Firstly let's dismiss the UK Blu-ray right out of the box as it is MPEG-2, interlaced and is either the 'Cut' version or has PAL speed-up - either way this is not the HD version you want to own.

The Asian Geneon Blu-ray is the best technically; being progressive, with a high bitrate and housed on a dual-layered disc. I've owned it fort a while but wanted to check if any future releases had the same 'chroma-like' phenomenon that I noticed. It seems prominent enough to mention and I didn't notice it as a distractive factor on any of the Blu-rays. There is still some noise in the many darker sequences.  

While all three transfers are 1.85:1. the US release has some cropping-related swings often showing more information than the other two but occasionally chopping heads in scenes. I have no idea which is the most correct. Generally the Lionsgate - Miramax seemed brighter exposing a shade more detail but I don't discount that it had some digital tinkering in the form of moiring and boosting. Skin tones seem far more accurate on the US edition but this could be the heightened brightness. It may have the perception of being the sharpest but had little in the way of depth or textures.  

Audio clearly goes to the US release with a dynamic DTS-HD Master 5.1 at 3865 kbps. The Japanese rendering was also uncompressed but it had neither the depth nor the range of the LionsGate/Miramax. AS well as clean sounding original music by Graeme Revell - there are plenty of bands sampled with spotlights on The Cure, Stone Temple Pilots, Nine Inch Nails and even Jane Siberry with varying degrees of caustic rock robustly influencing the dark atmosphere. The track exports them all in fine, gritty fashion. While the US Blu-ray has optional English and Spanish subtitle options and the UK has only English (alternate font size and positioning) and the Geneon only Japanese. We should note that the Geneon menus are English friendly. The Miramax and EIV are locked to their respective regions but the Geneon Blu-ray is region FREE.

Supplements have only minor variations with none being in HD. All have a commentary - the UK and Japanese with Producer Jeff Most and Writer John Shirley, and the US with director Alex Proyas. Each have the 16-minute Behind the Scenes Featurette, a 1/2 hour Profile of James O'Barr - both 3 Extended Scenes and a Deleted Footage Montage. The EIV (UK) has something entitled 'Brandon Lee's Last On-Camera Interview' which looks strangely like what was on the 'Behind the Scenes' (although maybe filmed at a different time?) and both the UK and US discs have the a Poster section, Production Design Stills and 5-scene Storyboards that are not on the Japanese Geneon. The MIramax/Lionsgate and Asian Blu-rays have trailers (of different running times - one Japanese - the other North American) and the US has a Bookmark Ability and a second disc digital copy.

Price is always an important factor and the Japanese edition, which I generally endorse despite some limitations - especially beside the UK - has a price that is unreasonable while the most value is easily found by buying the Miramax - Lionsgate edition. It's a shame there aren't more new supplements - or that they aren't in HD but fans of the film, will appreciate the HD visuals and impressive audio . They should definitely indulge.  

Gary W. Tooze