Drive (1997) 4K Blu-ray coming from MVD Rewind

[Guest sevenhooks]

I remember catching part of this on HBO late one night many moons back and was very impressed by what I saw.

For an American (?) production they got the early 90's HK fight action down better than pretty much any other western film I can remember.

[Guest theportlykicker]

Yep, very good film! It had great action (though many people don't like the finale) and it was funny. The only thing that slightly ruined the enjoyment for me was the obvious doubling of Dacascos during certain parts of the action.

[Guest sevenhooks]

Is there a specific DVD release you would recommend?

[Guest jmungus]

10 years of praising the movie has made me a little tired lol.

but yeah, its damn entertaining, fun (s/t a little goofy, s/t hilarious), fast paced, skillfully done.

great performances from mark and his stunt double as well as kadeem hardison (but how wrong was i thinking he`d make it big in hollywood after "drive" ) they did write (and cast) some fun henchmen too, so props where props are due.

the action/stunt coordinator is the same guy that worked with the director of "drive" (steve wang, wong ?) on "guyver 2". got considerable talent.

just make sure u get your hands on a copy of the DC. running time of the dc is 112 mins.

i havent heard of any new dvd releases of "drive" in the last couple of years; theres a nice 2 disc set, german language area release i think, but it has english dts audio. picture and extras may not be reference quality but still good.

i suppose if u can find a release more recent than ~2000-2002, it might have gotten a better transfer, higher bitrates & an additional mastering job on top of it (but im really just speculating here; in fact i strongly doubt it).

[Guest limubai2000]

I like this film a lot. I wish it would have seen widespread theatrical release, it might have made some of the things in Matrix less impactful on the populace at large.

It is a well executed film, I hadn't noticed the doubling of Dacascos though.

[Guest Beat TG]

It's great yeah, the fights are brilliant (except Dacascos being doubled) and the humor cracks me up all the time.

[Guest Skrotnissen]

Very good film.

[Guest The Running Man]

Honestly, it's one of my favorite films of all time (talking about the far better Director's Cut). Perfect blend of smart credible comedy, ace action, and all around top notch entertainment.

A damn shame the movie is only a cult. It shouldn't be. It deserves all the success of the far far far inferior Rush Hour films.

Also a grand shame Mark, Kadeem, and Steve Wang never got to build from this.

[Guest theportlykicker]

A damn shame the movie is only a cult. It shouldn't be. It deserves all the success of the far far far inferior Rush Hour films.

Also a grand shame Mark, Kadeem, and Steve Wang never got to build from this.

I agree completely.

About what dvd to get, I have the Medusa Entertainment/HKL version. It's great if you can find it. The commentary, in particular, is very funny.

[Guest Chinatown Kid]

Great choreography, there should have been a sequel.

[Guest morgoth]

WHile I think the 1-on-1 fights could have been better, it is a very good movie. After seeing almost all of the Marc Dacoscos movies(some look to horrible to watch), I have to say this is definitely his best.

[Guest Chen Zhen]

fantastic movie. the group fights are awesome..to say the least, and while many ppl hated the finale, i enjoyed it very much. and the comedy was actually really funny too...haha cant say i have any real complaints about this movie.

[Guest Sifu Socky]

Drive was good fun. Actually, I think I did a review a while ago.

*rummages*

Ah, here we go.

[Guest Senor Quack]

Sevenhooks,

As others have stated, the director's cut (unavailable in the U.S. unfortunately) is the one to get as it has about 17 minutes of story/character development added back in that make it, in my opinion, a much better film.

The UK DVD from Contender is probably the cheapest bet. It's a nice print, anamorphic widescreen and DD 5.1. My only complaint on this is that I found the bass to be mixed VERY low on this disc. This was remedied easily by boosting the levels on my subwoofer, but this is the only disc I've ever had to do that for.

Either the German or the Polish version (I forget which it is) is a 2 DVD set of the director's cut (with a lot of extras) and also features DTS (which some would prefer). The cost was too prohibitive for me (I was able to get the UK disc for like $17 delivered (hell, Amazon UK sells it for 5 pounds), the 2 disc set would have been in the $36 to $40 range), but if you're a big fan of the movie, it might be worth seeking out.

[Guest Sifu Socky]

Actually, I might look into that. After all, my Region 2 copy doesn't quite play properly in my player for some reason (is it just me who has this issue?)

Presumably this European version comes with the original English-language soundtrack? Mark Dacascos' acting is painful enough without having it dubbed in Polish as well :-p

[Guest Senor Quack]

Sifu Socky, to answer your question, the Polish edition (I now believe it's the Polish and not the German as amazon.de didn't show a 2 disc edition for this movie) does have the English soundtrack in DTS. One word of warning, however, some Polish companies have a bad habit (bad for English speakers that is) of overdubbing a Polish announcer over the non-native speakers in the interviews, etc. I can't recall if this set is a "victim" or not, but it's possible that some of the extras on disc 2 (such as the interviews, making ofs, etc.) may have a Polish announcer dubbed over the English speakers. The movie itself is fine, though.

[Guest mits777]

Yeah its very enjoyable. heres my review of it.

rants-raves-and-reviews.b...-arts.html

[Guest jmungus]

here it is, found it- german edition i was talkin about; 'mediacs' distribution.

www.dvd-palace.de/dvd-review-r5t395.htm

www.ofdb.de/view.php?page...&vid=51943

[Lionclaw]

Can anyone tell me the exact unseen footage in the directors cut? I want to know because i want it for my portable dvd player which is probably not region free. But if the unseen footage is that good then i seek that version. The movie seems hard to find but I'd really like to add it to my collection. Please help!

[LeRolls]

I've only ever seen the Director's Cut of Drive but from what I understand there was a significant amount of footage cut out of the American home video version so I'd definitely go ahead and get the DC if you can.

[Macho King]

I on the other hand have only seen the US version. Where can I find an uncut, anamorphic DVD of the DC?

[blue_skies]

The UK DVD of Drive the director's cut is anamorphic widescreen and is also region 0. Unfortunately both UK DVD releases have been out of print for some time, although you could find a second-hand copy . Amazon UK has some copies. However I can't remember which version is which and I don't have my DVD accessible to help you in your search.

You might also be interested in the German version which includes a DTS soundtrack and a second disc of extras, also anamorphic .

[Senor Quack]

From memory only I recall there is about 17 mins worth of additional footage in the Director's Cut, but it is story/character development only. In other words, the cut version is not missing any fight footage (if that's important to you). I own the UK Director's Cut (Medusa 2000 release) because I love the film and wanted the full version in anamorphic widescreen (the cut US version is full screen only). I will say the soundtrack is a little weak on the UK version (I have to turn my subwoofer up WAY more than I should have to in order to get some reasonable bass) but at the time it was a much cheaper option than the German one (although I'm sure the DTS track on the German version is superior). If you are in North America and the UK version is out of print, it's going to be more difficult/expensive to track this down now.

I hope this gets released on Blu Ray someday but I'm not holding my breath.

Edit: I almost forgot...it seems the music score was replaced on the U.S. edition as well, so the director's cut also contains the original soundtrack.

[David Rees]

Im sue the UK one is stil available, it has a totally different soundtrack also. The HKL dvd is great because it has a good making of and audio commentary.

www.dvdasia.co.uk.....FREE UK DELIVERY

[LeRolls]

Yeah, I have the Medusa (HKL) disc and it's great. Definitely recommend that version.