Returner up for pre-order in HK.
04-12-03 | 06:46 AM
#1
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DVD Talk Legend
Returner up for pre-order in HK.
Universe is putting out Returner on the 16th.
DTS and R3.
DDDHouse has it up for preorder for 68HKD.
Having paid almost that much in USD for the R2 Japanese 2 disc set, I can say that I kinda wish I had waited a few weeks for this one. :/
DTS and R3.
DDDHouse has it up for preorder for 68HKD.
Having paid almost that much in USD for the R2 Japanese 2 disc set, I can say that I kinda wish I had waited a few weeks for this one. :/
04-13-03 | 03:09 AM
#3
Thread Starter
DVD Talk Legend
http://www.returner.net/
Here's my review of it...
Here's my review of it...
Okay - The Returner...
Plot: Aliens have landed in present day Japan... fast forward 80 years and the war is almost over between humans and aliens and the humans are losing. A girl gets sent back in time so she can kill the original alien and stop the war from ever happening. Kaneshiro plays a hired gun who moves like Neo from the Matrix and is bent on getting revenge on a Yakuza boss. Future girl and gun boy meet and team up to save the world.
It's basically Matrix meets E.T. meets TimeCop. Well, it's got cool gunfights, time travel and alien invasion. How can you go wrong with that? They manage to go wrong in quite a few places. Mostly where time travel is concerned. Plot hole so large I could throw myself through them. However, it still manages to dazzle and is compelling enough to hold my attention.
This film comes from the director of Juvenile. He seems to be a director that likes to appeal to kids. One of his major influences seems to be Spielberg. He's certainly talented.
Special effects-wise, the Returner is an awesome spectacle. Every effects shot manages to rival the best Hollywood has to offer. Unfortunately, action and special effects sequences don't take up nearly as much screen time as the trailer would have you believe. Even so, the film is nothing sort of brilliant in this department.
Overall, I think the film suffers from style over substance a little and it's evedent that they sacrificed a little in terms of realism and plausability in favor of action and dazzle. This wouldn't be such an issue if there was more action and special effects... however, too much time was devoted to other things. The characters are interesting though and as long as you don't ask yourself "could this happen??" you'll enjoy yourself.
I give it an 8/10 and recommend it.
I picked up the 2-disc R2 Japanese Special Edition DVD set. It's packaging is fantastic. Nice thick slipcover housing two gatefold cases - one holding both discs and the other holding a booklet and some image cards. The transfer and sound are top notch... I found nothing to complain about. Subtitles are clear and easy to read and they seemed to be fairly accurate. This is a DVD set worthy of a purchase. As for the price tag - this should make you think twice. This film will no doubt end up being released in HK and likely Korea. It might make sense to wait for this flick since it won't be the most amazing movie you've ever seen and the current DVD costs so much. That said though, I'm glad I picked it up.
Plot: Aliens have landed in present day Japan... fast forward 80 years and the war is almost over between humans and aliens and the humans are losing. A girl gets sent back in time so she can kill the original alien and stop the war from ever happening. Kaneshiro plays a hired gun who moves like Neo from the Matrix and is bent on getting revenge on a Yakuza boss. Future girl and gun boy meet and team up to save the world.
It's basically Matrix meets E.T. meets TimeCop. Well, it's got cool gunfights, time travel and alien invasion. How can you go wrong with that? They manage to go wrong in quite a few places. Mostly where time travel is concerned. Plot hole so large I could throw myself through them. However, it still manages to dazzle and is compelling enough to hold my attention.
This film comes from the director of Juvenile. He seems to be a director that likes to appeal to kids. One of his major influences seems to be Spielberg. He's certainly talented.
Special effects-wise, the Returner is an awesome spectacle. Every effects shot manages to rival the best Hollywood has to offer. Unfortunately, action and special effects sequences don't take up nearly as much screen time as the trailer would have you believe. Even so, the film is nothing sort of brilliant in this department.
Overall, I think the film suffers from style over substance a little and it's evedent that they sacrificed a little in terms of realism and plausability in favor of action and dazzle. This wouldn't be such an issue if there was more action and special effects... however, too much time was devoted to other things. The characters are interesting though and as long as you don't ask yourself "could this happen??" you'll enjoy yourself.
I give it an 8/10 and recommend it.
I picked up the 2-disc R2 Japanese Special Edition DVD set. It's packaging is fantastic. Nice thick slipcover housing two gatefold cases - one holding both discs and the other holding a booklet and some image cards. The transfer and sound are top notch... I found nothing to complain about. Subtitles are clear and easy to read and they seemed to be fairly accurate. This is a DVD set worthy of a purchase. As for the price tag - this should make you think twice. This film will no doubt end up being released in HK and likely Korea. It might make sense to wait for this flick since it won't be the most amazing movie you've ever seen and the current DVD costs so much. That said though, I'm glad I picked it up.
04-13-03 | 08:45 AM
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Thanks for the head up Trigger, i really wanted this movie but balked at the japanese prices for the disc and was no way in hell getting any bootleg off of Ebay so I'll definately be making a trip to Chinatown now that i know its coming out.
04-13-03 | 03:48 PM
#6
Thread Starter
DVD Talk Legend
I think I reviewed Juvenile somewhere around here... Anyway - I liked Returner better, but just by a little bit. I think Returner had more problems, but it was overall cooler I guess.
04-18-03 | 09:59 PM
#12
DVD Talk Hero
Anyone know if the R2 Japan DVD 2 disc set has English subs on the second disc of extras or just on the feature? (Trigger?)
Thinking of going whole hog on this one and picking that set up.
Thanks
Thinking of going whole hog on this one and picking that set up.
Thanks
04-19-03 | 05:45 AM
#14
Thread Starter
DVD Talk Legend
Originally posted by cultshock
Anyone know if the R2 Japan DVD 2 disc set has English subs on the second disc of extras or just on the feature? (Trigger?)
Thinking of going whole hog on this one and picking that set up.
Thanks
Anyone know if the R2 Japan DVD 2 disc set has English subs on the second disc of extras or just on the feature? (Trigger?)
Thinking of going whole hog on this one and picking that set up.
Thanks
04-20-03 | 03:07 AM
#15
DVD Talk Hero
OK, thats fine, as I've been spending too much money on DVDs lately anyway. Maybe I'll just pick up the HK disc. (although maybe I'm being anal, but I'd rather get a Japanese release of a Japanese film. Geez, I need help)
04-20-03 | 05:36 AM
#16
Thread Starter
DVD Talk Legend
Originally posted by cultshock
OK, thats fine, as I've been spending too much money on DVDs lately anyway. Maybe I'll just pick up the HK disc. (although maybe I'm being anal, but I'd rather get a Japanese release of a Japanese film. Geez, I need help)
OK, thats fine, as I've been spending too much money on DVDs lately anyway. Maybe I'll just pick up the HK disc. (although maybe I'm being anal, but I'd rather get a Japanese release of a Japanese film. Geez, I need help)
04-20-03 | 09:44 AM
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From: NYC...no longer! Collegeville, PA
You know, I just picked this one up yesterday in Chinatown and am wondering what media it was written on. This is the first DVD my Apex 600A isn't able to read. Sure I've had troubles with some of my HK DVDs but after a couple tries the player reads them no problem. This one consistently reads "No Disc", even though my PC DVD player plays it fine. I wonder if it was written on a DVD-R or something that my Apex isn't compatable with.
Could it be I picked up a bootleg? Here are some shots:
Jeremy
Could it be I picked up a bootleg? Here are some shots:
Jeremy
04-20-03 | 12:45 PM
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From: Vancouver, Canada
No it's not a bootleg, and no it's not a dvd-r. That much should be plainly obvious if you flip over the disc and look at it's play surface. Universe's disc has yet to be bootlegged. The other two bootlegs are a theatrical cam job and a bootleg of the Japanese dvd. You can identify the bootleg of the Japanese disc by it's slipcase digipack packaging. I would suggest exchanging it for another copy. Universe handles their own disc replication and their production runs are far from ideal, and realisticly speaking, are quite crap. Also the Apex can be more than a bit finicky with the odd disc. Mine for example has never handled Universe's anamorphic discs properly, always displaying in the incorrect AR despite whatever settings the dvd player is set at. I have a few other oddball discs it refuses to read altogether as well. As it's using a rather aged dvd-rom as it's loader it's not terribly surprising. In a couple of cases the problem was remedied by exchanging the disc for a new copy.
04-21-03 | 02:06 PM
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From: NYC...no longer! Collegeville, PA
Originally posted by Binaural
what region is the hk dvd, on the poker website it is listed as all region
what region is the hk dvd, on the poker website it is listed as all region
Jeremy
04-21-03 | 06:36 PM
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From: NYC...no longer! Collegeville, PA
Very interesting...all region, right? I verified DVDDecrypter would show the correct region by putting in an R1 disc, and having the disc label, region, and copy protection show correctly.
Can anyone else verify with their copies?
Jeremy
Last edited by jrutz; 04-21-03 at 08:24 PM.