Technical review: Leon R1 vs. The Professional
09-02-00 | 10:03 AM
#1
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From: Santa Ana, CA, USA
All of you know how good Leon/Professional is, so i wont go into a review of the movie.
Video:
The Profesional is double sided (one for fullframe and one for widescreen), while Leon is one sided dual-layered. Superb anamorphic transfer on both dvds. However the saturation in colors are very different. The Professional could use a little more contrast, while Leon has much contrast, and sometimes produces slight oversaturation of flesh tones. Ive actually gone through and taken computer screenshots from both dvds. The Professional actually shows more of the picture than Leon, though it is so small that it becomes negligible.
Sound,
Very good 5.1 track on both dvds. Though I would have prefered more surround activity. Leon benefits from a higher bitrate, and it shows especially in prominent musical score. Leon's isolated musical score (in 5.1) is a nice bonus, though there are sometimes long pauses between scores. One thing missing from the Leon dvd however, are the Spanish and French language tracks included in the Professional. And this is suppose to be the "international version". I really couldnt care less though, the original track(english)is all that matters to me.
Extras,
Aside from the 24minutes of extra footage, there is of course the isolated musical score. Theres also some preview trailers of Luc Bessons other work, all in non-anamporphic and in stereo (w/ exception of The Messenger which is 5.1). However the Fifth Element trailer, which is present in the Profesional dvd, is mysteriously missing from the Leon dvd. The Leon dvd actually says "From the director of The Fifth Element", while the Professional says "from the director of La Femme Nikita". Go figure.
Then there is the standard character profile which is interesting to read through. Hey, did u know Natalie Portman is fluent in Hebrew, French, and Japanese?! Man, i am a Natalie nut, and i didnt even know that.
Anyhow, it shouldnt be a hard choice between these two, obviously. Unless you really want to watch the movie in full frame, or must have that Fifth Element trailer, go for Leon. (Leon denotes Leon:The Professional - International uncut version) There is also the Japanese R2 version that you could get at a nice marked up price, which is slightly more uncut. But i wont go into that.
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[URL=http://www.dvdtracker.com/~monkey.asp] [email protected] - ICQ# 15121711
[This message has been edited by MonkeyGoD (edited September 02, 2000).]
Video:
The Profesional is double sided (one for fullframe and one for widescreen), while Leon is one sided dual-layered. Superb anamorphic transfer on both dvds. However the saturation in colors are very different. The Professional could use a little more contrast, while Leon has much contrast, and sometimes produces slight oversaturation of flesh tones. Ive actually gone through and taken computer screenshots from both dvds. The Professional actually shows more of the picture than Leon, though it is so small that it becomes negligible.
Sound,
Very good 5.1 track on both dvds. Though I would have prefered more surround activity. Leon benefits from a higher bitrate, and it shows especially in prominent musical score. Leon's isolated musical score (in 5.1) is a nice bonus, though there are sometimes long pauses between scores. One thing missing from the Leon dvd however, are the Spanish and French language tracks included in the Professional. And this is suppose to be the "international version". I really couldnt care less though, the original track(english)is all that matters to me.
Extras,
Aside from the 24minutes of extra footage, there is of course the isolated musical score. Theres also some preview trailers of Luc Bessons other work, all in non-anamporphic and in stereo (w/ exception of The Messenger which is 5.1). However the Fifth Element trailer, which is present in the Profesional dvd, is mysteriously missing from the Leon dvd. The Leon dvd actually says "From the director of The Fifth Element", while the Professional says "from the director of La Femme Nikita". Go figure.
Then there is the standard character profile which is interesting to read through. Hey, did u know Natalie Portman is fluent in Hebrew, French, and Japanese?! Man, i am a Natalie nut, and i didnt even know that.
Anyhow, it shouldnt be a hard choice between these two, obviously. Unless you really want to watch the movie in full frame, or must have that Fifth Element trailer, go for Leon. (Leon denotes Leon:The Professional - International uncut version) There is also the Japanese R2 version that you could get at a nice marked up price, which is slightly more uncut. But i wont go into that.
------------------
[URL=http://www.dvdtracker.com/~monkey.asp] [email protected] - ICQ# 15121711
[This message has been edited by MonkeyGoD (edited September 02, 2000).]
09-02-00 | 04:21 PM
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From: Sydney,Australia
lol.Monkey god,the reason you "would have prefered more surround activity" on Leon in particular, is because some nitwit somewhere forgot to encode any rear surrounds on all the discs so far.
