Dragons Forever (First Print Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

Dragons Forever (飛龍猛將 / Fēi Lóng Měng Jiāng) is a 1988 Hong Kong live-action film directed by Sammo Hung and Corey Yuen and distributed by Golden Harvest and Fortune Star. The film stars Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and Yuen Biao.

Background:

“Hotshot lawyer Jackie Lung (Jackie Chan) is hired to defend the owner of a factory which, unbeknownst to him, is the centre of a clandestine narcotics syndicate. He enlists resourceful acquaintances Wong Fei-Hung (Sammo Hung) and Dung Dak-Biu (Yuen Biao) to assist in the case, but loyalties begin to falter when romance blossoms between both sides.”

Plot Synopsis via 88 Films, March 2020

My knowledge of the Hong Kong film licensing business is very minimal but Dragons Forever was one of many films that were brought over internationally over time, mostly due to Jackie Chan’s involvement since his popularity grew during the 80s and 90s. Dragons Forever was among the films that featured Chan, Hung and Biao altogether, alongside Project A and Wheels on Meals.

Dragons Forever was released in the United States for theatrical screens, but like the other films brought over to the US from Asia, they were edited by US distributors. Eventually, as time goes by, the original versions were made available. In the UK, it was distributed by Video Programme Dists Ltd for VHS in 1989, MIA Video Entertainment Ltd on VHS in 1998, followed by Cine Asia and Hong Kong Legends on DVD in 2005, before eventually acquired by 88 Films for this special Blu-ray release. The previous UK releases had a lower runtime so numerous scenes were either edited or removed.

88 Films focus on three different niches from the film industry; Italian films, horror films and also Chinese films, the latter of which has a sub-label called 88 Asia. The Jackie Chan films are not mentioned to be part of the 88 Asia brand on the packaging but they are mentioned when you load the disc for the first time. After releasing four Jackie Chan films in 2018, 88 Films revealed the second batch of titles from Fortune Star in 2019 with Dragons Forever being included as one of the four. Dragons Forever was initially scheduled for late 2019 but were pushed back to early 2020 because the additional effort was being placed on the release, to the point where it actually has 2 Blu-ray discs instead of a single disc like the others.

First Edition Contents:

88 Films follows a trend similar to Arrow Video and Eureka Entertainment where they offer a first print edition that includes an o-card slipcase and a couple of physical extras to go with the package.

For Dragons Forever, we have first print items that are very similar to 88 Films’ earlier releases from the Jackie Chan line-up like Crime Story and The Protector. The first print features a slipcover with really nice artwork done by R.P. “Kung Fu Bob” O’Brien and a booklet written by Scott Harrison offers rare stills from the lobby and extra notes about the film.

The SRP is £24.99 and has a 3000 unit print run. As of September 2020, the first print run has sold out and thus newer copies no longer include the O-card slipcase, and booklet.

Physical Contents:

• Limited Edition O-Card slipcase featuring unique artwork by R.P. “Kung Fu Bob” O’Brien
• Booklet

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: 88 Films
Released: 16th March 2020

Dragons Forever received a 4K restoration from the original Hong Kong version, which means the quality of the transfer will be better than the previous releases in the past. The UK Blu-ray release by 88 Films includes a ton of content.

For starters, the audio options available feature the main Cantonese language with newly translated English subtitles as well as the English dub. As mentioned earlier, this is a 2 disc Blu-ray release which has one disc focused on the Hong Kong version, and another disc focused on the Japanese version and English version, it’s pretty insane how 88 Films managed this. Both language options also feature remastered audio and Monoaural audio. The Blu-ray disc is Region B locked and the subtitles are unlockable during playback.

On the first disc which covers the Hong Kong version of the film (running at 1 hour 34 minutes runtime), there’s also a special English dub version which 88 Films managed to sort out. Known as “Mono Hybrid”, this audio track features Golden Harvest’s soundtrack with Fortune Star’s soundtrack mixed in for select sections that were not present in the English version of the film.

On the second disc, it focuses solely on the English version of the film (running at 1 hour 34 minutes runtime) commissioned by Golden Harvest for the international audiences outside Asia using the full classic English dub, and the Japanese version of the film (running at 1 hour 38 minutes runtime) which was produced exclusively for the Japanese market which is Cantonese audio only but offers two additional scenes and an ending with outtakes included.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	Cantonese, English
Audio	Hong Kong Theatrical Cut (Disc 1): Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English DTS 5.1 English “Hybrid” DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono Japanese Extended Cut (Disc 2): Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono Cantonese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English Cut (Disc 2): English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 1.85:1 aspect ratio
Region	B
Subtitles	Hong Kong Theatrical & Japanese Extended Cut: English English Cut: English SDH
Locked Subtitles	No
Discs	2

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

Disc 1:

• Audio Commentary by Arne Venema & Mike Leeder
• Benny Forever: Interview with Benny “The Jet” Urquidez
• Discussing Dragons Forever: Interview with David Desser
• Hong Kong Cinema Forever: Interview with Mike Leeder
• Working with the Dragons: Interview with Jude Poyer
• Double Jeopardy with Brad Allen
• Beyond Gravity with Joe Eigo
• Kick Fighter with Andy Cheng
• Thai Breaker with Billy Chow
• The Legacy of Dragons Forever
• Deleted Scenes
• Japanese End Credits
• Out-Takes & Behind the Scenes
• English Trailer
• Hong Kong Trailer

Unboxing Photos:

And here are photos of Crime Story, Dragons Forever, Heart of Dragon, Miracles and The Protector together.

Final Notes:

Dragons Forever is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom by 88 Films. The first print edition has sold out but a regular standard edition Blu-ray (which still includes the two Blu-ray discs) is available to order on Amazon UK and the official 88 Films website.