In Dolby Digital 5.1 we get cantonese and english dubbed audio options. The cantonese track is perfect, dialogue is clear, and not too bassy like the previous releases were. The English dub is also clear but doesn't fit in with the mouth movements, but they were pretty good with the translation.

The disc comes with optional big, bold english subtitles, no problems with reading it at all, although some complain they are a little large. I didn't see any 'Westernised' translations and no hint of dubtitles at all. Good all around. No Dutch subtitles on the disc this time, which is odd. Hmm.

As usual Hong Kong Legends have provided a healthy dose of supplements starting with the audio commentary track by ex-Impact editor Bey Logan. It's informative, but drags on unessential info like about him interview Chow Yun-Fat for a magazine, I mean, Bey, if you're reading this, WE DON'T CARE! All we want to know is about Sally, CYF, Danny Lee and about the film itself, maybe about what other titles these same actors are going to be in on future HKL releases! Overall, this commentary is the worst one I've listened to by Bey Logan, so very disappointing.

5 deleted scenes that were on the Taiwanese print are included with mandarin audio and burned in english subtitles. The deleted scenes are quite short and I feel they were rightly cut out because they do drag. (Editors note: Reports have been coming in that these scenes are wrongfully anamorphically encoded, resulting in a stretched image for widescreen tv owners. To correct this you apparently have to set your dvd player to non 16:9 mode.)

Below is a summary of the 5 scenes:

1. The first scene is where Lee is mirroring what Ah Jong did earlier on; smacking those people trying to steal Jenny's money outside the club and then taking her to her home. Ah Jong watches secretly. This scene lasts for about 5 minutes.
2. The second scene is featured right after the shootout at Ah Jong's apartment, and shows Li arriving just as Ah Jong is leaving. This lasts for 25 seconds.
3. The third scene would have been put right after Ah Jong takes Jenny away in the airport, and shows the couple driving to Brother Sei's safe-house. This scene lasts for 48 seconds.
4. The fourth scene shows Jenny and Ah Jong having breakfast at the house, just prior to the arrival of Brother Sei. This scene lasts for 47 seconds.
5. The final scene occurs right after Lee helps Jong remove the bullet from his arm. It shows the 'hit-team leader' arrive on the scene finding bandages left over from the surgery, giving the impression that he's closing in on the guys. The interview section opens up with our leading lady Sally Yip. The interview has her talking in English about her first film and that she still had high school to do. She says she remembers John Woo respecting all his actors and actresses and what she would have done to make her acting of Jenny better. Sally also talks about how being blind can make all you senses, basically open up and & how Chow Yun-Fat is a practical joker. Very informative and Sally seems to be very engaged with the interview. Clips of The Killer and inserted into random parts of the interview, usually relevant to what she is talking about. This interview lasts for 15 minutes.

   The Kenneth Tsang interview has him talking about how he started out in Mandarin films, and then moved on to TV. He talks about how John Woo guides his actors without them knowing it and how you can see John is trying and experimenting with things. He also talks about how friendly John Woo is. Tsang seems to like talking about John Woo and his work. Seems very biased if I may say so! This interview lasts for also 15 minutes.

   The final interview is with Academy Award winning cinematographer (for his work on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) Peter Pau. He explains how he became a director of photography (DP) and how he ended up being the temporary DP instead of Wong Wing-Hung. He talks about 'dolly' shots and how John wanted to make The Killer as romantic as possible instead of bloody killing. He also mentions about how they wanted to show the dragon boat scene and the scene where CYF/Lee sofa shot; how they used John Woo's special way of shooting that kind of scene without needing a motion picture camera. Quite interesting, although it drags on a little for me! This interview lasts for about 14 minutes.

   The HKL trailer for The Killer was much better then original Hong Kong cinema trailer, just because it made it look better then the film really is! No, I'm kidding! The trailers for other Hong Kong Legends releases are Red Wolf, My Lucky Stars, Project A Part 2, The Story of Riki, The Young Master and The Avenging Fist.

   Overall, I'm a little disappointed with the extras, but hey, they couldn't be improved.

HKL have again done another fantastic job of cleaning up the print and correcting the colours so we get a very natural image and picture detail is also reasonably high, though not as sharp as some of their other releases. What is most disappointing is the graininess of the picture and the frequent artefact errors/pixellation problems in some of the darker scenes. With 'The Killer' being my favourite film of all time I was hoping for HKL to give us the ultimate version. They haven't managed to do that but this is a very respectable presentation of the film and certainly looks excellent compared to my old MIHK VHS and Universe DVD releases. A higher bitrate may have improved picture quality but then there is so much else crammed onto this disk.

The disk comes with a choice of either English or Cantonese Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks. The Cantonese track remains mainly central with surround speakers being used for incidental music and background noise. It's quite a subtle mix which shouldn't upset the purists who may have preferred the inclusion of the mono track.

Removable, remastered subtitles are provided which are clear and easy to read. The subs are new translations which are supposedly more accurate than the ones on the old MIHK VHS release. For example the nicknames Mickey and Dumbo are now replaced with the literal translations of Runt and Shrimphead. The literal translation of subtitles has never been an issue for me though, I'll be honest.

There are loads of extras on the disk. The trailer gallery, as usual, contains the HKL UK Promo and the original theatrical trailer which has been remastered and is presented in anamorphic widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1.

The interview gallery includes interviews with Kenneth Tsang, Sally Yeh and cinematographer Peter Pau. All the interviews, around 15 minutes each and conducted in English, are informative and interesting.

The 'Cutting Room' section includes 5 deleted scenes that were included in the original Taiwanese release of the film but removed before the film's theatrical run in Hong Kong. These scenes, presented in non-anamorphic widescreen with a Mandarin soundtrack and remastered subtitles, don't appear to have been remastered and look like they have been transferred from a video source. The quality is still acceptable though. I won't go into the detail of what these scenes are.

Finally there is another excellent audio commentary from Hong Kong expert Bey Logan.

Also on the disk are 6 trailers for other HKL releases including Project A2, Story of Ricky and The Young Master.

This is the fifth DVD of THE KILLER with English subtitles. The French HKVIDEO release has an extended print of the film with English subtitles burned in but the actual feature has only French subtitles. Hong Kong Legends has easily released the best version of THE KILLER so far. It's not perfect, but it is better than the alternatives. This is a region 2 DVD, so if you live in North America, the only way to see this is to have a multi-region player of some kind...

Hong Kong Legends has done some great work on this movie. I've seen this movie more times than I can count and I can honestly say I came close to feeling like this was the first time I was watching it again. Maybe it was the new English translation, or the beautiful print that was used. With that said, I have very few problems with this DVD.

The film print is beautiful. Gone are the specks that littered the various other prints of the film. Within the first 5 minutes you will notice a big difference. There are some very minor flaws but they are forgivable. The colors are vibrant and the detail is good. Danny Lee's suits really stick out now! The transfer itself could be a little better. It is good now, but the darker scenes sometimes display artifacts. This is most noticeable during close-ups. This is on the 47 inch TV so on a 27 inch or smaller set it will look fine. Perhaps a higher bit rate could have been used. There is also some very slight combing of the picture twice in the movie. It's not bad and hardly noticeable. One issue that needs to be addressed is the slight cropping of the picture. Hong Kong Legends crops just about all of their releases slightly. This is due to the condition the source prints are in. The cropping hides damage that is on the sides of the film. THE KILLER is slightly cropped but it is not as drastic as POLICE STORY 2. I am satisfied with the transfer but not overwhelmed. Other than the darker scenes, the movie looks absolutely stunning.

The original mono soundtrack is not included and we are given a 5.1 mix. It does sound different than the previous versions of the movie. The Cantonese remix is tastefully done. The dialogue sounds great against the music and sound effects. The bass is also a little more pronounced. The English dub sounds just about identical to previous versions. The English dub uses Jeffrey for Chow Yun Fat's name and Dumbo and Mickey Mouse for the nicknames. Overall the sound is very good.

The subtitles are white and outlined so they are very easy to read. They are timed well with what is said and are never obstructed by the background image. This DVD has a new English translation. Chow Yun Fat is now Ah-Jong. Dumbo and Mickey Mouse are Runt and Shrimphead. The new translation seems more to the point than previous ones. The relationship between Ah-Jong and his friend is made clearer. There is more of an emphasis on honor and Triad rules.

There are some decent extras on this DVD. There are two trailers for THE KILLER. There are interviews with Kenneth Tsang, Sally Yeh, and Peter Pau. These are interesting and a nice addition to the DVD. A little too much time is used during the interviews showing clips from the movie. There is a commentary from Bey Logan. He always gives a wealth of information. There are also deleted scenes. The scenes are actually flagged incorrectly as being anamorphic. You will see that they appear stretched. Nothing that hasn't been seen before but good to have, nonetheless.

This DVD is a must have. It is easily the best version of this movie available. The only things that are missing from this DVD are a commentary by John Woo and the original mono soundtrack. The anamorphic picture easily beats the other versions out there. I don't think this will be topped on DVD.