Page 1 of Special Editions/Directors Cut Vs Theatrical Editions

I`ve just watched Alien 3: Special Edition, and I have to say, that it was even better than the theatrical version. It`s a shame some of the audio was damaged, but I understood, what was going on, which didn`t hinder my enjoyment.

I also found that, I got to know the characters more, and towards the end when the company are trying to convince her to come with them, I felt was alot better than the other version.

However I did feel they should of stuck to the theatrical ending of the film, which was more dramatic than the special edition version, which was a bit boring.

There have been a few films, where I felt either one of them was better than the other such as, Terminator 2:- Ultimate Edition, apart from the tacky future ending, the rest of the film was very good, and explained alot, such as how John could tell the difference between the terminator who was impersonating his mother, from his real mother.

The Abyss Special Edition was more explanatory, and so was Aliens. The same goes for the Lord of the rings FOTR and TTT.

The only special edition I felt didn`t benefit from the directors cut were,

Blade Runner, I much prefer the voice over, and the unicorn sequence didn`t fit in with the rest of the film, and as for the Deckard being an android or not, it didn`t make the story any better or worse, the director didn`t make a huge Planet of the Apes style shocker ending, it was a good solid story/.

The Exorcist, if it ain`t broken don`t fix it, and this was the film like Star Wars that didn`t need fixing. The only scene I think they should of stuck with from the beginning, was the spider walk scene, the rest such as the strange symbolism didn`t really help the story along.

Star Wars see above.

Kill Bill Vol 1. Not much of a directors cut, but I did feel that the use of the black and white sequences were far more stylish than just seeing huge amounts of blood spraying everywhere. I felt that being in black and white, the film was a lot more shocking, that seeing it in colour, which I felt after the 5th blood splatter, I was beginning to be de senstised




floyd


DVD collection & WANTED list

Good post. Be interesting to see how the Director`s cut of Donnie Darko works out.

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Be interesting to see how the Director`s cut of Donnie Darko works out

A great film, I reckon the Director`s cut will do it justice.

Another really good one is the Director`s Cut of Leon.

The relationship between the 2 main characters is expanded considerably and the film just generally flows much better than the Theatrical Cut.

Still not available on Region 2 though.

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My DVD`s

Kill Bill, Volume 1 does not have a different version at all, it is the true uncut movie which was able to be shown in the far east where the censors are not as squeamish as those in the West. The colour sequences are as Quentin Tarantino shot them and as they should appear. For the release in the West, Tarantino was forced by the censors to have the scenes where there are excessive amounts of blood in Black and White and also make cuts to those scenes deemed completely inappropriate.

I personally feel the following films are a lot better in Director`s Cut/Entended form:

Aliens
Alien 3
Alien Res (I preferred the ending).
Natural Born Killers
True Romance
Leon
Robocop
Terminator 2
Manhunter (to a certain extent)

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Kill Bill, Volume 1 does not have a different version at all

I did state that it wasn`t much of a director`s cut, but the black and white sequences worked better and was more effective, than it did when it was in colour.

I totally agree with you on Natural Born Killers, that was one cool film in its proper form. Although I wish there was one or two deleted scenes he could of added, which was cool, the one when they are outside the court house, when the media frenzy is waiting for Mickey and Mallory, and the Dennis Leary segment, which was really funny.

Leon was brilliant in its full version, tho I felt when he uses the grenade as the last resort on the drug dealer, a bit of a dead giveaway for the ending.

I`ve not seen Alien IV yet, but I liked Alien the directors cut, better than the first, but he could of left the cocoon sequence out. It was cool, but it did slow the pace of the film down, when you knew she had to escape.

Another good directors cut was Close Encounters of the Third Kind, as it showed more of the disintegration between Dreyfus and his family, and alot better for not showing inside the ship.

Also even though alot of people hated the film in anycase, I did like and prefer the renegade version of Highlander II.

floyd


DVD collection & WANTED list

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Leon was brilliant in its full version, tho I felt when he uses the grenade as the last resort on the drug dealer, a bit of a dead giveaway for the ending. I did not see this as a giveaway but can see how you could, having already seen the shortened version. I agree that the full version of Leon is superb and is almost a different movie from the version released in Britain.

I thought the uncut Kill Bill Vol. 1 was better than the cut version as the House of Blue Leaves scene is how Tarantino intended it and is obviously not `toned down` for us poor and squeamish westerners who can`t stand violence in movies ;) .