Comparison between the censored German DVD from Laser Paradise (identical to the Hongkong DVD from Mei Ah) and the uncensored German Blu-ray from Maritim / Cargo Records as well as the Hong Kong Blu-ray from Kam & Ronson
A few additional master errors, each less than 0.5 sec in duration, were not listed in the report.
On the one hand, a shootout in the middle of the film is actually longer by a rather bloody headshot compared to old DVDs. This brief moment is only a few frames long in itself, but was also covered up frame-for-frame at the time by slow motion on the short rest of the shot. Probably this is a censorship that was already done in Hong Kong. Anyway, besides the old German DVD of Laser Paradise, we also had the Hong Kong DVD of Mei Ah. Here the passage was censored exactly identically. In the further course of the film there are still master-related mini-deviations without real relevance. How it looked on the German VHS, for example, we can not yet say for lack of comparative material. On the other hand, exactly the censorship-related explosive shot on the German Blu-ray has been given a little extra treatment. Here, the picture has been zoomed in a bit without losing anything exciting on the sides. The bloody head shot is a bit better in focus this way, which was probably the intention behind it. It is certainly debatable whether this intervention in the original image format was necessary. But nothing of value is lost on the sides of the picture with this zoom, as you can see from the comparison pictures. Gorehounds will probably appreciate it.
By way of introduction, it should be said that the Hong Kong BD still has two company logos at the beginning with a duration of 30 sec that are missing on the German Blu-ray.
The old DVD starts 2.3 seconds earlier. The introductory credit has an English translation only here. In the second minute, more credits appear, which now also have English subtitles in the HD master, but have been redesigned. The alternate German film title has also been added as a small subtitle.
One can also emphasize that right in the first seconds during the black background, in the old picture master of the DVD a note on the location was firmly burned into the picture. On the Blu-rays, this at least appears on the English subtitle track. However, it is missing from the German subtitle track (not forced subs, but for the entire film). There are many more instances like this through the film, for example, at the mention of Thailand in the 6th minute. Also pictured is the scene in the 28th minute, because here (and still several times in the further course) the location note appears over a normal film shot.
Also, a few comparison pictures across the film. Nowadays, no one should have to put up with the absolutely catastrophic DVD quality.
11:12 / 11:13-11:14 Insignificant template error with the DVD. 0.5 sec
23:09 / 23:11-23:12 When transitioning the shot from many TVs to the bed, a few completely unimportant frames are also lost. 0.5 sec 46:34 / 46:36 After the close-up shotgun blast, the first 6 frames in which the ultra-bloody headshot is seen are missing on the DVD. Here the shot only starts when the gray "cloud" of the gun shot on the right virtually covers the body. 0.3 sec
Interestingly, this shot is also slightly zoomed in on the German Blu-ray. This was probably done to show off the bloody hit a bit better. Here's a comparison of the rest of the shot - which oddly was slowed down by exactly 0.3 sec on the DVD, so there's no runtime difference at this point.
And here's a look at the previous Blu-ray from Hong Kong, which contains the original HD master. There the headshot itself has also been included with the picture in the original version without zoom.
65:58 / 65:59 Once again a small master error, probably caused by a reel change. In any case, the HD master also has a noticeable damage at the bottom of the image in these last frames before the scene change. 0.5 sec
76:50 / 76:51 The next insignificant mini missing moment when Wai (Andy Lau) takes Mona's (Rosamund Kwan) hand off his shoulder. 0.5 sec 79:59 / 80:01 A few brief shots of the injured Crystal on the hospital bed were in B&W on the old DVD and are now in color on Blu-ray. Note: The image briefly turns black and white in both versions during a small flashback. No runtime difference
87:55 / 87:56-88:02 Mona still says that she wouldn't want to change places with him. It is re-cut to Wai. 6.2 sec
88:04 / 88:11-88:12 The transition to the shot of the map begins a moment earlier. 0.5 sec 98:06 / 98:13-98:14 A final master error at the beginning of a shot of the moving car. 0.5 sec The font during the end credits deviates somewhat in color again. The old German DVD at least also ends strangely before the final end card.
Furthermore, only the Hong Kong BD has a final copyright by Fortune Star, which (besides the additional logos at the beginning) explains the again slightly longer runtime there.
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