Comments on: Preview of Sony’s ‘Ashes of Time Redux’ DVD

By: Nick Boros

Nick Boros — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:17:17 +0000

What happened to the Ashes of Time Redux Blu Ray? The DVD has become available on March 3rd for purchase, but the US Blu Ray has seem to fallen off of the map. I know that it is available in the UK on Blu Ray and it is region free, but the standard definition extras are in PAL. So I was holding out for the US Blu Ray so that I could watch any extras if I choose.

By: Daniel Zelter

Daniel Zelter — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 02:56:21 +0000

I imagine if he could get remastered copies of Chungking Express, Fallen Angels, and Happy Together, he probably did the best he could with Ashes of Time.

By: Erroneous Monk

Erroneous Monk — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:19:05 +0000

I’ve heard him say as much, but if it’s not unabashed BS (as I suspect) then I don’t really think he looked very hard for the footage or was particularly interested in finding it. The use of a newly recorded replacement musical score, extensive digital recoloring, and newly created CG effects speak louder than words about how faithful he intended to be to the original film. George Lucas would approve.

By: Daniel Zelter

Daniel Zelter — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 21:58:16 +0000

WKW says he couldn’t find a good print for Ashes of Time, and this is actually what he managed to save. A similar situation happened with the subbed version of “Master of the Flying Guillotine”, where they found it in a chicken coup. HK really needs to have better archives.

By: Rhythm-X

Rhythm-X — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:05:22 +0000

“Interestingly, I haven’t heard many Asian cinema fans complain about Wong’s decision to pull a “George Lucas” on his only martial arts film.”

I certainly have complained, and I won’t be buying this or any other version that doesn’t offer the original cut as an option. It makes me sad that when there’s finally, after all these years, a competent DVD of ASHES OF TIME being released, it’s not really ASHES OF TIME anymore. I’m pretty disgusted, actually. Even if Wong prefers his new, CG enhanced rescored version of the film, the original version ought to be allowed to exist, and it ought to be presented in the best possible quality, strictly for posterity’s sake if nothing else. Maybe some of the footage would have had to come from less than ideal sources – but the vast majority of it could have been restored from the same materials WKW used to create REDUX, only without the new color scheme and the rescoring.

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 00:24:28 +0000

I was lucky enough to see both the original ‘Ashes if Time’ as well as ‘Redux’ on the big screen, and I will be sure to pick up the DVD release. Thanks for posting about this, Mark. I’m spreading the word, and linked here for the preview clips.

By: dac1138

dac1138 — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:57:29 +0000

I seriously doubt the original cut will be on this disc…or any disc. WKW has been discouraging screenings of the old cut of Ashes for over 5 years while he worked on this one. I know I personally had tickets to 2 different screenings scheduled that were pulled due to his request. It’s unfortunate as I prefer that earlier cut (it leaves more action in) and I found the digital color effects distracting and muddy looking on the screen when this cut was in theaters.

By: Mark Pollard

Mark Pollard — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 20:05:24 +0000

The original version was not mentioned in the release and I doubt it would be included. When I get my hands on it I’ll do a comparative review between both versions.

Interestingly, I haven’t heard many Asian cinema fans complain about Wong’s decision to pull a “George Lucas” on his only martial arts film.

By: 107

107 — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:26:30 +0000

MP,

Will the original version be included with this release?