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For more information, or to buy the DVD, please visit the official Dragon Dynasty site.

The Enforcer


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Presentation

From the badly-Photoshopped cover to the generic menus, something tells me that this wasn't exactly a high-priority release for Dragon Dynasty. Yes, you may think that griping about something like cover art and graphic style might be nit-picking, but isn't that what the internet is really all about? But in all seriousness, this sort of obvious quick rush job does not exactly make Dragon Dynasty look like the premier label for Asian releases they want to portray themselves as.

Even though the menus are ugly, they do get the job done, in that they are easy enough to navigate. Disappointingly though, there are still trailers that auto-play as you load up the disc, and annoyingly, they're the same ones for The Rebel and Fist of Legend that have been appearing on most of Dragon Dynasty's recent releases.


The Movie

Dragon Dynasty has been taking a lot of flack from fans of Asian movies lately for their supposed mis-handling of their releases. This particular reviewer has been pretty forgiving -- after all, I cut my teeth on bad-quality third-generation VHS copies and janky overpriced "official" releases that often had worse quality than a bootleg. But there is really no excuse at all for Dragon Dynasty to release My Father is a Hero... oops, I mean The Enforcer... with only an English-dubbed soundtrack, the very same one featured on the previous US version put out by Dimension.

Knowing that they were going to send fanboys into a frothy frenzy, Dragon Dynasty put out a press release to attempt a little damage control: "Though no usable version of the original Cantonese-language track was available in time for this release, every effort was made to bring together the best elements in the world in creating the greatest version of THE ENFORCER ever experienced on DVD in the U.S."

Well, in that sense, they're correct -- to a point. This version does look and sound slightly better than the Dimension release, and there are actually some extras included here. But the whole "available in time" phrase seems to indicate that Dragon Dynasty's rights to the film were running out, and they felt the need to push out a release to make a quick buck. Sure, there may have been some other factors at work, and they have been under pressure to deliver the DVD to retailers, but why even bother putting this DVD on your release schedule if the Chinese language track wasn't already in the bank?

Dragon Dynasty really needs to smarten up and realize who their target audience is. The people that are actually going to pony up and pay the cash to buy these DVDs are, for the most part, already fans of the films, or at least the people involved in them. And they want to see the movies in their original form, not with credit sequences that look like they were created by a high school A/V club, not with cuts in the footage, and certainly not with dubbing jobs delivered by voice actors who sound like they're on Xanax.

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Dragon Dynasty

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Dimension


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The Extras

Commentary with Bey Logan: Even though it is getting a bit repetitive hearing Logan on every commentary on Dragon Dynasty's DVD, this is one of his better solo efforts. My Father is a Hero is obviously one of Logan's favorite Jet Li movies, and his enthusiasm leads to a fun and informative effort -- though the information seems to end when it comes to explaining why this DVD doesn't have a Chinese-language track. It doesn't bode well that Logan says that Li's Fong Sai Yuk films will be coming out on Dragon Dynasty, but they will be retaining the name of The Legend previously slapped on them by Dimension.

Interviews: These are usually the most solid extras on Dragon Dynasty's DVDs, and this one is no exception. In fact, if you've already seen the movie (especially the uncut Hong Kong version), the interviews are probably really the only compelling reason to check out this disc. Three twenty-minute interviews are included, featuring Wong Jing, Tze Miu, and Ken Lo. Even though Lo's footage is obviously taken from the same interview from Dragon Dynasty's Supercop DVD, all three of the interviews are well worth watching if you're a fan of Hong Kong films. While they can't in no way forgive the English-dubbed soundtrack, it does make this at least worth a rainy-day rental.