND

The spine "The Criterion Collection" looks bigger and slightly more pale than most early Criterions (I have The Silence of the Lambs and a legit Hard Boiled that look different).

I assume it's a bootleg, but I just want confirmation.

Edit: Ah, I forgot about the bootleg thread! Sorry about that, mods.

If it doesn't have the Nimbus logo. It's a fake.

Caught "Hard Boiled" over the weekend for the first time after owning (but not watching) a used Criterion I picked from a closing Hollywood Video store a few years back. HOOOOOOO... LY S***, are you freaking kidding me? What a kick-ass and exciting piece of kinetic filmmaking magic, the last from Woo's golden Hong Kong period. I saw "The Killer" many years ago (it was awesome!) and had heard "Hard Boiled" had a long hospital scene with a lengthy single-shot action sequence to look forward to. But I had no idea (a) the hospital scenes were almost half the length of the movie, (b) was perfectly set up and staged (loved the "G.I. Joe"-like location for the hideout for the bad guys' weapons cache) as well as being (c) the exclamation point after two prior action sequences that were also insanely over-the-top with the blodshed, pyros and trampolines. Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung have the matinee idol looks and on-screen presence to make their (stuntmen's) absurd, physics-defying gun fights in their ballets of death utterly hypnotic. Supporting performances (especially Philip Kwok as will-not-go-down-without-a-fight henchman Mad Dog and Philip Chan's Superintendent Pang) are also amusing. The Criterion DVD's picture looks like ass (a washed-out, grainy and soft leftover from the days of Laserdisc) but I had more fun with "Hard Boiled" than half the high-def movies I've seen over the past few weeks because, damn it, the movie comes first. And those extras are just the excuse I need to revisit this flick often, yay!

The collection of Woo trailers in the disc is begging me to go on a big shopping spree to track down more of his Hong Kong flicks. The thought that most of them are only available in gimped Dynasty label DVD editions is enough of a turn-off for me to cool my heels though... for now.

You don't have to limit yourself to the Dragon Dynasty editions of Woo's films even if you're region-locked. Many Asian DVD editions are complete and are all-region/region 1 and NTSC.

I'm not sure if you've had your question answered yet, but my legitimate copy of Hard Boiled definitely has the alternate glossy insert (although if I remember correctly the insert for The Killer is the normal one found in the early releases). I hope that this helps.

It was quite fun to note in that MTV Mission: Impossible 2 skit Woo did with Tom Cruise and Ben Stiller as the pompous stuntman (an extra on the DVD) that the section where Cruise is constantly swapped out in order for Stiller to take the punches for him seems directly taken from the Plain Jane film! I don't know which is more subversive - a 'plain' woman constantly being punched in the face while the glamorous actress is protected and requests extra takes; or Stiller acknowledging that, successful as he is, he is reduced to punch-taker in the face of Cruise's megastardom! (Much as he became in response to De Niro in those Meet The Parents films)

I've just picked up that Stranglehold PS3 game based on the film (one of the advantages of being really slow to pick things up when they are first released is getting great quality for a tiny price - I bought this and GTA IV for £20!), but have not yet got to playing it yet. I keep thinking that it would be good to rewatch the film again before playing the game in order to get back into the carnage frame of mind! I really liked the beautifully choreographed ballets of violence in the hospital (with the refreshingly causal disregard for patient and baby safety!) but the restaurant and warehouse scenes are similarly spectacular. As a budding librarian at the time of first seeing the film I remember finding it amusing that you could visit a library to replenish your supply of guns hidden away inside various books! That in turn reminds me of the sequence in Matrix Reloaded where Monica Bellucci uses a book to open a secret passage, leading to the waggish comment from the critics (I think David Thomson) on their commentary that "This is all books are any good for in modern cinema!". That moment from Hard Boiled could be considered an even better executed, and funnier, example of that!

I would certainly recommend Bullet In The Head to you dad1153, although I have heard that all of the DVD versions are compromised in some fashion to do with the soundtrack. It has been over a decade since I last watched my taped from TV copy of the film but remember it becoming (and remaining) one of my favourite of the director's films, combining the intensely operatic emotionalism and spectacular gunfights with a larger conflict for the first time. The film is probably best thought of as a combination of gangster film and The Deer Hunter, down to the Russian roulette scene in a POW camp except without the neat ending of being instantly killed by the gun going off, leading to an Of Mice and Men edge (albeit more violent, and with more car chases around the docks!) to the final scenes.

You may want to check to the French HKV edition before saying that.
Picture and sounds are much much better. The DVD includes the original stereo cantonese track and is not cropped, not like the CC DVD. And you have more than 2h extras, including a 1h15 retrospective about the movies, with interviews from Woo and Terrence Chang, including a whole sequence about remembrances from the single shot action squence shooting. The other extras are the alternative cut for the opening tea house sequences (12'00), an analysis of Woo films by Nicolas Saada (10'40) and a Tony Leung interview (11'00).

But of course, this edition is not english friendly at all.

The same goes for The Killer, with a 32' interview from Tsui Hark and Woo, plus the alternative longer Taiwanese cut of the movie.

The lack of English subs on the French release of The Killer is one of the most regrettable oversights by a DVD distributor I can think of. If this had been english-friendly, I'd have bought it a long time ago. With Dragon Dynasty appearing to go out of business (Bey Logan has left and the website has not been updated for some time), I'm not holding out much hope that Criterion renew their licence (The Killer on Blu would be fab) or that anyone else in the US picks it up (though perhaps Palisades Tartan could step in and reissue the film in the UK using the French transfer).

Re Bullet in the Head: the most recent Korean R3 disc had a very positive review on DVD Times and it includes the vastly superior boardroom ending.

Fact is : it's cause it's owned by people like CC in the USA or like HKL in the UK that they can't expect adding English subs for catching the english market. But yes it's sad. It's really a great editor, and these movies have really better editions / masters than the Criterion ones. That's a shame english-speaking people can't enjoy it.
That's the same for a lot of others French editors.

But, hey, that's the game.

Allegedly, Vivendi plan to release The Killer on Blu 30th March next year. Hopefully we'll get a official confirmation and specs for this closer to the time.

March 30 The Killer Blu confirmed...

Hi Colin,

Very interesting to read what you said about the russian roulette scene. it isn't anywhere to be found on the HK legends DVD, or perhaps any DVD of Bullet in the Head. However I do remember a excellent Russian Roulette scene when I first watched this movie on Channel 4 long ago. Yet I can't find any pictures or clips of this scene online. Do you have any caps or pics of this scene?

I'll have to look out my old video of the Channel 4 recording and see if I can do some captures of the scene (if I can I'll put them in the Screen Captures thread), and if I remembered the scene correctly after all these years. It might take me a while to do them though!

Thank you Colin, I very much look forward to that. I'm guessing you recorded it from UK television Channel 4?

Yes, back in 1999.

Colin and Paul,

I can confirm I saw Bullet in the Head in the theater (Art Institute of Chicago Film Center in 1991 or 1992) and it had the Russian roulette scene. It was the Hong Kong release cut according to the notes by Barbara Scharres, director of the Film Center.

Thank you for confirming that, kerningpair. I wonder why this scene hasn't shown up on any of the DVD releases.

From diabolikdvd.com:

From what I've understan, the international version is the same film just with the deleted scenes in the Criterion edition put back into the film. I've only seen the regular cut, but I can't really see those cuts making a big difference on the film.

My only hope is that the Weinstein's don't do dub-titles again.

If I understand it correctly, it's Vivendi now, not Weinstein. Maybe I'm misinformed....?

But I agree - that's the #1 thing to dissuade me from purchasing this.

Maybe Vivendi is handling the publishing of the Weinstein's film. It's being released on Blu-Ray under the Dragon Dynasty label along with their previously released The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. I'm a little confused myself about who's releasing what on this title.

Vivendi bought Genius which owns the Dragon Dynasty label from the Weinsteins if I'm not mistaken.

36th Chamber of Shaolin is 1080i. http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDCompar ... hamber.htm

Not a good sign for The Killer's potential...

Damn! I was really excited about that release. I wonder if the French Blu-Ray has the same problem.

The DD 36th Chamber of Shaolin Blu is clearly from a 25fps source -- check out the running times. So then why doesn't the DVD have any apparent standards conversion issues? Perhaps they had a native NTSC source for standard-def but only 1080i50 for HD? Very strange.