Spy Game (2001)
Action, Crime, Thriller • 2h 6m
Director: Tony Scott
Cast: Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack, Stephen Dillane, Larry Bryggman, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Matthew Marsh, Todd Boyce, Michael Paul Chan, Garrick Hagon, Andrew Grainger, Bill Buell, Colin Stinton, Ted Maynard, Tom Hodgkins, Rufus Wright, Demetri Goritsas, Quinn Collins, Sam Scudder, Yann Johnson, Shane Rimmer, David Hemmings, James Aubrey, In-sook Chappell, Benedict Wong, Ken Leung, Adrian Pang, Ho Yi, David Y. Cheung, Tony Xu, Mark Sung, David K.S. Tse, Logan Wong, Hon Ping Tang, Dan Tse, Vincent Wang, Stuart Milligan, Joseph Chanet, Eddie Yeoh, Freddie Joe Farnsworth, Joerg Stadler, Zsolt Zágoni, Balázs Tardy, Pál Oberfrank, Géza Schramek, Imre Csuja, Melinda Völgyi, Károly Rékasi, Kimberly Tufo, Iain Smith, Gregory Groth, Peter Linka, Omid Djalili, Amidou, Nabil Massad, Mohamed Picasso, Aziz Ait Essahmi, Moustapha Moulay, Mohamed Quatib, Farid Regragui, Dale Dye, Tim Briggs, Frank Nall, Ian Porter, Charlotte Rampling, Philip Harvey
Overview
On the day of his retirement, a veteran CIA agent learns that his former protégé has been arrested in China, is sentenced to die the next morning in Beijing, and that the CIA is considering letting that happen to avoid an international scandal.
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: Tony Scott
Director: Tony Scott
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab) · Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
2.0: Arrow 4K Blu-ray
UK Arrow 4K Blu-ray has more extras compared to US 4K Blu-ray, which removed the Cadiliac Man featurette and shortened the Michael Tronick and Larry Taylor interviews due to rights issues. The 5.1 on the Arrow 4K Blu-ray is louder and worse.
Director: Tony Scott
Director: Brian De Palma
Sources: Criterion Forum (opens in a new tab)
Director: Doug Liman
International Cut: International Universal Blu-ray but slightly filtered and DNR'd
The Universal Blu-ray is slightly filtered and DNR'd compared to the HD-DVD, and the Universal 4K Blu-ray, on top of being upscaled, adds additional DNR and is softer than both previous HD releases.
Versions:
- The International version contains a short additional scene (part of the "Farmhouse" extended scene from the special features). See additional detail below.
- The US version does not contain this scene during the film. Director Doug Liman confirms in his audio commentary that the scene was cut from the original US theatrical release "for time".
- "The Explosive Extended Edition" found on some DVD releases is not an alternate cut of the film, simply an access mode that plays "The Bookend Scenes" features via non-seamless branching.
Deck the Halls scene:
The U.S. release is 118:17 while the European/Australian/Japanese releases are 118:36. There is no difference between the two running times from the start, but at 81:21, the U.S. version cuts from a kitchen scene of Marie and Eamon washing dishes, to a scene of Eamon bringing blankets to Jason and Marie. On the European/Australian releases, at the same point, there is a scene of Jason, Marie, Eamon and his children eating dinner while "Deck the Halls" plays in the background. There is no dialogue, the characters just each exchange uncomfortable glances. The scene goes to 81:40, then picks up the same scene of Eamon bringing blankets. This scene is included as an extra ("Farmhouse" extended scene) albeit sans the holiday themed music. Many thanks to Rewind user Mark Bowen for comparing these releases and letting us know the difference.
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Both come from a 4K scan of a 35mm film out which was made from the original 2K DI but the Lionsgate release has visible dust and damage marks while the Universal release is cleaned up more thoroughly. Both releases suffer from DNR which seems to have been baked into the DI. The colour grade is basically the same for both releases but the Lionsgate has Dolby Vision whereas the Universal is HDR10 only. The compression on the Lionsgate UHD base layer is apparently fine so the FEL doesn't make much of a difference.
The Lionsgate UHD has Dolby Atmos whereas the Universal UHD has DTS:X. Kick-ass was originally released with a 5.1 track which may be on the Universal Blu-ray.
The Lionsgate UHD is on a BD-100, the Universal UHD is on a BD-66.
The Universal UHD has no extras.
Director: Joel Coen
Director's Cut: Disappointing UK StudioCanal/US Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Theatrical Cut: LaserDisc or 2001 UK Universal DVD
Sources: Blu-ray.com (opens in a new tab)
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?p=21782879#post21782879 - comparison. StudioCanal is a massive improvement to the Criterion but still flawed in some areas (chroma noise)
Director: Leo McCarey
Director: John Carpenter
Sources: blog.sporv.com (opens in a new tab)
1997? Signature Collection LD
Good: 2017 Arrow and 2016 Shout! Factory Blu-ray have the original audio options.
the only track on Universal 4K, which is in DTS:X, has a mixing error of around 6dB too low on side channels, otherwise very similar to other 5.1 mixes.
More Action on Blu-ray
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn
Video format: 1080p Blu-ray
US Magnolia BD
UK Entertainment One release contains directors commentary track
Director: Steve De Jarnatt
2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray
UK Transmission 4K Blu-ray in January 2027
Either the 2015 Kino Lorber Blu-ray or the Arrow Blu-ray
The 2024 Kino Lorber Blu-ray is botched.
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: 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.
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
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Every recommendation follows the same method — how these calls are made.