It looks like Dragon Dynasty screwed the pooch on Hard Boiled on DVD and I think the same transfer (only in HD) is being used for the movie that'll be included with the Collector's Edition of Stranglehold. Dragon Dynasty (Here come the Weinsteins!) seems to have taken an existing print, cropped it and then stretched it.

From Asian DVD Guide Forums: http://adg.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=2001

The Dragon Dynasty disc, while using the same source as the German disc (and very possible the French disc) falls inferior to each disc. While the video is generally of high quality, the colors are darker and a bit murkier than than both the French and German disc. Also, the picture has less picture information on all four sides than either of those discs. But worse of all, is that the picture looks stretched. It appears that after the cropping was done, the video restoration team decided to cover the cropping by stretching the image out which makes objects and people like wider than they should be (something which was typical of HKL back when Brian White was running the label). The result is a picture that while better than what's out there in NTSC currently, is inferior to the French and German releases.

I don't think there will ever be a good NTSC version of Hard Boiled on disc.

If it's the same source/master as the German disc and possibly french disc and looks worse, then it's the encode... The HD encode will obviously be different, so it may not have those issues (it likely wasn't done by dragon dynasty, as why would they?). Who knows.

As long as it looks slightly better and has a better subtitle translation than my import Mei Ah Entertainment version, I'll be happy.

On a side note: how does the MAE version rank PQ wise of all the versions? I just bought that version because I found it cheap -- anyone know?

Meh Ah is an ugly version, lol. But its better tahn any Dragon Dynasty release because its not all cut-up. I think Criterion had the best release of Hard Boiled but its hard to come by, maybe ebay for like $40. It's not anamorphic, but Criterion didn't cut or edit the film in any way, they treated it like gold. Stay away from any foreign movie the Weinsteins get their hands on. They are butchers!!!

Uh, it's uncut from Dragon Dynasty.

But the aspect ratio IS screwed up and on larger screens it is very noticeable. I am NOT buying it. Renting it was enough for me. My old Winstar 4:3 release is still the best version on DVD and thanks to my Malata dvd player's scaling abilities, I can see it properly. Yes, it is soft, but I deal with it. Not to mention it has the original soundtrack.

I am NOT buying the HD version until it is reviewed. If it has the same screwed up transfer as the Dragon Dynasty release, no dice.

Dusts off my Criterion Hard Boild DVD Case... :p

Maybe I should look into selling off this one now as this new one didn't even live up to that version....standard speaking I guess!

Sucks to hear that though. I'm pulling for a good HD transfer of this fantastic flick.

Stay away from any foreign movie the Weinsteins get their hands on. They are butchers!!!I think Miramax is just as bad or worse. :mad:

Curious...when did you all buy your Hard Boiled DVD?

Mine seems to have been produced by Winstar Video (copyright says 2000, so I'm assuming that's about when I bought it).

By no means is this a great transfer. It's mono audio, 1.85:1, and looks like it's a transfer from VHS.

I think Miramax is just as bad or worse. :mad:

Well... the Weinsteins were Miramax. They left but Disney (It was Disney, right?) wouldn't give up the name. The name actually comes from combining the names of the Weinstein brothers' parents.

Curious...when did you all buy your Hard Boiled DVD?

Mine seems to have been produced by Winstar Video (copyright says 2000, so I'm assuming that's about when I bought it).

By no means is this a great transfer. It's mono audio, 1.85:1, and looks like it's a transfer from VHS.

I have the same Winstar release, though it's most often referred to as the Fox Lorber release. The transfer is super-bad and incredibly blown out... but it's not cut up and stretched like the new Dragon Dynasty disc.

Curious...when did you all buy your Hard Boiled DVD?

Mine seems to have been produced by Winstar Video (copyright says 2000, so I'm assuming that's about when I bought it).

By no means is this a great transfer. It's mono audio, 1.85:1, and looks like it's a transfer from VHS.

I think I got the Criterion DVD in 98? I can't remember. I've got that and The Killer Criterion still. I just couldn't let them go!

Yup, still have my Criterion edition. Think I'll be holding on to it since I have a feeling Stranglehold isn't going to be that good of a game. I'll rent it or most likely buy it when it hits the bargain bins. Don't see the sense in buying a hi-def version of a film if it's still going to look like crap.

I'm expecting a First Blood ish PQ. Nothin special but still nice to see an old flick look sharp.

Does anyone know where I can get the R2 French edition (which obviously has the best looking transfer) at a price that isn't as absurd as Amazon.fr's?

Couple things to note here:

1.) Dragon Dynasty usually does a great job with their Asian movie releases. When Fox/Miramax is/was doing it their DVDs had cut versions of the film and were just crap overall.

Dragon Dynasty is different and is the heir apparent to the great Hong Kong Legends label of the UK. They have great PQ, authoring, extras, etc, on their discs and the movies are always completely uncut with original soundtracks, etc. Their track record on PQ for their previous releases prior to Hard-boiled was that they generally produced the best current version available. See their Police Story releases for those comparisons and that evidence.

Also, remember that the PQ factors on some of these reviews/comparisons is extremely subjective. For example, some may prefer the sharper print with pumped up colors of the R2 release to the R4 release that has a softer look but a more natural color scheme - and vice versa. In terms of overall favorable qualities for a PQ to have - given everything - the new Dragon Dynasty releases usually are the clear visual winners with their newer releases of old films, IMO. They generally do a good job of making their versions look at least very slightly better than all previous versions in some way.

2) So if they screwed the pooch on the Hard-boiled release - then that would basically be a first for Dragon Dynasty. It's understandable though since like the Bruce Lee films, Jet Li's Fist of Legend, Jackie Chan's two Drunken Master films, and certain other titles - Hard-boiled has had a very long history of having terribly un-satisfying releases to home video/DVD for some reason or another. See, for example, even the Criterion version of Hard-boiled which is inexplicably non-anamorphic.

3) The Dragon Dynasty company is absolutely NOT handling the BD/Strangehold transfer anyway. It has already been stated in press releases/interviews that the game developer Midway is working with the original HK/Asian production company who owns the original masters of Hard-Boiled to create a new HD transfer. The whole idea of putting Hard-boiled on BD with Strangehold was a joint-promotion with Asian companies (their studios & Sony) to better sell BD/the PS3 to the Japanese/Asians who love Chow Yun-Fat and classic Woo films but who also, so far, aren't responding to Sony/BD over there like many of us did here in the US.

Now whether this does become a sloppy port/transfer of the actual film, done only as a weak and fast attempt to further entice Asians to BD and the PS3 - is anyone's guess. But, I suppose, we shall find out soon enough.

I, personally, imagine that it will look quite solid but be a pretty bare-bones addition otherwise.

Dragon Dynasty is different and is the heir apparent to the great Hong Kong Legends label of the UK... the movies are always completely uncut with original soundtracks, etc.Except for My Young Auntie where they didn't even bother to include the original language track.

I just popped in the CE of Stranglehold, and the version of the film on disc doesn't appear to be in HD -- it just looks like a nicely upscaled DVD. I haven't had a chance to watch the entire movie or compare it against my Criterion DVD yet, but from what I saw in the first few minutes, there weren't any aspect ratio issues and the print looked pretty clean.

- Jer