ADDITION: Showbox Blu-ray June 09': Every visual facet of this region-free Showbox Blu-ray from the UK bests the strong Joy Sales DVD. Colors, contrast, detail and depth take a giant leap forward. Everything tightens up and thee is slightly more information in the frame as well.

Unfortunately, the audio is not fulfilling the HD potential that many would like. the 5.1 sounds okay but this is a film that could really give your surround speakers some exercise with a lossless HD mix. This could have been a huge part of this Blu-ray presentation but, as it stands is more at the unremarkable end. The included DUB option is quite poor and doesn't even uses Jackie Chan's voice. There are optional English subtitles and my Momitsu tells me this release is indeed region FREE!

The Blu-ray has most of the DVD supplements but loses the Stanley Tong commentary and gains the interviews. The detraction of the extras on the Showbox is that they are, mostly, in PAL and not playable for region 'A'-locked players and audiences (get a Momitsu!). 

Side note: I had heard a lot of talk a while back (and some email) about this Indian girl - Mallika Sherawat. Quite a few claim that she is the most beautiful woman in the world. Although, as we know this is only skin deep, her brief appearances on the screen seem to swallow the camera whole. Yes, she is an uncommon beauty, but if this is your reason for buying the DVD - she only has a small part but she is almost hypnotic in hi-def.

Bottom line:  I'm a closet Jackie Chan fan and have a number of his films on DVD. This ranks as typical - fun, adventurous - but more of an epic than a popcorn flick. If you like Jackie Chan work then I don't see why you wouldn't embrace this effort - they certainly didn't spare any expense on producing it. The Blu-ray is imperfect but still lots of fun and quite the visual extravaganza - a pretty dazzling night in the home theater.

****

ON THE DVD (2005): This is a very strong SD-DVD transfer - I did see a hint of edge enhancement and some minor compression artifacts, but otherwise this image is very strong... accentuated by the epic style cinematography. There is a slim border at the frame edges, hence marginally limiting the horizontal resolution, but I can't see anyone being unhappy with how this film looks. The audio tracks are quite good - almost too explosive for my personal tastes. The DTS is almost overwhelming so fans of this will definitely be in for a treat.  

Gary W. Tooze