[Released] Executive Decision Theatrical Version

[alleycat]

Executive Decision was released uncensored theatrically, on laserdisc and on the first US DVD. Every subsequent DVD and Blu Ray has been the International Cut, which has seven instances of censorship, removing religious references. There are cuts, alternate shots, alternate dialogue and digital alterations.

The initial plan for this project was to take the blu ray, insert the uncut footage from the DVD and time it to the laserdisc for the audio. @Inq81 kindly sent me the DVD, however it suffers from extremely bad edge enhancement that could not be fixed. I just so happened to check a HDTV rip found on a Russian site and to my surprise it featured the uncut version. It was not perfect, it was SD resolution and soft with very bad colors, but it did not have the edge enhancement. So the uncut footage was sourced from this instead.

The blu ray footage was given a partial CRT LUT and a few slight adjustments to reduce the level of red. The HDTV footage was cropped, cleaned and upscaled in Avisynth. Then it was dust cleaned in Phoenix and further cleaned in Topaz. Then finally it was color corrected to match the blu ray and regrained in After Effects.

For one of the shots, which had been digitally altered in the blu ray, I got to use a new technique - rotoscoping (well tracking mask). See the shots below, first is the blu ray where the book has been erased:



Next is the HDTV showing the book:



Then the masked book after color correction:



Finally the book, aligned to the blu ray, with some feathering:



After doing this I saw they didn't do the best job of the original censorship, not only did they remove the book but they removed part of his hand and part of the background, but the entire scene is only 11 frames so I guess they figured no one would notice.

@zoidberg kindly captured by the AC3 and PCM from the uncensored laserdisc. The English subtitles were taken from the DVD and adjusted/added to when necessary. Interestly the subtitles, even on the uncensored DVD, do not follow the uncensored audio.

In terms of extra features there is not a great deal, but I added some interviews from youtube and the trailer.

• BD25 with animated menus, background video, pop up menus and resume function
  
• 1080P AVC Video
  
• English AC3 5.1 (Dialnorm retained) and PCM 2.0 from the laserdisc (thanks @zoidberg)
  
• English SDH Subtitles
  
• Interviews with Kurt Russell, Halle Berry, John Leguizamo, Joel Silver & Stuart Baird
  
• Theatrical Trailer
  

PM me for the links, contributing/long term members only please. Contributing means active members of the forum who post and/or make their own projects - i.e. not newbies who have never posted a single thread.

High Resolution cover and disc art available from @Pineapples101 Here.

Screenshots of the Blu Ray Footage with Color Correction:









Screenshots of the processed HDTV Footage (note the first two are mid motion):







Menu Images (Low Quality):

[stwd4nder2]

I never knew the BD was censored. I'll have to check out the uncut version.
Great work alleycat!

[Beber]

Neither did I. I'm discovering this now. I guess we never saw the original in France, then.

[Evit]

I never knew the BD was censored. I'll have to check out the uncut version.
Great work alleycat!

Same, I had no idea another version existed. Here's a list of differences, in case anyone is curious about it https://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=2965833

[wongfeihung]

What a great job!