SPL

[steve_cole1]

SPL back to the good old days of good hk films , sammo can still kick ass at his age !!!! him and donnie fight was good i did expect more but i think it was piped up too much . I was expecting more fights in the film but still it was great to see proper fights not some half baked teeny bopper who tries to pretend that he/she knows kung fu . People like sammo and donnie are a dying breed . Bring on Tony Jaa!!!!

[evirei]

Yes, I must agree on the "they are a dying breed". It's sad but true. Just hope they have some fresh blood in soon.

Totally thumbs up for SPL. Ah... which reminds me I need to review it soon before I totally confuse it with other movies.

[Chinoco]

How about that ending however??? Kinda shocking!

And *SPOILERS*

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Just how exactly did Simon get himself untied at the end? I'm sure Sammo didn't let him go!

[evirei]

How about that ending however??? Kinda shocking!

And *SPOILERS*

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Just how exactly did Simon get himself untied at the end? I'm sure Sammo didn't let him go!

Erm.. i think donnie untied him

[Brian Thibodeau]

Which version of this have you seen, Evirei? Assuming your not kidding, I wonder if you've seen the mainland edit, where Donnie would indeed be around to untie Simon.

However, if you've seen the original version made for the rest of the world, you'd realize that Donnie wouldn't be able to do such a thing.

[Fan]

Just how exactly did Simon get himself untied at the end? I'm sure Sammo didn't let him go!

I once thought that could be Sammo or other police later come to the scene...until I read a post about the ending elsewhere, I think I need to watch SPL again to look for the "answer".

[Chinoco]

On another note, there is a funny mistake I found in the film. It's in the airport scene where Sammo is holding the giant Pink Panther doll for his kid. There is a guy in the area wearing a Toronto Raptors NBA Vince Carter #15 jersey. One problem- the scene takes place in 1997, and Vince Carter wasn't even in the NBA yet!

[PAUL MARTINEZ]

Good Eye Chinoco. I unfortunately have not seen the "Real" ending either. Even so, I LOVED this film. Movies like this is what made me fall in love with HK films in the first place. Now that Jet Li has gone Hollywood and apparently is going to stop doing Martial Arts films, we are left with very little in actors who can give us the fight scenes that we became accustomed to. I hope producers and directors are searching for the next real martial artist to crossover to the silver screen. Tony Jaa is the only one on the horizon that I can see right now.

[evirei]

Which version of this have you seen, Evirei? Assuming your not kidding, I wonder if you've seen the mainland edit, where Donnie would indeed be around to untie Simon.

However, if you've seen the original version made for the rest of the world, you'd realize that Donnie wouldn't be able to do such a thing.

Erm... that is a good question.. I have no idea what version I saw. But the version I saw is where Donnie was talking to Simon and then Donnie sat down at the bar after he beat the hell out of Sammo.

So I assume he untied Simon.

[evirei]

okay... after reading "the ending" forum which I miss out... I think I have been conned

Hemm.. lucky I hasn't review the movie. Hahaha.. ermmm but even with this ending it already scored a 7 1/2. gotta get the other ending one. Bah! I still felt cheated.

[Brian Thibodeau]

okay... after reading "the ending" forum which I miss out... I think I have been conned

Hemm.. lucky I hasn't review the movie. Hahaha.. ermmm but even with this ending it already scored a 7 1/2. gotta get the other ending one. Bah! I still felt cheated

Good Eye Chinoco. I unfortunately have not seen the "Real" ending either. Even so, I LOVED this film

As a gigantic fan of this film, I can only hope that everyone will try to pick up the HK version of SPL. I'm beginning to suspect that the bootleggers and the download providers ONLY have the Mainland abortion, and it's sad how many people seem to be learning about the ending from the internet rather than seeing it play out in all it's ironic glory in the film itself. Plus, the fights are more violent in the HK version....

[evirei]

As a gigantic fan of this film, I can only hope that everyone will try to pick up the HK version of SPL. I'm beginning to suspect that the bootleggers and the download providers ONLY have the Mainland abortion, and it's sad how many people seem to be learning about the ending from the internet rather than seeing it play out in all it's ironic glory in the film itself. Plus, the fights are more violent in the HK version....

Well, over here... the cinema's dun really show more violent stuffs and they often take up the Mainland version ( this happens for Infernal Affairs too ). Gotta find a way to get the HK version ones later on.

[PAUL MARTINEZ]

Does anyone know a website offering the HK version? I feel cheated and need to see the "Real" version ASAP.

[Brian Thibodeau]

Despite the rather weak sleeve design, you can find the legit version here:
http://www.dddhouse.com/dddhouse/en/index.jsp?action=productDetail&productID=5151
(inner sleeve pictured)

here:
http://us.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/code-c/section-videos/pid-1004097685/
(outer sleeve pictured)

here:
http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.536610/qx/details.htm

At this point, just about any online retailer of LEGIT discs will probably carry the Hong Kong edition, although prices seem to be creeping back up a bit now that it's not a "new" release. If you know other legit sellers that might offer it cheaper, go for it.

[MrBooth]

$15.95 shipped at cd-wow

http://www3.cd-wow.us/detail_results_2.php?product_code=260491

[PAUL MARTINEZ]

Thanks Guys

[porter]

so let me get this right, in the mainland version, Donnie just sits down after beating Sammo and has a drink??!!!

[Brian Thibodeau]

You got it.

And to think that THAT's the version on which many people on internet forums are basing their opinions, and then coming to the conclusion that the film isn't up to the standards of others of it's kind!

Kinda like the Mainland ending of INFERNAL AFFAIRS, where Andy Lau hops off the elevator and - HUZZAHHH! - gets arrested by a team of Internal Affairs sluggos that have apparently been investigating HIM for the entire duration of the film without the audience ever knowing about it!

I've also come to suspect that there has never actually been an official mainland DVD of SPL, which could mean that just about everybody who has seen the "Donnie-pours-a-drink-The-End" version has actually bought (or downloaded) and watched a bootleg version that was likely well-shot of a screen, or at best saw the edited piece when it played in mainland theatres or other countries with tight morals laws. I'm not one to tsk-tsk, since we've ALL had to rely on boots at one time or another, but in the case of SPL, admitting you saw the version without "the plunge" at the end is sorta like 'fessing up to supporting piracy....

Unless I can find someone online selling an official mainland edit on DVD. I'd kinda like to have a copy of that just to show people what can happen when government agencies do our thinking for us!

[porter]

he he
well i have the HK release, so i am haappy, but it still does not clarify (for me) how the hell did Simon get down??!!!

[Brian Thibodeau]

I simply assumed the cops showed up after Sammo's crying jag and got Simon down. Certainly the presence of three dead bodies on the street below, one of which obviously dropped from up above, would have got the ball rolling to get the authorities to show up. Sammo at this point was hardly a threat, so it can be assumed he had no more fight left in him OR the desire to kill Simon out of anger. Frankly, I'm glad they didn't show the cops showing up to wind things down. They do that in just about EVERY Hong Kong action movie of the 80's and 90's. If often seemed like the only way the filmmakers could end a fight was to have legions of cops come bursting through the door waving their guns and arresting everybody. I just didn't need to see them show up in SPL to know that Simon would have been helped off the hook.

[MrBooth]

I've also come to suspect that there has never actually been an official mainland DVD of SPL,

What makes you say that? I believe there have been two!

[Brian Thibodeau]

If you could show me where to get them, Simon, I'd be a happy camper!

I'll be in Toronto shortly, so I suppose I could just grab the bootleg since that version really is an aberration unworthy of more than a couple of dollars, but I'm curious to know where they're selling the "legit" aberration online so I can at least see what I'd have to pay if I went that route. I was told that the mainland DVD is, in fact, the same as the HK DVD and that it was only the theatrical screenings that were edited (sorta like the INFERNAL AFFAIRS DVD being the same for both Hong Kong and the mainland, and early bootlegs taken from mainland screenings with the deplorable "justice prevails" ending). Any leads?

If the mainland DVD is indeed the butchered theatrical cut, then the sheer number of people who "appear" to be buying it - both here and abroad, as evidenced in other forums and even in phone conversations with two friends - is saddening. Surely there are enough Hong Kong film buffs, both passive and agressive, who are aware of sites like Yesasia and HKflix and their ilk? Otherwise, I can only assume the wrong version is still making the download rounds even AFTER the proper edit has been released! Is there some online Beijing DVD retailer sending out hypnotic signals and really, REALLY irresistible deals?

[Mike Thomason]

I'm beginning to suspect that the bootleggers and the download providers ONLY have the Mainland abortion, and it's sad how many people seem to be learning about the ending from the internet....

Perhaps what's even more unsettling than that is the prospect that, with the ambiguity of a wealth of people's comments over the Mainland DVD (eg: which one? cut/uncut? etc etc) on numerous forums it's become clearer and clearer that a lot of folk just downloaded it through illict means and thereby invested exactly nothing back into the film and industry they have been championing as having had a second wind as a result (ie: in the "rush" to be talking about the film a lot of people seem to have gone the "shortcut" route -- apart from those who have cited cinema screenings or the Deltamac disc as the source of their viewing).

As for me, I imported the Deltamac disc and, not having bought into the hype, found it modestly engaging entertainment but, like Johnnie To's ELECTION before it, certainly nothing earth-shattering. I doubt it will hold up to repeated viewings for me...

[Brian Thibodeau]

it's become clearer and clearer that a lot of folk just downloaded it through illict means and thereby invested exactly nothing back into the film and industry they have been championing

While we're obviously of a different mindset on the merits of the film, Mike, you've basically made explicit what I was only hinting at in my earlier posts. I too have seen this film chatted up at other forums by people who proffer an indifferent attitude once they've seen the Mainland cut on DVD, as if somehow they were "let down" by the ending, seemingly oblivious to what it is they've bought in that "rush" you mention, or like Evirei, perhaps unwittingly buying the bad version. While the film proper won't impress everyone - and might even underwhelm to those who've read too much hyperbolic praise from folks like myself - it still remains that a large number of those people watching the cut version and commenting on it are all but admitting they download illegally or got hosed by buying the bootleg (and too early, at that). And let's face it, sadly, there's more who do than don't. I mean, if you feel you have NO OPTION but to pirate (which is a loooonnng shot), at LEAST wait until the official version is out before you steal your copy - at least by then the pirates will have something decent to duplicate. Geez!


P.S. It definitely holds up to repeat viewings for me (one theatrical, and two DVD views, so now I can wait a while), but I'm usually biased in favour of this kind of Hong Kong film anyway.

[MrBooth]

No, there was definitely a legit release of the mainland edit. There were two mainland releases - one in a red case, one in a blue. The red one was the edited film and I think the source of most of the bootlegs. It was for sale at etailers who definitely do not stock bootlegs, so I am sure it was legit. I heard conflicting reports about whether the blue case disc was uncut or just less cut, so I waited for the Deltamac disc myself.

[steve_cole1]

what is different between cut and uncut versions

[Brian Thibodeau]

Differences include massive cuts to the ending, which rob the film of nearly all its poetic justice, and snips here and there to the fights and Jacky Wu's various knife attacks. The differences are quite significant. I could post the exact differences between the two endings, but that would entail a couple of gigantic spoilers, and I'm not sure those who haven't seen the film yet would appreciate it (plus there's no way to really "hide" spoilers in these forums).

Thanks for the info, Simon, regarding those mainland DVDs. Guess I'll have to keep my eyes peeled, as the retailers I frequent don't have them. They've gotta turn up sooner or later.

[steve_cole1]

so which is the best version ?

[Brian Thibodeau]

Definitely the Hong Kong version. That's the film the way the filmmakers intended it to be. Anything else is a compromise. The dark tone is consistent right through to the end, whereas the mainland edit forces a "happy" ending on the film by removing key scenes. Comments I've read here and there from people who bought or watched the mainland version WITHOUT knowing it was edited have been unfairly lukewarm, due in part, I think, to the fact that the film they saw simply doesn't play out like a 90's HK cop thriller and therefore doesn't "feel" right. So get the Hong Kong Deltamac edition. It's the only way to go.

[PAUL MARTINEZ]

First of all I didn't dl an illicit version. I bought my copy off of ebay. I had no idea of alternate versions of the film if so then I would have sought out the avtual version.