Ashes Of Time Redux: UK BluRay by Artificial Eye

Nine months after Ashes Of Time Redux debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2008, the British label Artificial Eye released it on BluRay and DVD. The BD is double-layered and region-free.

IMAGE (MPEG-4 AVC) AND SOUND (DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1)
Where shall I begin... Well Ashes Of Time looks better than ever in this new Redux version, although it doesn't look too great. When WKW found out that the original negatives of his movie were in very bad condition in the warehouse they were stored, he started to collect prints from all over the world, mainly France and Japan, to restore his motion picture. As he couldn't use the original negatives at all, we now have to deal with an below average image quality. Still, WKW and his team brought out the best of the situation. I really didn't expect that Ashes Of Time would ever look this good. Let's take a look at a few screencaps first.
The sharpest shots are those of the credits of course, which are brandnew. In screencap #2 you can see that the picture is really soft at times but can also appear sharper (screencap #3). This is how it looks. I actually like this look. I even think that it looks a bit like it was painted at times. Additionally, the movie now has a yellowish tint to it. This adds to the atmosphere of the movie. It used to look a bit pieced together, with the new tint it seems more homogeneous. Here are some screencaps for you to look at:
Fantastic cinematography which is presented great here. The middle shot is wasn't in the original version by the way.
What's there to say about the sound? The most important fact: WKW had the soundtrack re-recorded by the National Ballet Symphony Orchestra and cello player Yo-Yo Ma. Some of the original melodies were used as they were written in 1994 and some were composed exclusively for this redux version. Some say that this soundtrack doesn't fit the movie anymore. Some say the old soundtrack sounded cheap, as it was created at the computer. I actually like the new soundtrack and I also like the old one. It was a strange experience when I watched the redux version for the first time to realize that some of my favorite pieces from the old version had been removed. But I opened up and began to love the new melodies. Needless to say, the new soundtrack sounds expectional on this BD. The dialogues don't. The quality really differs here. Sometimes they sound muffled, but most of the time it's a satisfying listening experience. Good work by team WKW again.

Additionally, here are some technical aspects:
Size: 16.959.995.904 bytes
Length: 1:33:19
Total Bitrate: 24,23 Mbps
Video: MPEG-4 AVC Video / 19994 kbps / 1080p / 23,976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
Audio: Chinese / DTS-HD Master Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 2211 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit)
Audio: Chinese / Dolby Digital Audio / 5.1 / 48 kHz / 640 kbps
Subtitle: English / 24,534 kbps

BONUS FEATURES
All the bonus features are encoded in SD PAL. That's unfortunate, as they were all produced recently. What we have here is a trailer (you can even find this one in HD on the internet!), interview clips with the main cast and WKW and cinematographer Doyle. Some of these clips were reused in the 12min Making Of "Born From The Ashes".
It's not too interesting. I would have liked to know more about the changes of the cut between this version and the old. I would have wanted to know which cuts were done by WKW deliberately and which cuts had to be done because of the condition of the source material. But we don't get that information.


CONCLUSION
The redux version of the movie is a revelation, quality wise. Who would have expected the film to look so great one day after all these years of watching the old MeiAh DVD from 1999? It's your personal choice whether you like the redux version or not, but you can't say that it doesn't look good. The sad thing about this disc are the bonus features, which lack some information. As this is the only English-friendly BD of Ashes Of Time Redux to date, go ahead and buy it!


You can find more reviews and screencaps there:
www.bluray.com
www.dvdbeaver.com
www.dvdtimes.co.uk
www.asianblurayguide.com