Finally!  A Decent FIST OF LEGEND!

Reader Comments

1. Rhythm-X 08/09/2008 @ 11:37am

   I’m not preordering anything from Dragon Dynasty, not even this.  I already have a legit release of this film uncut, in mono, and with theatrical subtitles, although it’s on VCD.  I’ll wait for a few trustworthy reviews to make sure it’s not all screwed up before I consider buying this DVD.

   Between films coming out in the wrong language, or with dubtitles, or with subpar transfers, or lousy Chinglish subtitles, Dragon Dynasty gets no more preorders from me.  “Better than the Dimension version” hardly equals “good enough”.  It just means “approaching an acceptable minimum level of quality.”

2. Rhythm-X 08/09/2008 @ 11:40am

   (But if it’s decent, I’ll definitely order it through the Twitch link to Amazon.)

3. zombeaner 08/09/2008 @ 12:09pm

   They have had some subtitle/dubtitle problems.  I haven’t come across any bad transfers from Dragon Dynasty, or seen any released in the wrong language, and I have almost all of them.

4. Rhythm-X 08/09/2008 @ 12:27pm

   MY YOUNG AUNTIE is in the wrong language.

5. Rhythm-X 08/09/2008 @ 12:37pm

   Their transfer for POLICE STORY is inferior to the Hong Kong release based on the same Fortune Star HD master.  The whites on Dragon Dynasty’s release are comparatively blown out.  Not a fatal flaw, and certainly the disc is watchable, but why even do that?  It looked better before they messed with it.

6. zombeaner 08/09/2008 @ 12:51pm

   Well, that disc I don’t have because I managed to get the HK Trilogy box for $15 on Yesasia.

7. Swarez 08/09/2008 @ 1:43pm

   Sweet! I’ve had a an old UK VHS, widescreen and in the original language, for years. Time to retire that old sucker.

8. shatner 08/09/2008 @ 2:09pm

   Dragon Dynasty is really p*ssing me off with the lack of Blu-ray. Their releases are top notch and they certainly have a deep reverence for the material but why no blu-ray?????????????????????????????

9. Rhythm-X 08/09/2008 @ 2:32pm

   Because their releases aren’t actually top notch and they don’t have the reverence for the material that they’d like you to think that they had?

   Had they reverence, they’d fix the subtitles.  Bey Logan speaks Cantonese.  If he has time to dick around with Brett Ratner interviews, he has time to sit his ass down behind a keyboard and get to typing.  One of these things shows real reverence to the film, one of these things merely attempts to create the appearance of reverence.  One’s a complete waste of time - Brett Ratner, one’s a no-brainer that shouldn’t even be something we have to talk about - an accurate translation.  Priorities are not what they should be at DD.  Don’t expect Blu-ray magic from people who can’t figure out subtitles.

10. zombeaner 08/09/2008 @ 2:38pm

    I don’t agree with the vitriol for Dragon Dynasty.  I like their stuff.  I have almost all of them, and I’ll continue to collect them.  There are a lot of companies who put far less work into creating proper releases for films people want to see.  They still have to sell DVDs, and if sticking Brett Ratner in an extra on a disc sells more DVDs and makes more films available, then it does me no harm.

11. Rhythm-X 08/09/2008 @ 4:04pm

    “They still have to sell DVDs, and if sticking Brett Ratner in an extra on a disc sells more DVDs and makes more films available, then it does me no harm.”

    I cannot imagine a scenario where Brett Ratner’s presence on TAI CHI MASTER or FIST OF LEGEND will move a single additional unit.  Not a single one.  If you know who he is, you probably don’t understand why he’s on this DVD.  If you don’t know who he is, what good does putting him on there do?  Brett Ratner could be replaced with some random hobo from the freight yards for all the difference it would make.  The hobo might also know more about Hong Kong cinema.

    Retranslated subtitles would move more discs than Brett Ratner, because it is a legitimate selling point, instead of just being some guy who doesn’t know what he’s talking about running his mouth.
    Never mind the effort it took to chop sections out of the long version of the English dub and then edit them into the Dimension dub - when they don’t match at all.  That’s a lot of work to accomplish something that make no goddamned sense.  Again, what terrible use of resources, manpower, and so on when you could have just used the dub that you had that fit perfectly.  Dragon Dynasty doesn’t operate with even a trace of logic.

12. Swarez 08/09/2008 @ 6:21pm

    I bought the Dragon Dynasty Police Story because of the new commentary by Logan and Rattner. I already have it on a great DVD from Hong Kong Legends but I wanted to hear what they had to say. Sadly Rattner didn’t have much to say but I think putting someone like The RZA, who is actually passionate about HK kung fu cinema, might also help move some units.

    Subtitles don’t move units. The only people who would buy a title for its subtitles would be hard core fans and those are very few. Getting a celebrity to do a commentary gets people’s attention. Hell it worked on me.

13. zombeaner 08/09/2008 @ 6:29pm

    SEE!?!?!?

14. Rhythm-X 08/09/2008 @ 7:05pm

    That’s not TAI CHI MASTER or FIST OF LEGEND, though.  Ratner working with Chan on the RUSH HOUR movies makes it a choice that, however poor, can be logically justified without too much difficulty.  It’s lame but at least it makes sense.  Ratner on these Jet Li movies came straight out of somebody’s ass.  He’s less qualified to talk about this than he was about POLICE STORY, which he wasn’t qualified to talk about.  This is like Aaron Norris talking about DIE HARD.

15. Rhythm-X 08/09/2008 @ 7:07pm

    Plus by this point, the fans know Ratner is an anti-feature from his POLICE STORY appearances.  That gag only works once.

16. The Visitor 08/09/2008 @ 9:03pm

    oh but Swarez, there are lots of people who want good subtitles on their DVDs. what good are commentaries if the movie itself is incomprehensible?

    anyway, i also have Fist Of Legend on VCD lying somewhere in my storeroom. and yes, the pork seller at my town market knows more about Jet Li movies than Brett Ratner. definitely.

17. Rhythm-X 08/09/2008 @ 9:16pm

    Ask people if they’d rather have a coherent, well-written translation and no interview with someone unrelated to the film who doesn’t know what he’s talking about, or a quite poor translation and also an interview with someone unrelated to the film who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.  Which one of these is more appealing?

18. ChevalierAguila 08/10/2008 @ 12:30am

    Also, Elvis Mitchell, who is “suppose” to know more about this flicks, has added like zero value to his commentaries on some films. Surprisingly enough, the RZA has ended up being way better spoken and with more knowledge. I’ll take him doing a commentary over Bret Hackner any day.

19. Jahsoldier 08/10/2008 @ 1:34am

    GZA has a much deeper knowledge and understand of the martial arts world, whereas Ratner and co only see it on a superficial level. Look for his films to see the evidence. But I’m pretty sure people want coherent subs over any commentary.

    Definitely the best Jet Li flick (except for perhaps Shaolin Temple), and one of the top ten martial arts films for me. Hope they do it justice.

20. kenixfan 08/10/2008 @ 12:12pm

    Rhythm-X, I’m glad I’m not the only one that truly dislikes and mistrusts the Dragon Dynasty operation.  Yes, it’s probably better than previous Weinstein shenanigans BUT it’s still not up to what these films deserve.

    And judging by “Bey’s Blog” on their website, am I to believe that they have acquired the rights to Chocolate?  That would explain why the HK DVD did not have English subtitles.  Basically anything Bey posts about is probably his version of soft marketing about something they are trying to get their tentacles around.

    But there are people who do not know shit and will buy stuff in Best Buy based on what it looks like or Tarantino’s name on a box.  I talked to some guy in Best Buy raving about The Restless (!) and yet he wouldn’t listened when I tried to convince him to buy Come Drink With Me.

    So I understand the marketing behind the DD label.

21. Rhythm-X 08/10/2008 @ 12:51pm

    It’s not up to what any film deserves from any country, from any company that’d bother enough to release it in the first place.  It’s like spending 4 grand on a fancy stereo for a car that’s hemorrhaging transmission fluid.  The priorities are screwed on a very basic, fundamental level.

    Now, they’re not the only ones guilty of this, but they’re the ones who were talking big when they launched Dragon Dynasty, so if they can’t live up to their own hype it seems only fair to call them on it.  And there’s plenty to call them on.

22. Swarez 08/10/2008 @ 3:21pm

    I just wished HK Legends would pick up their game cause they really lost it when Logan left them. His commentaries are always fun to listen to.

    Now I hope DD will release Drunken Master 2 in its original version.

23. Rhythm-X 08/10/2008 @ 3:48pm

    “Now I hope DD will release Drunken Master 2 in its original version.”

    How does this idea that Dragon Dynasty has DRUNKEN MASTER 2 keep circulating?  Wishful thinking is strong stuff, but it doesn’t change the fact that they simply don’t have the rights to the film, as Bey Logan has pointed out in every interview I’ve seen him give since Dragon Dynasty began.

    Miramax would have to give it to the Weinstein Company first.  As it’s now a Warner Bros. film, having been purchased from Golden Harvest well after Miramax licensed it, there may be difficulties even doing that.  It’s all in the details, and while I’m sure Miramax doesn’t give two shits about DRUNKEN MASTER II or else they’d reissue it themselves, they might be powerless to transfer those rights elsewhere for some contractual reason.

24. ChevalierAguila 08/10/2008 @ 6:32pm

    Trust me, Dragon Dynasty is like Criterion compared to the shitty R4 releases we get over here (Mexico) in the martial arts/asian cult vein. Fullscreen, prints of films in awful conditions, poorly done subtitles, terrible covers, zero extras and the list goes on and on.

25. Rhythm-X 08/10/2008 @ 7:28pm

    That ought to be their slogan - not “The Greatest Martial Arts Library In The World”, but “Dragon Dynasty:  Better Than Region 4 DVDs From Mexico”.  Ironically, the only place you’ll see Miramax owned martial arts films is on Spanish-language TV, unless you have Kung Fu HD.  I just barely missed the remastered MISION TIGRE (TIGER ON BEAT) yesterday afternoon.  Not that I can speak Spanish, but I can speak
    “Gordon Liu waving a chainsaw around” fluently.

26. dequinix 08/11/2008 @ 2:50am

    Stepping aside from Dragon Dynasty for a second, I just had to add that this is probably my favorite martial arts film of all time.  Solid story, amazing fighting sequences and Jet Li being Jet Li.

27. BtoFu 08/11/2008 @ 3:07am

    Hasn’t HKL went under? Or something close to under along with Premier Asia? Heard a rumbling about it. I know Contender seems to be the more prominant name on the discs now. What a shame too, I own tons of discs and they’re all lovely.

28. Swarez 08/11/2008 @ 4:01am

    I don’t know if they’ve gone under but they started to fade pretty quickly after Logan left.
    Wasn’t Premier Asia an Optimum label? Optimum remain strong…hopefully.

29. redzapper 08/11/2008 @ 12:58pm

    This my favorite martial arts movie.  The best version so far (and a very good one at that) is the “Fist Of Legend - Édition Collector Limitée 2 DVD” by HK Vidéo available on Amazon.fr.  I believe it has french and english subtitles but I watch it in the original cantonese.

30. DangerousLeeHandsome 08/19/2008 @ 5:34pm

    Retranslated subtitles would move more discs than Brett Ratner, because it is a legitimate selling point, instead of just being some guy who doesn’t know what he’s talking about running his mouth

    Really? I’d like to beleive that too but it simply isn’t true. How do I know? Because I’m a pretty hardcore fan myself and I don’t give a damn about “retranslated subtitles”; I feel we’re lucky enough that we’re getting subtitles to begin with. Ratner may have made a complete fool of himself on the Tai Chi Master DVD but I actually didn’t mind having him on the Police Story DVDs. Atleast he’s actually worked with Jackie Chan.

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