Red Heat (1988)
Action, Crime • 1h 44m
Director: Walter Hill
Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Belushi, Peter Boyle, Ed O'Ross, Laurence Fishburne, Gina Gershon, Richard Bright, Brent Jennings, Gretchen Palmer, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Mike Hagerty, Brion James, Gloria Delaney, Peter Jason, Oleg Vidov, Savely Kramarov, J.W. Smith, Gene Scherer, Tengiz Borisoff, Roger Callard, Gábor Koncz, Géza Balkay, Zsolt Körtvélyessy, János Bán, Masanori Toguchi, Sven-Ole Thorsen, Norbert Növényi, Istvan Etlenyi, George Gati, Peter Marikovsky, Gábor Németh, Istvan Vajas, Peter Kis, Atilla Fási, Eric Mansker, Lew Hopson, Jason Ronard, Gigi Vorgan, Allan Graf, Kurt Fuller, Bruno Alexander, Christopher Mankiewicz, Bob O'Donnell, Marjorie Bransfield, Luis Contreras, Christopher Anthony Young, William McConnell, Ed DeFusco, Joey D. Vieira, Michael Adams, Jonathan Tate, Michael Lindström
Best available format
UHD tiers
better compression than SC
poor encode
Overview
A tough Russian policeman is forced to partner up with a cocky Chicago police detective when he is sent to Chicago to apprehend a Georgian drug lord who killed his partner and fled the country.
Director: Walter Hill
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Director: Walter Hill
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Director: Walter Hill
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Paramount 4K Blu-ray has atrocious HDR10 encode, Dolby Vision is altogether better but still mediocre
Director: Walter Hill
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Director: Walter Hill
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Director: Walter Hill
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Japan Studio Ghibli RM4K Blu-ray
Japan Studio Ghibli 4K Blu-ray
UK StudioCanal Blu-ray for the English dub
4K Blu-ray includes the original 5.1 mix in its unaltered form, all other releases after the LaserDisc had its dynamic range lowered.
US Disney Blu-ray has dubtitles.
For the English dub, the UK StudioCanal Blu-ray is the least limited mix.
Director: Carol Reed
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray or Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray/Lionsgate Limited 4K Blu-ray (shared encode); slight improvement over the 2015 StudioCanal Blu-ray
StudioCanal/LG UHDs port the 1999 Criterion DVD, considered the best source
StudioCanal has a remastered Blu-ray, Lionsgate only a 4K Blu-ray
Director: David Lynch
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray > Criterion 4K Blu-ray.
StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray is encoded by FiM and doesn’t have the low-pass filter the Criterion 4K Blu-ray has.
Criterion 4K Blu-ray is closer to the original DVDs than the 2015 Criterion release, not sure about whether the StudioCanal 4K is like the Criterion 4K/original DVD
Criterion 4K Blu-ray has FEL Dolby Vision, StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has MEL
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
2D: Spain Emon Blu-ray
3D: US Lionsgate, Germany StudioCanal, or Netherlands Entertainment One 3D Blu-ray?
Director: Richard Linklater
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Director: Richard Linklater
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Director: Richard Linklater
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Sources: caps-a-holic (opens in a new tab)
Criterion Blu-ray uses the same transfer as Sony but the encoding is slightly worse than Sony and barely noticeable see caps
Germany StudioCanal Blu-ray in viewing looks very similar to both the Criterion and Sony caps, but no side by side comparison available
Germany StudioCanal Blu-ray is part of a 3-film box set like the Criterion
Director: Luc Besson
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Sources: slow.pics (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
2025 Sony US 4K Blu-ray has the original 5.1.
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.
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
StudioCanal UK 4K Blu-ray
The old discs use a significantly worse transfer with faded colors, color fringing and a strong green tint throughout.
Director: Joel Coen
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
Poor Criterion 4K Blu-ray https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=21782879#post21782879
Theatrical cut only on LaserDisc or 2001 UK Universal DVD
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
More Action on Blu-ray
Director: James Cameron
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
2013 MGM Blu-ray, or 4K Blu-ray if you MUST have the mono mix, 1997 Image DVD/2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix
Sources: facebook.com (opens in a new tab) · vimeo.com (opens in a new tab)
2013 MGM Blu-ray for non AI transfer, 1997 Image DVD/2001 MGM DVD for a purist version with original colors and the international mono mix
1991 Image Entertainment LaserDisc for the US mono mix, 2001 MGM DVD for the International mono mix
Comparison between the US and International mixes: https://vimeo.com/246332731
The 4K Blu-Ray and the 2001 MGM DVD have exclusive extras.
Director: John Woo
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray > US Shout! Factory, better encoding by Engine House and redone opening credits, errors present in Shout! Factory fixed
Arrow 4K Blu-ray, mono is from an alternate higher fidelity source than Shout! Factory.
Director: Tsui Hark
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray or Shout! Factory 4K Blu-ray or Australia Imprint 4K Blu-ray
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
There is a newer 4K restoration by L’Immagine Ritrovata, which should be of better scan quality. The 4K restoration used on all current 4K disc releases stems from a low-quality Cintel scanner. The newer restoration has yet to be released on home video.
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
3D version: Paramount 3D Blu-ray
Paramount 4K Blu-ray on October 26 2026
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Director: James Wong
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Best format: UHD Blu-ray
UK 88 Films 4K Blu-ray in November encoded by FiM
Director: Michael Mann
Best format: 1080p Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: Old Warner Bros DVD or fan restoration
Revised Cut: 2012 Japan Blu-ray for less revisionist colors, 2022 Disney 4K Blu-ray is controversially regraded and too dark overall.
Sources: fanrestore.com (opens in a new tab)
Edit history
Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.