Tech News
Reviewed by Cas Harlow, 21st December 2010.
John Woo’s massively influential, seminal action movie, Hard Boiled, is surely one of the best in the genre. Between his expertly choreographed slo-mo action and his hyperkinetic, explosive shoot-outs, Woo does balletic, ballistic gunplay like no other, and Hard Boiled represents the pinnacle of his action film career, and also arguably the best of his collaborations with charismatic leading man Chow Yun-Fat. For action fans this is one of those movies that set the mould in the first place, a non-stop rollercoaster ride of tremendous, increasingly audacious set-pieces, and breathtaking real-life effects and stunts. Undeniably exhilarating from start to finish, it simply must seen to be believed.
On Region Free US Blu-ray we unfortunately get a release which does not necessarily justify the upgrade. Dragon Dynasty, the studios who produced one of the most recent SD-DVD editions, have come up with a Blu-ray version which is superior in some ways to their previous DVD release, but inferior in others. We do get significantly better audio, and most of the previously-found extras as well, but there’s nothing new in the extra department, which is a shame when you consider the wealth of material on offer from the other DVD incarnations (including no less than two John Woo Audio Commentaries) which are nowhere to be seen here. Furthermore the video presentation is terrible. Clearly they have done something for this High Definition release, but it looks like they have left some scenes untouched (complete with heavy grain and print damage) and other scenes DNR’d into oblivion (in true Predator style), so it hardly comes as an upgrade, and in fact some might argue that it is inferior to the previous DVD incarnations. As such, if you already own Hard Boiled on DVD, you may want to consider waiting for a better version to come along. If you don’t yet have this title in your collection, however, then you could consider picking up this competitively-priced release. It’s a shame, because the film itself is an absolute must-have action classic, and it deserves far, far better.
Read the full review...
John Woo’s massively influential, seminal action movie, Hard Boiled, is surely one of the best in the genre. Between his expertly choreographed slo-mo action and his hyperkinetic, explosive shoot-outs, Woo does balletic, ballistic gunplay like no other, and Hard Boiled represents the pinnacle of his action film career, and also arguably the best of his collaborations with charismatic leading man Chow Yun-Fat. For action fans this is one of those movies that set the mould in the first place, a non-stop rollercoaster ride of tremendous, increasingly audacious set-pieces, and breathtaking real-life effects and stunts. Undeniably exhilarating from start to finish, it simply must seen to be believed.
On Region Free US Blu-ray we unfortunately get a release which does not necessarily justify the upgrade. Dragon Dynasty, the studios who produced one of the most recent SD-DVD editions, have come up with a Blu-ray version which is superior in some ways to their previous DVD release, but inferior in others. We do get significantly better audio, and most of the previously-found extras as well, but there’s nothing new in the extra department, which is a shame when you consider the wealth of material on offer from the other DVD incarnations (including no less than two John Woo Audio Commentaries) which are nowhere to be seen here. Furthermore the video presentation is terrible. Clearly they have done something for this High Definition release, but it looks like they have left some scenes untouched (complete with heavy grain and print damage) and other scenes DNR’d into oblivion (in true Predator style), so it hardly comes as an upgrade, and in fact some might argue that it is inferior to the previous DVD incarnations. As such, if you already own Hard Boiled on DVD, you may want to consider waiting for a better version to come along. If you don’t yet have this title in your collection, however, then you could consider picking up this competitively-priced release. It’s a shame, because the film itself is an absolute must-have action classic, and it deserves far, far better.
Read the full review...