Unleashed/Danny The Dog

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 14 Aug 2005, 14:02

The HK dvd out now is the short cut version then

bugger that really bloody sucks! I bought it too, now I may as well bin it.

degeneration · Post by **degeneration** » 15 Aug 2005, 10:08

Thank god I hadn't got round to buying it yet!

Think I'll wait and get the first unrated version that's released! Quite glad I haven't bought it as now the first time I see it can be in the cinema rather than at home!!

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 15 Aug 2005, 17:19

I own the HK dvd, but am not watching it

am waiting to go and see it on friday in the cinema, cannot wait after all this waiting.

but shame I will have to get rid of my dvd now if they are inseting even a minute back into the unrated version

as 1 minute is a massive amount of footage to fights, if its talking it wont change much, but for fast edited fights it can be loads of little extra inserted shots. Hope the filmw worth getting again

Mordib · Post by **Mordib** » 15 Aug 2005, 17:49

so who's more reliable, tigerstyles or linn1. the latter claims it is uncut but doesnt elaborate, tigerstyles seems to be basing his 'is cut' on the extra feature including extended fights,

but surely they are listed as extra features on the 'uncut' too?? or maybe im talking out of my arse, i cant rememebr where i think ive seen that

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 15 Aug 2005, 19:28

When we see a full comparison then we will see I guess

as the R1 isnt out till October who knows?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 20 Aug 2005, 05:20

Exactly Mordib.

I've seen absolutely nothing conclusive either way.

For me at least the R1 has very dodgy cover art and an even more dodgy title. The Unrated cut would have to be much better for me to trade my gorgeous HK 2 Discer (with the correct title!).

That is assuming I don't already own the Unrated cut.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As for the film:

I thought it was utterly fantastic it's far, far, far better than all of Jet's previous Western efforts put together.

I was enjoying the drama so much I would've been happy if no more fight scenes were to follow, after the first!

The drama is top notch, it's really funny in places, I almost shed a tear, it proves (yet again) Jet Li can act and the fights are also great. It's nice to see finally director's are realising by and large people don't want wire-fu heaven, give us real, gritty, hand to hand combat any day.

That said I do have some niggles (spoilers maybe included. I don't think so mind you):

1. It's only mentioned once in the film the location is Glasgow considering everyone bar Danny and Sam have an English accent why not make things much easier and set it in London? It would only actually need one word change. Glasgow looks like London so they didn't even need to change shooting location.
2. Even Victoria is asked to have a English accent which makes no sense as she's supposed to be American??? I "suppose" she could've picked it up while living in Glasgow

3. Why doesn't Danny remember any Chinese? It strikes me as a little odd.
4. As Kevin says in the review where on earth does Danny learn martial arts? Let alone to the level he knows it.
5. Who the hell was the big bad ass dude in the white gear? This smelt far to much of KOTD all the other henchmen/women had a reason to be there.

These really are niggles as I thoroughly enjoyed it, which cannot be said for any other Western film Jet Li has been involved in (bar LW4).

Lastly the films British setting helped no end. Funny I never knew everyone spoke English in Paris (@ KOTD).

----------------------------------------

Jet Li says in the Making Of. Luc Besson offered him another KOTD but he wanted a film to challenge his acting. Besson went on to say KOTD is easy to get financing for but a DTD type film is not. It's a risk.

It's a sorry state of affairs when a vastly inferior film is more likely to do better at the box office :eek:

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 20 Aug 2005, 14:33

I think the HK dvd looks pants compared to the French dvd and the cinema version. The extras are dire as well. So I wont be keeping that piece of cheap crap as the pictures pants there is pixalation, mpeg compression, and stepping sucks! at least the R1 will have more footage! surley better picture, so for me that wins hands down, unless the new french version at the end of the year is even better.

KOTD is a superb film thats why, vastly inferior I dont think so, nor do many others.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 20 Aug 2005, 16:35

romerojpg wrote:I think the HK dvd looks pants compared to the French dvd and the cinema version.

What are you basing this one? Do you have the French DVD?

Which btw doesn't look all that hot to me. It has about the same extras as the R1 and R3. The R1 only wins for the director interview but to get it you must put up with the awful cover art and title.

If the Unrated cut turns out to be much better then sure I'll upgrade but otherwise no thanks. Personally I think the R3 has excellent AV as do most others it seems. The DVD Times and Dragons Den review don't mention any problems.

I happened to think the extras were decent for an R3 release of a film which isn't going to sell shed loads and isn't going to get an uber SE 2 disc release.

The R3 is also housed in a lovely digi-pack that I really wasn't expecting.

There is no guarantee the R1 will have more footage at all, all I've seen is guess work.

romerojpg wrote:unless the new french version at the end of the year is even better.

KOTD is a superb film thats why, vastly inferior I dont think so, nor do many others.

Where have you read that? What will be better about it? Remember it may have forced French subs for the movie and no English subs for the extras, no doubt they'll be heavily French based.

As for KOTD it has zero characterisation, the plot is a mess and not to mention so stupid in places. The action while enjoyable I've seen much better. Both FOL (which in itself is overrated) and the OUATIC films are much better. OUATIC 1-3 are pretty much flawless, easily Jet's best work.

That said I think DTD is better than FOL and all of Jet's other Western films put together. The scene in the boat in DTD was really funny.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 20 Aug 2005, 16:42

Brad wrote: it may have forced French subs for the movie and no English subs for the extras

FYI I can already confirm that the current french edition doesn't have forced french subs. But no english subs, either.
This is why I chose not to buy it, despite the superior AV quality.

http://web12.dvd2web.de/unleashed/unleashed.htm

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 20 Aug 2005, 16:59

I heard the uncut (French?) version is more story orientated or something, but since the UR cut is a mere minute longer than the R rated cut it cant be that different

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 20 Aug 2005, 17:02

The thing is while I agree the French DVD looks better the difference is marginal (except the first picture and maybe second). The first of Bob Hoskins however the HK DVD looks better, it's to bright on the French DVD.

On the whole both look very good and both have basically the same extras, except the French DVD is bound to be much more expensive.

I'll only upgrade if either:

1. The Unrated cut is better (okay I'm repeating myself now I'll shut up)
2. The French SE turns out to be much better and of course it must have English subs for the extras.

Tom2681 wrote:FYI I can already confirm that the current french edition doesn't have forced french subs. But no english subs, either.

Why do you want English subs for the film? It's in English.

grim_tales wrote:I heard the uncut (French?) version is more story orientated or something, but since the UR cut is a mere minute longer than the R rated cut it cant be that different

I heard the same regarding the more story aspect with it actually being the European and US cuts.

Where have you read that Grim?

I agree if it's just 1 minute then I won't bother. I disagree with Romero it's very unlikely 1 minute will add anything of any real value.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 20 Aug 2005, 17:08

I'm not sure where exactly, other message boards like DVD Talk, Imports Forum

Sorry I know that doesnt help much.

Perhaps I got mixed up between French/European. It seems in the cinema we've got the US cut.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 20 Aug 2005, 17:49

Brad wrote:Why do you want English subs for the film? It's in English.

I always watch english films in english with english subs.

It's an old habit. It just feels more comfortable.
When there's something I don't understand, I just need to look down and read the subs.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 20 Aug 2005, 18:07

Fair enough but I mainly asked because the French DVD has French subs instead. Surely you can read these quicker?

grim_tales wrote:Perhaps I got mixed up between French/European. It seems in the cinema we've got the US cut.

And what's your source for that

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 20 Aug 2005, 18:13

I mainly asked because the French DVD has French subs instead. Surely you can read these quicker?

You'd think.

Nah, I'd rather be thinking in english (instead of making a "french -> english" translation). In order to think in english, I need english subs.

Don't ask, my brain is a very strange place.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 20 Aug 2005, 18:31

That actually makes lots sense.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 20 Aug 2005, 18:33

bradavon wrote:Fair enough but I mainly asked because the French DVD has French subs instead. Surely you can read these quicker?

grim_tales wrote:Perhaps I got mixed up between French/European. It seems in the cinema we've got the US cut.
And what's your source for that

The fact the runtime on the BBFC site is quoted as 102 mins not 103

Classified 03 May, 2005 . Run Time 101m 51s

Advice for consumers
Concise Contains strong violence.

The main spoken language in this work is English.
The BBFC has placed this work in the ACTION, THRILLER genre(s).

When submitted to the BBFC the work had a running time of 101m 51s.
The running time of this film was calculated from the measured length of 9167+1 ( feet + frames ).

This work was passed with no cuts made.

At the time of classification U.I.P. (UK) was the distributor of this film.
Directed by Louis Leterrier Producer(s) Steven Chasman; Bernard Grenet

The cast for this work includes: Jet Li, Morgan Freeman, Bob Hoskins, Kerry Condon.

A film or video, together with associated trailers may exist in several versions and all versions known to the BBFC are listed below.

Category Type Date Company Run Time Cut Title
FilmTrailer 18/01/2005 U.I.P. (UK) 2m 23s No UNLEASHED
VideoTrailer 09/02/2005 Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd 2m 15s No UNLEASHED
Film 03/05/2005 U.I.P. (UK) 101m 51s No UNLEASHED

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 21 Aug 2005, 14:18

I disagree with Romero it's very unlikely 1 minute will add anything of any real value.

You must not know much about cuts in films then, 1 minute can change a film a lot. Look at Lethal Weapon 4 in the UK about 127 cuts made to the UK film!!!! and they amount to just over 1 minute I think! and that changes the film a lot! Loads of films get cut and when you see the footage back into the action they work far better.
Look at The Transporter it also has about 1 minute added into the French dvd and the fights work far better with it back in.

Time will tell I guess, but the HK dvd isnt good looking at all its out of focus compared to that french dvd and if anything thats one big reason to upgrade.

The French re-release isnt exactly confirmed, but its France! they re-release everything and never want to be out gunned by other countries, I think its 100% certain they will get a better version later on.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 21 Aug 2005, 14:23

Tom2681 wrote:
I mainly asked because the French DVD has French subs instead. Surely you can read these quicker?
You'd think.
Nah, I'd rather be thinking in english (instead of making a "french -> english" translation). In order to think in english, I need english subs.

Don't ask, my brain is a very strange place.

You have confused me a lot

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 27 Aug 2005, 00:05

romerojpg wrote:You must not know much about cuts in films then, 1 minute can change a film a lot.

Twaddle.

1 minute can't change a film dramatically, it can improve it sure but not to any great extent. Even if they were to add a new character say that wouldn't be enough time to expand said character.

Unrealnils · Post by **Unrealnils** » 14 Sep 2005, 18:18

I still havent seen this duh

Oh and another vote for always usiings subs when watching a film

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 15 Sep 2005, 12:19

The film's not even out yet in NZ theatres.

Probably best to wait and see how the R1 Unrated release turns out and to hear some feedback about nature of the "unrated cut" before taking the plunge and buying the DVD.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 16 Sep 2005, 20:44

IMO this film is very very awesome.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 07 Nov 2005, 19:51

So do we finally know if the Unrated cut is any different to the cut on the HK DVD?

Or is it as we expected that being the R-Rated cut is well cut.

romerojpg · Post by **romerojpg** » 07 Nov 2005, 20:41

Loads of people have reviewed it and not one of them has compared, lazy, very lazy if you ask me.