The Hot
, The Cool & The Vicious
"I didn't realise beating two strong fighters like you two boys would be so easy"
Released by Eastern Heroes
Region: 0. PAL
Picture: Widescreen (1.85:1) Non-anamorphic
Audio:
Extras
Picture: 7/10
A pretty decent transfer. There is an electronic kind of squiggle which occurs during the opening credit. I can only assume this occurred during the mastering process since the squiggle does not occur on the Eastern Heroes video release of Hot, cool & vicious. The print hasn't been cleaned up but isn't in terrible shape anyway. Considering the age of the film and storing facilities in HK this is a pleasing print/transfer. I doubt the dvd's widescreen ratio of 1.85:1 is correct (2.35:1 is probably the original ratio)
Audio: 6/10
The Mandarin track is slightly clearer than the English dub but both are ok. Adequate.
Extras: 2/10
Eastern heroes have shown a typically lazy attitude by not providing English subtitles. Therefore if you don't understand Mandarin you're lumbered with the English dub if you want to figure out what everyone's saying. The Tan Tao Liang interview is taken from the Eastern Heroes documentary: Top Fighter. It is a very good interview but is worthless if you already own Top fighter on dvd (or vhs for that matter). Oh well. At least they tried...feebly.
Overall: 7/10
This dvd is cheaper than most of the others on the market (about £4 cheaper to exact) and so is quite worthwhile if you're a fan of the film. I know Tai Seng in the US are preparing to release it on dvd as part of their kung fu theater series, but in a fullscreen format without any extras. Of the two releases I'm sure the Eastern Heroes dvd will be the one to get.