... anyone seen it?

I just got the DVD (Chinese edition.) I'm a little puzzled -- has this been released stateside, theatrically? Or is it slated for later this year? I know it was supposed to get a theatrical US release, but I can't figure out if I missed that or not.

In any case, if you've seen it, let me know what you thought of it. Personally I'm very impressed with it. Definitely better than Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and it looks like Ching Siu-Tung has come a long way as an action choreographer since his 'Chinese Ghost Story' days. The "color-coding" of the stories was a bit much, and stylistically, it's almost too much of a good thing, but there's no question it's well, well worth your time and money to see, (if you have any interest in martial arts or HK cinema, anyway.) Some will probably find the implied political message of the film questionable, but, well. It's a pretty good movie.

K

I heard it's supposed to be released here (U.S.) theatrically in November 2003. Why the big delay, I have no idea. Can't wait to see it, althought I will be in Shanghai next Fall so hopefully it will still be in the cinema there. Where did you order it from?

Not to interrupt, K, but I was wondering if there was ever a resolution to that whole Hong Kong Legends situation?

Actually, there was, but I didn't drag the thread back up because I didn't think anyone was actually waiting to hear about it.

HKL's customer service was mighty slow, but they did finally come through. They sent a replacement for the Magnificent Butcher DVD without even requesting the original be returned (anyone looking for a copy?) and at last got my missing order (The Killer) to me.

Unfortunately, the MB replacement's no different, but I investigated the situation a bit and this is what I found out. Most of the HKL DVDs are fine, but there are maybe two or three releases for which NTSC PAL-capable players, for some reason or another, convert the PAL improperly, resulting in a slightly squashed or stretched image. Magnificent Butcher just happens to be one of them. I think Police Story is another. Depending on your player, you may be able to adjust the viewing area slightly to reduce the problem.

Magnificent Butcher also has a slight glitch where the sound goes out of sync during the opening sequence. This just appears to be bad manufacturing, I'm afraid, but once I chilled out of anal-retentive phase and settled in and really gave the DVD a chance, I found that it wasn't nearly as distracting a flaw as it seemed when first skimming through. It's annoying for the first ten minutes maybe, but after a bit you barely notice it anymore unless you're really watching for it. Just a half-second off or so.

No significant problems on The Killer DVD. Excellent print, new English translation, well paced subtitles. Includes deleted scenes, interviews with some of the now much older cast members, and commentaries. Only complaint on this one is that the sound seems a touch thin in places, but it's probably the best in-print edition of the film on the market.

When all's said in done, HKL's worth checking out, but I'd recommend ordering from someplace other than the HKL website, such as Amazon UK or Benson's World UK. Or there's HKFlix in the US.

K

HKFlix. I have the shittiest luck in the world with this stuff though. When it arrived to me it had come loose in its case and the surface of the DVD is scuffed as fuck, causing slight glitches during playback. So far, HKFlix has offered to "remove the scratches" with some machine of theirs if I send it back at my expense, but I'm hoping I can just talk them into replacing the disc. Thing looks and plays like a 10-year-old rental copy.

BTW, there's some screen caps here.

K

Looks Nice. Which version did you get (of the 4 on that website)?

go to dvdasian.com! if there's a difference in price between it and hkflix.com, it'll be cheaper. shipping cost isn't much, and i had my order on the 2nd day after i ordered.

for example, the DD5.1 version of Hero:

[img]http://www.dvdasian.com/images/6/14978.2.jpg[/img]

is 15.95 at hkflix, but 12.95 at dvdasian. even if the former does guarantee lowest prices, you'll probably have to go through a hastle to get them down to, what, 12.50. plus, if you consider 1-3 priority mail from dvdasian is 2.50+.95/item vs. a nongauranteed 1-6 day flat rate of 4.95 at hkflix, the latter's "lowest price" is not only going to be not actually lower, but it'll quite a bit slower, as well.

this was my good deed for the day.

Thanks! Have you had any problems with that version?

Thanks for the tip, Charles. HKFlix was definitely slow to ship. And yeah, how is that version? How'd you like the movie in general?

Rai, I got the Chinese DTS version with the yellow/gold looking cover. Aside from the scuffing, the DVD itself is satisfactory, but at times the image seemed a touch pixelized or something, and the menus are strictly in Chinese, making it a little tricky to navigate. The special featurette is also in Chinese only, rendering it pretty much useless to me. Of course, this is after all the Chinese edition, but I was hoping for subtitles on the menu & features. The subtitles in the movie itself are just fine. It's a decent edition but the others may be better, I'm not sure. Watch the region coding though.

K

And speaking of region coding, I just managed to successfully "flash" my DVD-ROM drive. Hooray!

K