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The anamorphic widescreen print used here is rather soft - a little grainy, even, and I can only presume that the aspect
ratio really is 1.85:1 as that's how this DVD is presented and the picture looks okay, frame-wise, although the IMDB states
2.35:1. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound really kicks a punch quite often, however.
Extras-wise, the main one is a behind-the-scenes piece, The Briefing Room (31:09, filmed in 4:3 with letterboxed film
clips - as are the other pieces), which mixes in some cast interview snippets with on-set footage during the recording of the film and some stills taken
during production. I guess it's fine for those who want to know more about the film, but while I may check it out in full later,
for the time being I've just spent two hours rolling about in the dark and I'd like some daylight in the meantime.
There's also The Barracks (13:42), taking a look at the set design - which is certainly brilliantly well done to convey
the dark atmosphere of the movie, as does the special effects and make-up which is looked at in Guard Post Head Office (9:55),
which helps to make it look even more deliciously grim. Storyboards (9:56) show key scenes in that format, sometimes
mixed in with the movie footage to show how it all fits in, and then there's a Trailer Gallery which includes two trailers
for this film - the latter of which gives away too much - although I prefer to see the film before the trailers, and
trailers for: Apartment 1303, Dragon Tiger Gate, Chocolate, Fatal Contact, Ghost Game, Flashpoint, Battleground 625 and
An Empress and the Warriors.
There's also a trailer for Monkey Magic (1:45, windowboxed 2.35:1) which is a new version of the classic, rather mad, series
Monkey, which looks like it rather keeps with the style of the original whilst updating the special FX. It's subtitled
but, of course, we'll once again need a ridiculously-bad dubbed version of it like we used to watch on TV all those years ago.
The film is very well-chaptered with 24 of them, the main menu features clips of the movie and a small piece of the background
music all on a loop and the English subtitles kick in by default and can't be turned off, even though my Xbox 360 said 'subtitles
off' when I tried it.
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