Trigger

I have the Mei Ah VCD of this and it's widescreen and has burned-in subs. The video quality is not so bad, but the sound problems inherint with vcds of course are annoying. So has there been a worthwhile DVD of this to purchase?

Furthermore, has anyone else seen this Jackie Chan gem?

Romerojpg

The Only version to get is the Spanish version which I have, its by Columbia and is very nice anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Surround sound and basically no extras, but hey its the best one to get I got mine from www.dvdgo.com in there sales

Its one of Jackies best films by far with some superb action and it just feels right and is well worth getting for any Jackie fan.

Its called Operacion Truneo in spain

RichardW

I have the Spanish DVD as well. Excellent disc!

Trigger

wasn't aware of it - thanks.

cultshock

Not to thread crap, but I personally wouldn't call the film a "gem", but of course, taste is relative, right? Maybe I should upgrade my 10 year old hazy bootleg VHS, and give the film another try. I think it's one of the few 1990's Jackie films that didn't have US distribution rights snapped up by either Dimension or New Line in the buying frenzy that followed the US success of RUMBLE IN THE BRONX. At any rate, I've heard the same thing about the Spanish disc being the best available.

Trigger

Wow - how did you get your hands on a bootleg VHS a year before the movie came out?

This was actually made after Rumble, so it missed the buying frenzy that way. I consider it a gem because it has some of the best stunt/fight-work of any of his films. It's a little rough around the edges and the way they sped up the film during the end race didn't help, but it's classic Jackie. It's the one where he's jumping off a moving structure onto another structure and it looks like he breaks his spine and neck and ass and legs and arms when he hits the railing.

cultshock

Ok, my video is 9 years old, smart guy. (my memory is getting kind of foggy about actual years these days , but I do remember scoring a copy of this film very soon after its official HK video release). This is back in the old days, when HK/Jackie Chan film fans had almost no choice but to get bootlegs).

By "buying frenzy", I meant that it seemed that almost every film made immediately before (ie. DRUNKEN MASTER II, POLICE STORY 3, CRIME STORY) and immediately after (ie. POLICE STORY IV:FIRST STRIKE, MR. NICE GUY, WHO AM I?) the release of RUMBLE IN THE BRONX had the rights picked up by Dimension or New Line (for either theatrical or video release), except THUNDERBOLT. It seemed either this film was found somewhat lacking by US distributors, and they didn't think it would do as well over here as the other films, or maybe there was some kind of complicated rights issue that couldn't be worked out? Strange.

At any rate, THUNDERBOLT does have nice stunt work, but I guess I'm an old school fan who prefers more fighting sequences over stunts, and the main fight showcase in the film, in the pachinko parlour, was filmed in a kind of annoying way (I forget the film term for it, "step-frame" or something like that?).

gerrytwo

Warner Bros. released a now out-of-print version of Thunderbolt in Hong Kong about two years ago that had language tracks in English, Cantonese and Mandarin, but failed to include an English subtitle track as one of the subtitle tracks. Although the information on the back of the snapper case indicated the movie was the widescreen version, the DVD is the formatted full screen version. The villains in this movie speak English, and I am not sure what language the Japanese racing coach speaks. The English dub seemed fine to me. Thunderbolt does not have lengthy stretches of dialogue.
Other postings when this DVD came out indicated that Jackie Chan was not happy with the movie, since there are scenes where it looks like a stunt double replaced him. The movie was supposed to be Jackie’s most expensive, costing $175 milllion HK ($25 million US). Whatever the actual cost, those racing scenes in Japan were expensive, filmed over weeks in cloudy and wet weather (sometimes the racetrack during the final race is wet, cars leaving a spray, other times the track is just damp).
It is surprising that Warner Bros. has not got around to releasing this movie as a DVD in the US.
Jackie Chan is serious in this movie, as a garage owner who gives testimony against a killer. There is plenty of action.

Trigger

That's just it - I thought Thunderbolt had some of his best fight choreography. I noticed some weird stuttering during the fight scenes, but I figured that was because it was a VCD and he was moving really fast.

Romerojpg

It does go into a sort of focused slow mo mode when Jackie fights all the semi naked bad guys but then it speeds back up for the rest of the pachinko parlour, I love the scene once it gets back into normal speed and it featuires some amazing work, Jackie was doubled a bit, but its still fast and furious and very entertaining. The film is a fine addition to Jackies film catalogue.

Dimentions / Miramax own the film across the world as far as I can see, its been on TV over here and featured that logo 1st, and even my Spanish dvd featires the same logos, so its very odd they never brought it out anywhere really. The film was going to be brought out and then they were told its a car film! and they didnt want it as they thought they meant racing, not action, do there loss and everyone elese loss too as not that many people have seen it as its pretty much burried everywhere

It deserves a good quality dvd release somewhere in the world one day

cultshock

Ok, the way you guys are talking up this film, I'm going to give it another watch (I admit that it has been years since I've seen it). Time to fire up the old VCR, and if I like it better this time, I guess I'll be shelling out for the Spanish DVD.

skokefoe

I've only watched it on a crusty old VCD, but I enjoyed it quite a bit too. Good to hear there's a decent DVD out...

Match

I saw this at Walmart today. It says New Line Home Entertainment on the back.
Both Widescreen and full screen versions.
English 5.1 and Cantonese Stereo Surround Sound.
English and Spanish subtitles.

RichC2

^^ Rented that last week, it has a very good transfer and solid audio.

cultshock

Wow, I didn't know that New Line ended up with the rights to this one. How much was it at Walmart?

Trigger

Awesome - thanks for the heads up.

UAIOE

So is the New Line version Uncut or what?

I've never seen this movie and i need to add it to my Jackie Chan collection.

darmok

it's been reported that it's a mere 3 seconds shorter than the Spanish version (involving a Michael Wong scene), but it is the longer 111 min. version.

dom56

I picked this up at my local Circuit City last Friday. Good picture quality, I wish some of the subtitles were a little lower and don't take up space on the screen. Overall happy I got this since I'm a big Jackie Chan fan.

Slowpc

Looks like i will need to find it myself too.

UAIOE

3 seconds i deal with being cut.

This must be added to my collection!