Ronin SE - 5/9
 

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced a new special edition of Ronin which stars Robert De Niro, Jean Reno and Sean Bean. This two-disc release will be available to own from the 9th May, and should retail at around $24.96. The film will be presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Extras will include an audio commentary with director John Frankenheimer, an In The Cutting Room with Tony Gibbs featurette, a Ronin: Filming in the Fast Lane featurette, another feature entitled Through the Lens with Director of Photography Robert Fraisse, some 'Venice Interviews', a Composing the Ronin Score featurette, and an alternate ending. English, French and Spanish subtitles will also be provided.

http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/ronin.html

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/DAdude/ronin.jpg

Love the movie... hate that cover though. Prefer the darker cover of the previous release. At least they're keeping Frankenheimer's commentary but too bad the didn't add one more in there. Already own the old one but I'll definitely get this one.

Agreed. Great movie, terrible cover art. I'll still be picking this up though, for it's been a while since I've seen it.

If it had DTS I'd buy it and the old cover art is way better.

Good movie, but I doubt I will double dip - if I buy another copy I will wait for the inevitable Hidef version.

For those who are region-free, the R2 version includes DTS and a better cover design, and costs $9.95 shipped (after coupon, a link to which can be found in the International Forum):

http://www9.cd-wow.us/detail_results...subcat=region2

Coolio. A favorite of both mine and Alison's, although the cover-art is meh, it'll be sitting on a rack, covered, so it doesn't really matter.

Unless the video and/or audio is significantly improved, I doubt I'll double dip.

Yay! My patience finally pays off. This is a big deal b/c I am typically not a patient person. ;) Oh, and the cover art: :yack:

Definitely bad cover. Good movie though, i have the single disk. I've stopped double dipping so its a no no for me.

I have never watched this full movie, I always skip to the car chases which are fantastic

Awesome - a must-buy for me. :up:

Ditto. Love this movie but this doesn't sound like that much of an improvement.

Love the movie, will probably watch it tonight. No double-dipping this time.

Excellent, thanks for the link! I may pick that up for DTS :thumbsup:

The R2 disc he linked to is PAL, which has 4% speedup that affects the audio pitch. The benefits of DTS are outweighed by PAL speedup.

There was an NTSC DTS edition released in Japan a while back, but I'm pretty sure it's out of print now.

Ah. Thanks for letting me know... I shall wait for the R1 release then, lol.

i hold off on this one. i have the original and do not see much of a need to upgrade this to this one.

The original was one of my first dvd's... I think I'm good till BR.

I am so tempted to pass on this, I think I will, I am happy with the MGM dvd release. Don't feel the need to double dip on it if I am happy with what I have now. Would probably do it if I found it cheap someplace. Great film.

I picked this up about a month ago. The DTS on it, makes it so worth it. And now seeing the specs for the Region 1 SE, no way am I getting it. All the extras are the same. I'll take the DTS any day on this one.

Any diminishment in sound quality?


Oh, and illennium, where is this coupon? I did some searching but still can't find it (in case I decide to go for it, only $10, might be worth a try).

Follow this

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=446338

Just watched the R2 PAL DTS of Ronin last night....what a great flick. I had both the R2 Japan and the UK PAL and both of them sound great with DTS. PAL speedup wasn't too noticeable for me unlike some other R2 PAL discs. For under $10 shipped (I actually paid $6.95) it is a great deal and hard to pass up!

The sound quality is greatly improved over the Region 1 edition. Bill or Dullboy can attest to it. We did a sound comparison this past weekend and with the volume level set the same, the Region 2 has a much more rich sound to it. And the bass shakes like nobody's business. Great stuff for $10.

Aren't these the same features that were on the previous release?? Maybe my memory is failing, but I think those were all on there.

The only features on the original release:

- Commentary by Director John Frankenheimer
- Alternate Ending

Perhaps the lamest, most minimally different alternate ending in cinematic history. Little Shop Of Horrors this ain't.

I'm going to pass on this release as I am content with the original. That cover art is hit too.

While it isn't a drastically different ending (not many are), this one has the McElhorne (sp?) character getting dragged into an unmarked van. Haven't seen it in a while but wasn't she affiliated with the IRA or something and they weren't too happy with what happened?

Anyways, it kinda gives a conclusion to her story (I assume she doesn't survive) so I like what they went with in the end...



BTW, thanks Bill for the voucher link. I went ahead and picked up the region 2 DVD for $9.95.

That's not entirely true--there were those behind the scenes snippets from the online thing:

Title 22 - 24 seconds showing a camera mounted to a Porsche being prepped.

Title 23 - 13 seconds shwoing the stunt driver's driving controls.

Title 24 - 2 seconds of some car-mounted lighting gear.

Title 25 - 23 seconds of the stunt Audi driving off, with a driver operating the car from the trunk.

Title 26 - 15 seconds, the filming of the Audi crashing into the Citroen, and into a crowded cafe.

Title 27 - 4 seconds showing a planning map, using matchbox cars.

Title 28 - 14 seconds showing Sean Bean being filmed walking down a street.

Title 29 - 26 seconds showing Jean Reno and Sean bean bieing filmed while in a shootout.

Title 30 - 14 seconds showing Jean Reno jumping in a stunt car that is being towed.

Title 31- 8 seconds showing the BMW getting flipped over.

Title 32 - 15 seconds showing John Frankenheimer observe as the BMW is towed off the elevated freeway.

Title 33 - 8 seconds showing the same BMW, from another angle.

Title 43 - 27 seconds, John Frankeheimer introduces the "multimedia" presentation contained on the DVD.

Highres and slightly retooled artwork from DVDActive.comhttp://www.dvdactive.com/images/news...artworkpic.jpg

jeez, looks worse when we can see every detail, lol

redrum, why did you post the cover art again?

Probably because your link doesn't work. It just shows a DVDActive banner.

it's funny i have the R2 Japan UE (haven't watched yet) and it is 2-discs and dvdcompare.net doesn't even list it as 2 discs so i have no idea what is on each one. anyone help me out?

hahha, from that cover, Jean Reno looks VERY happy and alert ;)

Got my copy today and since this is my first non-Region 1 DVD, wanted to test it in my player which worked beautifully... Not a bad deal for $10.

So thanks illennium for posting about it :)

Question: What was edited out of the region 2 release? I have the original region 1 which has the runtime at 121 minutes. The region 2 has it at 116. I haven't watched either in a while but I did put both in the dvd player, went to the end and indeed the region 2 is 5-minutes shorter...

Just curious to know if the missing time is any big (or noticable) deal.