Red Trousers: The Life of the Hong Kong Stuntmen

Tai Seng's Region 2 DVD of Red Trousers is a classic example of how an unsatisfactory film can be lifted up a notch by a top-quality treatment.

Packaged in a slipcase with a 28-page photo book, the film looks and sounds damn good, although, in truth, it should - we are, after all, talking about a 2003 production, not some old school shaolin flick that's been sitting in the vaults for the past 30-odd years and to which no thought of preservation or release on home formats was ever given.

Where the DVD really shines is the extras:

The first disc includes a useful commentary with director Robin Shou and stuntmen Keith Hirabayashi and Dr Craig Reid, providing valuable detail and perspective on the film.

The second more or less addresses my criticisms of the film itself in terms of having too little documentary material via extended interviews with Samo Hung (12 minutes) and Lau Kar Leung (17 minutes) and footage of Xiao Xiang Yu's opera school and its pupils (25 minutes).

Also included are behind-the-scenes material from the film-within-the-film and photo and trailer galleries.