Hey all,

With the upcoming Dragon Dynasty release of Hard Boiled, it looks like the secondary market for the older Criterion and Fox/Lorber discs is finally getting within my price range. I'll be picking up the DD release for A/V quality and other extras, but I'd really prefer to have at least one version with commentary that includes Woo.

Of the Criterion and the Fox/Lorber, does one of the releases feature a commentary that's markedly better than the other? Most of the reviews I've read seem to lean towards the Fox/Lorber, but I'd really like to know what you guys think.

Thanks!

I can vouch for the criterion commentary and say that it is very informative. I haven't heard the fox/winstar dvd commentary however, so I have been curious about this as well. My guess would be that they largely touch upon the same ground. Of course, one could make the argument that criterion's may be slightly more informative simply because it was recorded first back in 1994, when production details would have probably been fresher in Woo's mind. Just a thought.

Thanks, Alkaline. I did some sleuthing online . . . ok, I just used dvd-basen . . . and read up on the various reviews that mention the two commentaries. Both seem to get high marks, but economics will probably rule in my case: I managed to find a copy of the Fox/Lorber (authentic . . I think) on the cheap on eBay.

Thanks again!

Doesn't the Fox Lorber eliminate Dave Kehr and Roger Avary from the track, and expand the commentary by Woo and Chang? Or did they simply record an entirely new track with Woo and Chang? I haven't listened to either in awhile, but it is amusing to read that how often the "expert" commentator on the Dragon Dynasty disc is contradicted by the men who actually made the film on their earlier tracks.

As far as I've been able to discern, the Fox/Lorber track is completely different from the Criterion with Woo and Chang recording a new screen-specific commentary together whereas the Criterion taped all the partipants separately the edited the comments together later (a la Silence of the Lambs).

My local Hollywood Video may have a copy of the Criterion HB for rent. For some reason, they've got a fantastic collection of out of print and hard to find discs. Once I get both under commentaries under my belt, I'll post my thoughts on each.