A Better Tomorrow

DVD Released by : Media Asia

Player reviewed with : Sony S3000

Receiver reviewed with : Sony 925

Features:

Interactive Menus

Scene Access

Filmogrophies and Bios

Trailer

Cantonese or Mandarin Soundtracks

English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Bahasa

Malaysia, Bahasa Indonesia, and Thai Subtitles

Not enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs

Dolby Digital

DVD Released by : Anchor Bay Entertainment

Player reviewed with : Sony S3000

Receiver reviewed with : Sony 925

Features:

Widescreen Presentation (1.85:1)

Enhanced for 16 x 9 TVs

Scene Access

Filmogrophies and Bios

Trailer (in Cantonese)

Trailer (in English)

Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and 2.0 surround

A BETTER TOMORROW is more than just a classic action movie. It is the story of brothers, gangsters and revenge. Chow Yun-Fat and Ti Lung play ultra-suave gangsters who have it all and loose everything. Leslie Cheung portrays Ho's (Ti Lung) brother, and is also a cop. Ho is torn between going straight and doing that "one last job". Great performances and a lot of action make this movie one of the best.

Since the release of the Media Asia DVD's of A BETTER TOMORROW I & II, everyone has felt cheated that the movie deserved better. Much better. Anchor Bay Entertainment attempts this and gives it there best shot. Actually, they got to do it twice. Due to the first release not having the original Cantonese soundtrack, Anchor Bay Entertainment repressed the DVD with the Cantonese track in its original mono.

First we'll take a look at the Media Asia Version.

There are two versions of the Media Asia import of A BETTER TOMORROW. The first release featured new music and a soundtrack that sometimes went severely out of sync. The other version has a sticker on it that says 100% original music. Other than that the picture quality and DVD case are identical. The DVD itself has red lettering for the version with the original music.

The picture quality is far from perfect. Apart from being too bright, during dark scenes, you can see a haze over the picture. It is noticeable and sometimes a little distracting. I know the original print couldn't have been that great but I think some of the Simitar releases of the Jackie Chan movies had a better color balance.

The sound is Dolby Digital. Most sounds come from the front speakers and when it does come from the rear speakers it seems out of place. The sound is in sync at least. The first version released with the altered soundtrack had some scenes that were very noticeably off. I think the video by Republic was off in the same spots.

The extras are about average with what is considered extras on import DVD's. It has a trailer, a Media Asia promo, and cast bios. The menus are decent and it's nice being able to pick the language and subtitles on the
same screen.

Knowing the flaws of the this DVD I still would have bought this movie at the time. Now there is a choice and the Anchor Bay version although not flawless, is better.

The picture quality varies through the picture. The very first scenes look a little soft but the picture improves. There is one part of the film that has some white dots (Chapter 17 or so) that look embedded in the film but these go away somewhat quickly. There are some scenes that look fantastic. The night scenes hold up very well. The Media Asia release would breakup a little during dark scenes. These are much better even though the film grain is more pronounced. Given the source print, the picture is good. The picture is more like the quality of import DVD's than Hollywood movies. This is important to note because this release is getting a lot of attention and there will be some who are happy and some who are very disappointed.

The first pressing of this DVD had the Cantonese track in 5.1 Dolby Digital. This had the altered music in some scenes. It also had a scene that was half in Cantonese and half in Mandarin. For lovers of the film, this was a travesty. The mood of the movie is severely altered by this music. In fact, the soundtrack is very much like the one used in the first Media Asia release. Both are very poorly mixed in the scene where Ho is betrayed. This version should be avoided. Anchor Bay Entertainment trusted that their source supplied the correct soundtrack and they didn't. Anchor Bay attempted to correct the problem with the second pressing. The second pressing does have the original Mono Cantonese track but it's not perfect. There is a 10 second dropout in the beginning of the film when Ho yells "Kit!". The rest of the movie is acceptable. You may need to raise the volume a little more than normal but not too much. The mixing overall is pretty even.

The subtitles are in yellow and very easy to read. The funny thing is that they seem to rise up over credits when they appear. The translation is done very well. This is definitely done better than the Media Asia versions.

The extras are a little slim. There are trailers for the movie in different languages. It also has bios of Chow Yun-Fat and John Woo. I usually just skim through these but they only listed a selected group of films that each has worked on.

If you do not own this movie and plan to get it, make sure that the back of the DVD box lists the CANTONESE track as MONO. This will have the original soundtrack. Even though there is a dropout of sound, it does not have the horribly altered music. It definitely makes a difference. This title will most likely not be revisited for Region 1 for a very long time so this is the best there is at the moment. The definitive version? No, definitely not. It's still better than the Media Asia versions.

If you have the DVD that has the Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack listed on the back, you can exchange your copies with your retailer, or send them in to Anchor Bay Entertainment for a replacement. You can send in your DVD to:

Barbara Gerczak
c/o Anchor Bay Entertainment
1699 Stutz Drive
Troy, MI 48084

Exchanging them with the retailer doesn't always work so I recommend sending them to Anchor Bay.