Mr. Nice Guy Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

Mr. Nice Guy Blu-ray Movie Review

Cooking with Jackie.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III November 5, 2019

Released two years after Jackie Chan's Hollywood breakthrough in Rumble in the Bronx but one year shy of the massively popular Rush Hour, Sammo Hung's Mr. Nice Guy (1997) is pretty much cinematic comfort food for Chan enthusiasts. The story and screenplay are absolutely nothing special but the stunts are spectacular and, as usual, Chan's charisma and creativity help to make up for other shortcomings. New Line Cinema -- who acquired theatrical distribution rights outside of Asia from Golden Harvest -- re-cut the film and, for over two decades, it was the only version available to region-locked DVD owners. Warner Archive Collection's new Blu-ray edition features not only a 4K-sourced remaster of the original "Golden Harvest" cut, but also the "New Line" version as a bonus feature.

Anyway...the story, such as it is: after recording footage of a violent drug deal involving kingpin Giancarlo (Richard Norton) and a mysterious gang called "The Demons", journalist Diana (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) flees the scene when her partner is captured. She quite literally bumps into TV chef Jackie (Chan) during the escape, whose quick reflexes and formidable hand-to-hand skills are only matched by his homemade noodles. Unfortunately, the VHS tape gets mixed up in the shuffle and Diana ends up with a recording of Chan's cooking show. Naturally, Giancarlo and his goons end up chasing our frazzled journalist and unwitting chef (along with his sister Miki and a few other friends), with the result being a near-marathon of terrific set-pieces barely stitched together by weak dialogue, too many supporting characters, and a general campiness that rarely gels with the otherwise ultra-serious tone. Still, it's a pretty fun ride more often than not, even though other Chan films from this era maintained a more satisfying balance overall.

For those who have only ever seen New Line's version of Mr. Nice Guy, this "Golden Harvest" cut offers a significant number of differences. (See below for a better explanation.) Among other things, some of the film's darker moments are literally pushed to the forefront, although as a whole it (un)intentionally still carries a lighter tone than its subject matter implies. The good news is that having both versions will allow fans and newcomers alike to pick their favorite, especially since they're about the same age -- just as Golden Harvest's "extended" version doesn't feel like a padded director's cut, New Line's version doesn't feel hacked to pieces. The better news is that both cuts are also presented with great care, including new 1080p transfers and lossless audio that are similarly great but not identical.

Mr. Nice Guy Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Like a growing number of Warner Archive Collection titles, Mr. Nice Guy's 1080p transfer has been sourced from a recent 4K scan of the original camera negative. Predictably, it offers an extremely pleasing experience overall, one that's very film-like with a nice layer of natural grain and no signs of excess processing or noise reduction. True to its era, Mr. Nice Guy is a very colorful production at times but one with no shortage of earth-toned hues, from the industrial exteriors of Jackie's apartment to the reddish-brown appearance of several construction sites. Skin tones, costume designs, and makeup look consistently good with no obvious bleeding, while only the darkest scenes display any tangible amounts of excess noise. The only other anomalies stem from stylistic choices, such as the frequent slo-mo shots and a few others captured with a fisheye lens (screenshot #1). Despite these hiccups, the overall picture is extremely clean and has obviously been given an extensive amount of manual cleanup, while the film maintains a respectably high bit rate (~35Mpbs) from start to finish. Fans won't find much room to complain here.

In comparison, the included New Line cut of Mr. Nice Guy (presented on this Blu-ray as a bonus feature, and covered in more detail below) looks to have been sourced from a recent 2K scan of the interpositive and, though not as clean or vivid as the main "Golden Harvest" cut, still represents an above-average visual presentation that fans will enjoy.

Mr. Nice Guy Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Although somewhat limited by its source elements, as a whole the DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio presentation of Mr. Nice Guy is very pleasing to the ears. Action scenes frequently establish a convincing soundstage that often spills into the rear channels; though discrete panning effects are few and far between -- which creates a more "flat" immersion, for lack of a better term -- it's easy to get sucked into the dynamic fights and chases due to their chaotic effectiveness. Dialogue is given top priority most of the time, although it occasionally sounds a bit dialed-back and even muffled during a few throwaway lines. As alluded to earlier, though, this is likely an issue with the original elements, while a handful of scenes similarly feel somewhat confined to the center channel when they should expand outward a bit more. But overall, this lossless mix seems to offer a faithful reproduction of the source material, even though it's impossible to confirm since most viewers -- myself included -- have not seen this cut on home video before.

A default subtitle track, which can be disabled, translates the occasional Mandarin dialogue spoken by Jackie, his sister Miki, and other supporting characters. Full English (SDH) subtitles are also included; these are formatted in Warner Archive's sorta-trademark ALL CAPS but are at least fully contained within the 2.35:1 frame.

The aforementioned New Line cut is paired with an entirely separate DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track, offering a heftier and more involving mix that, to some action fans, might sound superior to the main feature. I can't fully argue that point, but they are very different experiences for other reasons -- I'm just glad both are included here.

Mr. Nice Guy Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Mr. Nice Guy arrives on Blu-ray packaged in a standard keepcase with cover artwork that replicates an original one-sheet poster design -- yep, it was always that bad. The on-disc extras almost make this a double feature.

• New Line Edited Version (88:14) - Die-hard fans will recognize this as the "American" cut of Mr. Nice Guy; it was the only version readily available on Region 1 DVD since 1998, and is presented here in 1080p with a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix. It's not as visually pristine as the main feature, but more than acceptable under the circumstances. Audio is mixed differently with a wider presence in the front channels and more low end but often sounds overcooked during action scenes. Content-wise, there are many subtle differences along the way: it's 10 minutes shorter, a few sequences are out of order, credits and on-screen text are burned-in and in English only, portions of the dialogue are re-dubbed, the score is different, and several of the film's more violent moments (especially involving women) are also trimmed here and there. For a full breakdown of differences, I refer you to the invaluable Movie-Censorship.com, whose contributors have way more free time than I do.

  As a personal aside, I actually like certain elements of this cut better...but as a whole it's almost impossible to consider it a head-to-toe improvement over the "original" unless you prefer it for nostalgic reasons.

  NOTE: Screenshots #17-20 are sourced from the New Line Edited version of the film.

• Theatrical Trailer (2:23) - This is the international (Golden Harvest) version with burned-in subtitles, as seen on Warner Archive's YouTube channel. It's presented in upscaled SD and looks rough but watchable.

Mr. Nice Guy Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Domestic home video releases of Hong Kong action films are usually hit-or-miss -- there's a lot of room for error including bad source elements, poor transfers, incorrect subtitles, missing footage, and other variables that often leave region-locked fans disappointed. Fortunately, Warner Archive Collection is one of the few studios with an outstanding "purist" track record, and they've done a terrific job with Mr. Nice Guy. Although not a top-tier Jackie Chan flick, it certainly has its moments and serves up no shortage of jaw-dropping stunts and action sequences. The better news is that this Blu-ray includes two different cuts of the film in very good to excellent quality, which is a good sign that more releases of this type might be on the horizon. Even if you're not the biggest fan of this particular title, I encourage any die-hard Chan enthusiasts to show their support for WAC's continued efforts by picking this up immediately.