Killer, The: Special Edition #211 (1989) (Uncut) [CC1363L]Received from the international shipping-friendly USA yesterday. Watched the whole thing and some of the extras on Side 5 last night.
The buzz on this one is 100% valid. This
is the very best edition out there at the moment (although I've not been able to compare it to the absurdly expensive Criterion DVD of the same transfer. Picture-wise it is superb. Presented in it's original aspect ratio and with clean, clear colours. At times this felt to me like I was watching a DVD it was that good.
It's a shame that Criterion didn't do any restoration on some of the film dirt and damage. Perhaps the technology available today wasn't quite as good back in 1993. Still, this is head and shoulders above the horrific Blu Ray disc that was put out not so far back. That print looked like it had been dragged through a hedge backwards and tossed in to a bath of vinegar. And either the print is incredibly soft, or the telecine operator was having a nervous breakdown while scanning the reels. Horrific stuff.
The sound is superb. I personally preferred the digital track to the analog one. I didn't test out the John Woo commentary track but I'll certainly give that a listen another day. It's a shame this one doesn't have an AC-3 track. That would have been a nice 'to have' but you can only use what has been made available to you.
The extras disc appears to be really well done (I've only seen half of Side 5 so far). The whole thing is presented on a STEP button basis. Ergo you press the STEP forward or STEP backward buttons on your remote control to navigate the still data pages. A nice touch is the data pages are interspersed with video clips which are accessed by pressing PLAY when prompted and immediately bring you back to the data feed once they finish.
The whole thing is nicely put together and logically thought out in terms of navigating the extras (which are chapter based) and large, easy to read text that works well with the limitations of how still images are accessed and presented on Laserdisc.
The film itself should need no introduction. It's excellent. Although I am more of a fan of Hard Boiled when you push me to choose between the two. Both are legendary films though in their own right. Also the extras on the LD edition reveal some insight in to Hard Boiled. For example, did you know the opening Jazz music in Hard Boiled was originally going to be used in The Killer for the opening scene where John is playing the saxaphone at the nightclub with Jenny? The whole intro and music were scrapped and a new opening was filmed.
There does exist a Taiwan print that is even longer than the Criterion LD version, but John Woo states in the extras on this edition that to him, the cut presented on the Criterion print, is his definitive and preferred version of The Killer.
That'll do for me. Thanks John.