Dragons Forever (1988)
飛龍猛將
Action, Comedy, Romance • 1h 33m
Director: Sammo Hung Kam-Bo
Cast: Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung Kam-Bo, Yuen Biao, Deanie Ip, Pauline Yeung Bo-Ling, Yuen Wah, Billy Chow Bei-Lei, Steve Lee Ka-Ting, Phillip Ko Fai, Crystal Kwok, Shum Wai, Woo Fung, Stanley Fung Shui-Fan, Roy Chiao, James Tien Chun, Lo Lieh, Tai Bo, Lau Kar-Wing, Fung Hak-On, Paul Chung Fat, Wong Yu, Charlie Yuen Cheung-Yan, David Lam Wai, Chin Ka-Lok, Wan Fat, Chan Tat-Kwong, Dick Wei, Yuen Miu, Ka Lee, Peter Chan Lung, Shing Fui-On, Pauline Wong Yuk-Wan, Chiang Lung, Chan Ging, Danny Chow Yun-Kin, Benny Lai Keung-Kuen, Johnny Cheung Wa, Rocky Lai Keung-Ken, Benny Urquidez, Chow Gam-Kong, Pang Yun-Cheung, Cho Wing, King Lee King-Chu, Siu Tak-Foo, Lung Ying, Kwan Yung, Cheung Wing-Cheung, Chan Man-Ching, Sze Mei-Yee, Chen Chi-Hwa, Patrick Frzebar, Chan Fu-Keung, Chan Ging-Chi, Wu Ma, Lau Shung-Fung, Kenneth Smyth, Lui Siu-Ming, Sam Hang-San, Jim James, Ho Chi-Moon, Ernest Mauser, Lui Kim-Kwong, Chung Chi-Yung, Fei Pak, Frank Liu Zong-Ji, Poon Cheung, Fruit Chan, James Ha Chim-Si, Nicky Li Chung-Chi
Best English-friendly & video release · updated 1 year ago
UHD tiers
Overview
A hot-shot lawyer is hired by a Hong Kong chemical plant to dispose of opposition to their polluting ways. But when he falls for a beautiful woman out to stop the plant, he is torn in a conflict of interest and asks his trusty friends Samo and Biao to help out at least until they discover the true purpose of the plant.
Director: Iain Softley
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
Both 88 Films and Germany Capelight are superior to the Shout! Factory in HDR10 but their FEL layer may even things out. Objectively, the Capelight looks best as they avoided the chroma blocking that’s visible in 88’s disc but they in turn included an Atmos mix. I have the Shout! Factory, love how it looks and the 4K transfer is spectacular. https://slow.pics/c/vPmFQSAH
Shout! Factory has the exclusive The Beauty of the Baud and the You Can't Stop Us All featurettes.
Germany Filmjuwelen 4K Blu-ray is disappointing with AI upscaling
Director: Michael Mann
Director: James Wong
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray in November encoded by FiM
Director: Deran Sarafian
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
MVD 4K Blu-ray beautiful remaster but with frame rate skips (encoding error)
Directors: Brian Taylor & Mark Neveldine
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray in November
88 Films and Vinegar Syndrome have different extras
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab) · slow.pics (opens in a new tab)
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray See caps
DE Nameless 4K Blu-ray is an extremely poor AI upscale. See caps
Director: Charles Band
Full Moon Features Blu-ray or 88 Films Blu-ray is better than 4K Blu-ray, which is poorly encoded
More Action on Blu-ray
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · DVDBeaver (opens in a new tab)
> Germany Wicked Vision Blu-ray > US Flicker Alley Blu-ray see DVDBeaver caps
Director: Simon Wincer
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
4K is defective with color space issues and poor encoding, UHD replacement disc is also defective with worse encode. The UHD has visible artifacts from the bad encoding. The HDR is overdone and the Paramount 4K master has grain management.
The new Kino Blu-ray has none of the UHD's problems and is superior to the UHD in every way though it still uses the same Paramount master.
DVD 5.1 or LaserDisc 5.1 AC3, LD PCM 2.0 for the matrix stereo version. The LD and DVD seem to be the theatrical audio mix untouched with plenty of low end. This low end like a number of 90's Paramount titles was mixed out or tamed on subsequent releases.
The Lionsgate BD and Paramount BD share the same lackluster HD master with DNR and image distortion. The Lionsgate is much better encoded but has a 7.1 remix which messed up the original mix design by lessening all the great Foley work in favor of the score. The Paramount BD had a 5.1 lossless version of the original mix but it's a new version where the bass has been tamed so the track has lost its punch. The Kino Lorber UHD and Blu-ray recycle this same lesser 5.1 mastering. The original mix can still be heard on LD and DVD. The 2.0 stereo on the Kino is matrixed but also does not sound as good as the 2.0 matrix audio on DVD or LD.
Kino has a replacement program for the defective UHD to fix the color space issue. The new disc is not marked, has a worse encode AND DOES NOT FIX THE COLOR SPACE! Thus it is a worse defective disc version of the original defective disc.
The Billy Zane interview on the Kino BD has technical issues in the editing and clip quality used.
Director: John Woo
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
review: Disk Kino
Both have better encoding than Disk Kino, some shots are better on Shout! Factory, others on Arrow
Shout Factory still has the best video while Arrow did a questionable regrade. Arrow definitely has less grain in most shots, has a worse encode and is cm v2.9 compared to Shout’s cm v4.0.
Shout! Factory/Arrow 4K Blu-ray has the original mono
Director: Luc Besson
Sources: slow.pics (opens in a new tab) · fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray vs 2017 Sony 4K Blu-ray (20th annivesary) vs 2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray (Luc Besson Box Set). The first two have totally different texture.
StudioCanal: More natural looking. Better defined grain. The white balance is rather yellow/orange. Some say it is closer to the original theatrical release.
2017 Sony: More vibrant and impactful. The white balance is rather neutral. While color noise and grain can look busy because it had been sharpened and had micro-contrast boosted.
2025 Sony: Supposedly an improved version of the 2017 release? Shows around 20mbps-higher overall video bitrate. caps
2007 Sony Blu-ray or LaserDisc AC3? (TBC) https://fanrestore.com/thread-7303.html
The Atmos on the Sony release is reportedly better than StudioCanal's.
Disc info of the box set discs. This film have recieved multiple encode/versions in different regions over the years. The 2017 Germany4K Blu-ray is encoded differently than the 2017 Sony but not better. Also, the same can be said to 2024 France Gaumont 4K Blu-ray while comparing to the 2020 StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray. The StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray omits all the extras from previous releases, being barebones.
Director: Tony Scott
The 70mm 6-track mix has a higher bitrate on the Paramount 1998 DVD, but is more limited than on the THX LaserDisc The Paramount 1998 DVD also has open matte versions in fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 instead of the theatrical aspect ratio of 2.39:1, but the 2.00:1 widescreen presentation is non-anamorphic. The THX LaserDisc is available in both fullscreen 1.33:1 and widescreen 2.00:1 variants.
Director: John Ford
Sources: ibb.co (opens in a new tab)
Warner Archive Blu-ray is 4K restoration from nitrate projection elements
Germany Filmjuwelen Blu-ray is AI upscaled https://ibb.co/album/mCJ7RQ
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