drunken master 2 hong kong version

[bazkeane82]

i heard that drunken master 2 the original chinese version is better than the new american release of the film, anyone know if this is true and know where i get a copy of the the original version from (dvd)

[Jimmyboy]

The Hong Kong release is cropped, & the American release is English dubbed. So its whatever annoys you less.

I have heard that the English dub is good considering, and the fact that its in OAR edges it above the Hong Kong release.
If you dont mind watching cropped movies though, then get the HK version.

[Shingster]

True, the DM2 American dub isn't bad, they did a good job on Anita Mui, but a bad one on Ti Lung. Also it's the only version with JC's actual voice, & the OAR. Also the quality of the transfer completely blows away any other version of this film.
So it should easily be the best version right? Wrong, unfortunately, the geniuses at Dimension decided to completely re-score the film, & the end result is that the film's lacking in atmosphere!
It might just be me who feels this, but when I saw the R1 version I thought it felt a bit 'flat' in places. This was because some fight scenes didn't have an accompanying score or if it did, the score didn't quite suit the scene.
Maybe I'm just a picky sod, but I decided to get the Thakral Chinese release instead. It's cropped & has a much lower quality transfer, but I enjoyed it a lot more than the R1 version.
The Thakral version is very difficukt to get hold of as I think it's OOP, so the stores that do stock it will probably charge stupid prices.
So, after slagging it off, I suggest going for the R1 version, as it's freely available & has loads of advantages over the Thakrel version, with just one BIG disadvantage. But if you must get the Thakrel version, I suggest Poker Industries (http://pokerindustries.com/acatalog/). I got it from them for about £15 delivered using this code for 10% off: MHVF-101001 (Valid until Oct 31st)

[Michael Brooke]

The alternative is to go for the Hong Kong VCD, which is the only way you'll get to see the film in the original aspect ratio with Cantonese dialogue and the original score.

Unfortunately, this also means you have to put up with artefacts galore, hard-to-read subtitles and all the other problems associated with the format, but it is at least very cheap!

[Shingster]

I bought the VCD a while back, the picture isn't that good compared to DVD, but it does the job & it's in the OAR. Unfortunately I had to trade it off in the classifieds as my computer had problems playing it. (I've since found out that the cause was a program on my hard drive & so I've deleted it.)
The cheapest price I found was $12 = £8.41 delivered from AMS, have a look here (http://archivalmovie.com/CHDR12.htm) if you're interested.