Oooookay, time for my review.
First things first: I still don't have a region free player, but tonight it occurred to me to try watching the DVDs on a computer. I took the plastic off the DVD cases when I received them, but I didn't really look at them closely since I knew (or thought) I couldn't watch them yet. Tonight I saw that the DVDs are region free but in PAL format.
I was able to watch them on the laptop, but not on the regular DVD player or the PS2 (hey, I had to try). EB seemed like much poorer quality, but I thought that maybe the first one wasn't as bad and I had been so excited about getting it to play that I hadn't noticed initially. I also thought maybe it was the computer screen or something, so after watching both movies I put in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Sadly, the quality of EB just sucks ass.
As soon as EB began playing, I noticed that the first credit (some words on a blank screen) were centered but not staying still, kinda Blair Witch-ish. The picture was fuzzy, but again I blamed it on the computer. It was really noticeable during the credits, which I had a hard time reading. There are also obvious uhhhh things on the screen, probably from the original, but annoying nonetheless (dust marks, spots, etc).
I would have to watch the first movie again to be 100% sure, but I think the problem is really EB, not both.
Now onto the extras. I hate to break this to you, but they totally suck. That B-Boy Battle Score Sheet, which sounded totally cool, is totally lame. It looks like a smaller March Madness tournament bracket. There are even directions on how to use it. I kid you not. They also list eight judging "criteria's" (sic), including dance ability and originality. Yup.
I thought the "How to Breakdance" feature would, at the very least, be entertaining. No. It isn't a featurette. There is a list of six different moves. When you select one, instead of a video demonstration you get written directions.
I skimmed through the Hip Hop Timeline, but it was a bunch of words and a bunch of names that, quite honestly, I'm not entirely familiar with and I was beginning to get the gist of how "special" the special features were at that point (and not in a Special K kinda way either!).
The cast/crew biographies are taken straight off the
http://www.fast-rewind.com website. I'm not necessarily saying that's a bad thing, since they do have some decent info but we are talking WORD FOR WORD.
I guess this is about how disappointed I would have been if I hadn't known in advance that the MSCL set would have no extras. I am happy to have the movies, but man those supposed extras suck pretty hard.
I know some people think EB is better than the original, but man there was a whole heck of a lot of neon going on in the sequel! I stand by my original statement - if I had to choose only one, I would go with Breakin!