Mr. Nice Guy (一個好人), Film Whisperer correction and enhancement

[The Film Whisperer]

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Mr. Nice Guy, Film Whisperer correction and enhancement

Background

Premise

Mr. Nice Guy is a 1997 Jackie Chan film. Although it was a Hong Kong production under Golden Harvest, the script is almost entirely in English, and it takes place in Melbourne, Australia.

Jackie Chan plays "Jackie", a famous TV chef, and a martial arts master (because why not?). One day, his life is turned upside down when he rescues TV reporter Diana, who is being chased by mobsters who work for the infamous Giancarlo (played by Richard Norton).  Unbeknownst to Jackie, Diana accidentally drops a videotape of incriminating evidence against Giancarlo in Jackie's car! Then Jackie's young nephew takes the tape, thinking that it's just a cool movie to watch! Now Diana and Jackie are on the run from Giancarlo's men and a vicious street gang called "The Demons", who wish to get the videotape to extort Giancarlo. Matters only get worse for Jackie when the Demons kidnap his girlfriend to get the videotape.

Different versions
This film has 3 different "official" versions

1. Hong Kong version. This version is uncut, except in one instance: it omits the entire dinner scene (in which Jackie and his adoptive family discuss the benefits of being a cop vs being a chef). FUN FACT: in the Cantonese/Mandarin dubbed versions of the movie, the "Demons" are called the "Wolves", although the bi-lingual credits still say "Demons"  . Also, when Giancarlo confronts one of his henchman about dating a Demon, both dubs change the context of the conversation to make it more relevant to the film's opening scene.
   
2. US/international version from New Line Cinema. This version was cut by about 9 minutes and heavily re-edited (read about it here via Movie-Censorship. It's a long article!). It includes a slightly edited version of the dinner scene. NLC also went as far as to overdub some of the characters. A new score was made by J. Peter Robinson, who also did scoring for the US versions of "Rumble in the Bronx" and "First Strike". FUN FACT: a little bit of music was recycled from "First Strike" in the US version of this film.
   
3. Japanese version: This version of the film is entirely uncut, and also features the uncut dinner scene (which sounds like it was written by someone who clearly doesn't know how normal people speak  ).
   

Personally, I can confirm that an un-dubbed and HD-remastered HK version is available on VUDU and Google Play/YouTube. The opening credits are entirely in English (newly made I'm sure) and no subtitles are provided for the Mandarin dialog.

Amazon Prime and iTunes have the US version in HD, and it's a genuine remaster. Although some film dirt/specs/dust appear occasionally.

In 2019, a special blu-ray was released in North America and Japan (and now it's available in more places) from the Warner Archives collection, featuring an HD-remastered Japanese version. It only has one audio track: a remixed 5.1 DTS-HD MA track. The original audio track is in simple stereo. The Mandarin dialog was subtitled, but according to my Chinese wife, it wasn't nuanced enough.

It would appear that WB didn't actually have a print that contained the original opening credits. So they recreated the credits. But instead of using Traditional Chinese (the type of written Chinese used in Hong Kong and Taiwan), they used Simplified Chinese! They also used a weird alternate Chinese title, which loosely translates into "Daring/Curageous Chef".

So what have I done?!

Here's a simple list of what I've done

1. I rotoscoped the original TRADITIONAL Chinese language opening credits over the new ones. I took the original credits from the Japanese Towa DVD (which was a pretty decent quality DVD even though it was non-anamorphic). You can look at screenshot comparisons here. "Credits 1" is the only one that didn't need any fixing.
   
2. I synced the stereo tracks from the Japanese laserdisc and Towa DVD. The Japanese laserdisc track is great quality and free from distortion. The 5.1 DTS-HD MA blu-ray track is still included.
   
3. With the help of my wife, I provided more nuance to the Mandarin dialog.
   
4. I translated the entire end-credits Cantonese theme song! You can choose a "non-bilingual" subtitle option if you don't want to see bi-lingual Chinese/English lyrics.
   

So that's it. PM me for the link!

Requests!

1. Does anyone have the Hong Kong and/or Taiwanese DVDs of this movie? I used to have them, but I must have given them away before making copies of them?
   
2. Rumor has it that there was a laserdisc made for the US version which has a commentary on it. What do any of you know about this?!
   
3. Do any of you think I should make a "Film Whisperer edit" of this movie? There are actually some edits made by New Line Cinema that were understandable in my opinion.
   

[PDB]

Awesome thanks for putting that together Film Whisperer

[stwd4nder2]

The DVD track drops out for a couple seconds around 1:22:25

Otherwise fantastic work!

[7Dahl7]

Great work on these movies. I love Jackie Chan

[BDgeek]

Congratulations for this release The Film Whisperer!!!
Thank you so much for kindly sharing it with me


So, after a few weeks, I finally had the chance to watch it in full. Fantastic, the LD track is so much worth it!!!

I was really surprised to notice that the end credits listed a Dolby Digital Thearical release. I had the New Line US Cut DVD back on release day and thought it as an upmix.

And this being the case of a native 5.1 mix, I was really more suprised in a disappointed manner with the BD DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. It sounds so poor, completely flat and lifeless. It just pales in comparison to this great LD track.

The DVD track, IMO, sounded too processed, bright and hollow. Of course it's not a fault or a compromise of the project. Much the opposite, I thank and commend you for including it as well to present a complete package.

I thank you again Film Whisperer and look forward to check some more of your projects!