Enter the Dragon [Warner Brothers]

Video:
The previous, standard-edition DVD of the film was mastered in anamorphic widescreen at a fairly high bit rate, producing good color and depth. The picture was really quite lovely to look at, with only a bit too much darkness in facial hues, a small amount of natural film grain, and some tiny line jitters.

The new HD-DVD video can hardly be faulted. The HD screen size measures a ratio about 2.15:1 across my television, close to the same size as WB's edition before last; and the HD picture is quite good in almost every way. Colors are nigh-well perfect; definition and detailing are good; and artifacts are practically zero, excepting the same small amount of film grain as before. In side-by-side comparisons of specific shots, the HD image comes up cleaner, sharper, and better focused in every case, despite the SD image looking about as good it could look in standard definition.

Audio:
In its very earliest edition, the movie's Dolby Digital 5.1 sound was somewhat harsh, nasal, and constricted, but in later remasterings, including here, the sound blossomed and opened up with a little more smoothness, especially noticeable in the film's music. The HD-DVD's Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 sound is, if anything, slightly clearer than the regular edition's DD 5.1. However, a minor bone of contention may be the mid bass, which played back through my Toshiba A1's 5.1 analogue outs seems tauter but not quite as pronounced as the mid bass on the DD 5.1 disc, a matter of a couple of decibels at most. It's enough that the regular DD 5.1 mid-bass output on the SD disc sounds a touch boomy by comparison. I preferred the DD Plus's better-controlled bass.

Although rear-channel activity and rear-channel separation continue to be restricted compared to most of today's sonic blockbusters, the DD Plus's clearer overall reproduction tends to make what little surround information there is more apparent. Then, too, much of the movie's audio is a tad limited compared to today's best blockbuster soundtracks. While overdubbed voices in DD+ still seem at times too harsh and bright for my taste, the bass seems tighter, and the dynamics seem a bit stronger.

The fact is, neither the older DD 5.1 audio on the SD edition nor the newer DD+ 5.1 audio on the HD-DVD edition entirely satisfies me. The SD track sounds softer and slightly fatter, the HD track a touch harder and leaner. Oh, well. It is not a new movie, after all, so I suppose we must give the sound a degree of slack.

Extras:
This single-disc HD-DVD contains the same bonus items that appeared on Warner Bros.' most-recent Two-Disc Special Edition. Things start with an audio commentary by producer Paul Heller, who is not the most scintillating speaker of all time but provides some enlightening remembrances. Then, there are several worthy featurettes. There is "Blood and Steel: The Making of Enter the Dragon," thirty minutes long, made in 2003. There is "Bruce Lee: In His Own Words," nineteen minutes, made in 1998. There is a "Linda Lee Cadwell Interview Gallery," about fifteen minutes of relatively new interviews. There is a vintage home movie, "Backyard Workout with Bruce Lee"; and there is a short, 1973 promotional featurette, "Hong Kong with Enter the Dragon."

In addition, there are two fairly comprehensive documentaries. "Bruce Lee: The Curse of the Dragon," 1993, is eighty-seven minutes long and narrated by George Takei. It tackles, among other things, the question of whether there is any connection between Lee's tragic death in his early thirties and his son's mysterious death some twenty years later. The second documentary is "Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey," 2000, ninety-nine minutes long. A lot of this second documentary is taken up with footage from Lee's unfinished production, "The Game of Death." The regular bonuses conclude with four theatrical trailers for "Enter the Dragon" and over half a dozen TV spots.

As always, WB provide plenty of chapter selections, in this case twenty-nine, but no chapter insert; English, French, and Spanish language tracks; and English, French, and Spanish subtitles. Pop-up menus, a zoom-and-pan feature, and an Elite Red HD case wrap up the package. Also as usual, the HD-DVD played flawlessly, with nary a skip nor pause.

Parting Thoughts:
You might be a little wary of a studio reissuing a film so often, but this time the HD-DVD may be the exception. If you are not a fan of martial-arts films yet feel you need one example of the genre in your film library, "Enter the Dragon" is a good choice. Campy? Maybe. As Williams says to the villain, "Man, you come right out of a comic book." But it's still great entertainment and remains a first-class action thriller in first-class style, presented in the best possible picture obtainable in today's high-definition medium. Lee would have been happy.

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