The Prisoner
Manufacturer: Columbia
Price: $25
Sound: Dolby 5.1, Dolby 2.0
Format: widescreen
Languages: English, French
Subtitles: English, Spanish
Extras: trailer, cast/crew bios, commentary by Phillip Rhee
After Columbia put out a couple of good DVDs of HK movies (Gen-X Cops and Gorgeous), this one is pretty disappointing. But I guess I should have expected as much when "Rumble in the prison" is the cover's tagline. There's no Cantonese language track on this disc; the dubbing is okay, but a couple of the voices (Sammo Hung's in particular) sound horrible. Also, it has been cut from the HK version. The bios are pretty poorly written for a US disc -- they even manage to confuse Tony Leung Ka Fai (one of the stars in the movie) for Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. I understand it's somewhat easy to get the two mixed up...but I'm not producing DVDs. The trailer is crap; it uses a generic techno theme that I've heard in video games before, some cheesy voice over guy, and it's full frame to boot. Phillip Rhee's (star of numerous US B-list martial arts movies like Best of the Best) commentary is okay if you're a newbie to HK movies, otherwise it's just boring. I don't see why they even put him on there, especially when several people involved with the movie speak English. This is okay for a rental, but don't waste your cash on buying this disc unless you can get it for cheap.
Rating: **