MovieChat Forums > No Retreat No Surrender (1986) Discussion > Logical explanation for why the Internat...

Logical explanation for why the International Edit wouldn't work in USA?

posted 12 years ago by bad_habitt
6 replies | jump to latest

I just watched both cuts within 1 day, after purchasing the Blu-Ray of the international edit, and I'm very curious as to why USA would have needed a different cut.

The USA film feels TOTALLY different to the International Edit. It feels like a Drama Soap Opera with the martial arts element thrown in as the vehicle to carry the drama.

The International edit on the other hand is a completely hypnotic transcendental experience that triggers and stimulates every atom in your body. It almost affects you like none other movie because every element that comprises the art of film making, fuses together perfectly from scene to scene to scene. It builds to the point of completely capturing your imagination and alleviates your senses to a whole other level.

I kinda feel that the USA was not actually exposed to what this film truly achieved and it may actually be why it hasn't registered a proper DVD/BLU-RAY release in the USA.

Don't get me wrong, I understand some martial-art films wouldn't work in the USA due to the extended theatricality of the fight sequences. However the international cut of this film does not feature this factor. It's almost the same film but with a totally different flavor, feel, energy and cohesion of the individual parts that comprise a whole different product at the conclusion.

I'd really like a thorough scholarly dissertation on this topic because I feel that this film may have been unnecessarily disassembled and re-assembled for the USA market.

Your thoughts and opinions are very welcome.

http://www.petitiononline.com/bluray85/petition.html - Sign the American Ninja Blu Ray Petition!

[–] philburgwin 12 years ago

Interesting to read you opinion because, each to their own, my opinion on No Retreat No Surrender is the complete opposite of yours.

I think the USA needed a totally different cut because the international cut is terrible imho. Awful soundtrack, unnecessary dialogue that does not add anything to the film, unforgivably bad voiceover script for Sensei Lee.

I think the US version is easily the best of the two (unless I am getting mixed up as to which version is which).

The way I identify them is one has the song

'Stand On Your Own' (which I believe is the US version) - for me this is easily the best No Retreat No Surrender version of the film

the other (which I believe is the international version, correct me if Im wrong) has 'Hold On To The Vision'.

If anything I would say it is the international version ('Hold On To The Vision' version) that feels more like a Drama Soap Opera.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] lee-rundle-544-446716 11 years ago

It's the international one that has 'Stand On Your Own'. I'm from England, and that's the one I was brought up on, so it was something of a shock to see the awful version the U.S. had to endure. It goes to show how subtle editing can transform a film. In the U.S. version, at the beginning Jason's dad says "Karate is not to be used aggressively" which he also says in the international version, but unlike the international version, he then says, in an excruciatingly corny and cartoonist way, "but if I have to!". It's small things like that, that make the difference. Sadly, whenever someone uploads the film onto YouTube, it's always the *beep* version.

[–] Doc110894 11 years ago

"Stand On Your Own" is awesome.

[–] philburgwin 10 years ago

Stand On Your Own is the U.S. version.

[–] bad_habitt 10 years ago

The version I was referring to as liking was the "hold on to your vision" ending.