Hi,
It seems that no one has compared the latest Tartan DVD "uncut" release against the other versions that are out.
It looks, to me, that what we really need is:
- John Woo supervising a complete audio and picture restoration of this movie, with...
- a double-disc release, with the film on one disc, and all the extras on disc two, with...
-the uncensored Director's Cut print from Long Shong International, with...
- total and correct reformatting of the print, to make it in the correct AND anamorphic widescreen ratio (which looks like it should be 1.77:1 or 1.85:1 approx), as well as...
- the print and remastering techniques of the TF1 version, with
- a brand-new, remastered DTS soundtrack, or high-quality Dolby Digital Surround, alongside..
- all new, remastered English subtitles, that have been correctly quality-controlled prior to the disc's release, with
- all the extras from Criterion's edition, the TF1 edition, and the hour-long documentary that was on Tartan Video's original UK VHS release, which profiled John Woo himself! (Are the two documentaries - from the Tartan VHS and the TF1 DVD release - the same?)
- and a brand new audio commentary (subtitled if needed) with Woo and Chow Yun-Fat themselves, or failing that, a new and detailed on-screen interview.
Oh, and release it in PAL format as well! And just for a laugh, include a free Tequila shot-glass and Hard-Boiled logo-embroidered napkin too. (If you haven't seen the film, you won't get the clever filmic reference here!)
I would happily pay around the £25 to £30 for this, if a single company was willing to put this little package together. After all, this was the film that really brought Woo to the attention of English-speaking fans, who then went on to rediscover "The Killer" and "Bullet In The Head", et al.
It's a shame that "Hard-Boiled" has not been given the treatment it so richly deserves! Maybe, as an added fun thing, the film could be called "Hard-Boiled: Reconstituted" or "Hard-Boiled: The Unbroken Shell Edition", instead of the usual "Remastered Edition" or "Director's Cut Edition", et al.
Lastly, has anyone compared the Sunday night (18th April 2004) transmission on Channel 4 with any of the DVD versions, to see what the TV print was like?
Pooch
(A big "Hard-Boiled" fan!)