are the extras on the HKL, including the commentary in English?

Sorry to drag this off-topic. Back to The Killer.

For the record, I have both the IVL boxset with The Killer and Bullet In The Head (which someone reviews here, and the Criterion laserdisc, and I know for certain that the IVL and Criterion editions use the same subtitle script.

The subtitles on the IVL edition aren't as well-timed though.

For me, and I think for most people who watch foreign films, it's predominantly preferable to watch them subtitled. In only a couple of cases, The Killer being one of them, have I found the opposite to be true.
Agreed, but a problem emerges when dialogue is traditionally post-dubbed (as opposed to live), as it is with most HK and Italian films. That can sometimes be more artificial and conspicuous than deft English dubbing.

can somebody please help me with a link to where to purchase the HKL edition of the killer online? and also the best version of hard boiled? i am having trouble finding them on yesasia.com searches and ebay. ive never tried to buy a non-region one dvd before. thanks in advance

CDWow perhaps? Amazon.co.uk?

good call.

a search for the killer brings up this version, which i think is the right one.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...611028-3580455

a search for hard boiled brings up a bunch of different ones, a little help on which one i want? thanks
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...611028-3580455

think ill go with this one
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...A3P5ROKL5A1OLE
cause of the dvdcompare.net and dvdbeaver.com reviews
thanks
dan

You are right, and I do notice that. In fact I think the Killer might be dubbed into Mandarin and not Cantonese or something (Chow Yun Fat doesn't speak Mandarin). But, I'd argue, at least it's the actors' voices, as painfully obvious the dubbing is on Spaghetti Westerns. Many many Americans, especially older films, have done this. Watch anything from the 80s or 70s or before and it's glaringly obviously done in post. DePalma's Scarface--Pacino's opening scene sounds like it was done in a studio; very artificial. The Terminator is a horrible example of obviously post-dubbed voices. I can think of only a few films that deliberately used live, on-set sound: Spaceballs I know, and I think Beetlejuice.

I'd rather it were somebody else's voice but well done, than the actor's voice badly synched, muffle, or whatever. I think most of us agree subtitles are almost invariably the preference for foreign films.

Re: Which Editions of John Woo's The Killer are worth buying?
 

criterion easy

Re: Which Editions of John Woo's The Killer are worth buying?
 

The problem with Criterion DVD is that it has a non-anamorphic transfer. The Dragon Dynasty blu-ray seems to be out of print now. I saw that the guy that runs Hong Kong Rescue has been working on a "ultimate" blu-ray like he has done with some other HK titles. I haven't purchased and of his products, but I know some of the posters on blu-ray.com have been happy with what they have gotten even though they are technically unlicensed releases.