Comparison between the American Blu-ray by Kino Lorber (R-Rated) and the Euro extended version on the German Blu-ray by Koch Films (FSK 16).

- 3 differences
- Runtime difference: 27.9 sec

 

After his surprise hit The Exterminator, James Glickenhaus directed another recommendable actioner in 1981 with The Mercenary, which could only be made like this in the 80's.Many nice stunts as well as shootouts captured in bloody slow motion know how to entertain the genre fan.

Curious at the time was that the German VHS contained a version longer than the American R-rated in 3 spots. This was also in circulation in some other EU countries, but in America, it was only the R-rated version that came out on DVD and the first Blu-ray by Kino Lorber. In February 2021, the German distributor Koch Films gave the title its German HD premiere and had a little surprise up its sleeve.

Similar to The Punisher and Pray for Death, which were previously released worldwide with MGM masters only as censored R-rated versions, Koch Films was able to supplement the then censored parts for the US release from a foreign source in quite respectable quality. They advertise this as the "Euro extended version" on the cover. To be on the safe side, we compared the two worldwide Blu-ray releases in more detail. There are no surprises compared to the old report, but so this is documented again with contemporary and nowadays of course easier available releases.

The Blu-ray mediabook release is exclusively available in Koch Films's online store.

Runtimes are ordered as follows: American Blu-ray / German Blu-ray

The American Blu-ray references Kino Lorber and MGM. The German Blu-ray instead only names StudioCanal.

US Blu-ray 1.8 sec longer.

US Blu-ray	German Blu-ray

12:56 / 12:54-13:07

The shot cop slumps much longer in slow motion.

13.3 sec

Alternative.
25:36-25:40 / 25:47-25:51

When the president says "Needless to say, if he fucks up, I don't know anything about it." the US version switches earlier to the CIA chief. At this beginning of the shot, the corner of his mouth moves slightly upward, so he is probably somewhat gloating over this comment.

In the Euro extended version, the previous close-up of the President's mouth is longer instead, so he continues to speak the statement onscreen.

No time difference.

US Blu-ray	German Blu-ray

55:18 / 55:29-55:44
After "You wanna drive?", the shot goes a bit further in the EU extended version. The camera pulls up and a policeman joins from behind.
After the latter looks skeptical for a moment, the drunk mumbles "Good evening, officer." Steve drives off, the officer walks away.

14.6 sec

The German VHS had only two text panels instead of the credits, which ruled out any resemblance to real people and warned imitators against performing any stunts shown here. This was ignored for the German Blu-ray, where the normal credits come, identical to the US Blu-ray.

After these credits, the US Blu-ray has the MGM logo again. On the German Blu-ray, the music continues for over half a minute to black screen instead.

German Blu-ray 29.3 sec longer