US/Foreign version

I have seen both versions so I'll try to explain the differences as best as I can. They literally are like watching two versions of the same film. I assume the 96-min. version is the U.S. version and the longer cut is foreign (that's how I'll refer to them here). The major difference is of course the editing. The foreign version features an abundance of jumpy, over-kinetic, staticky flash-cuts, which I feel diminishes any tension in the film, while the US version is more normal which I think helps build the tension in the film (I prefer the way this version opens because it really sets up the film better). The US version features many scenes not available in the foreign version, but the scenes that are kept in the US version are shorter, more abbreviated, hence the shorter running time which in some ways leaves some moments either unexplained or incoherent. Because of that it is better to watch the foreign version so some scenes in the US version can be better explained. One major fault with the US version, excluding the abbreviated scenes, is that some scenes appear out of chronological order (like a visit to Viola's house placed earlier in the film, or when they find Custis' body), and this is very obvious after watching the foreign version. And then there are some scenes missing altogether from the US version, such as the scenes involving "wolf" are completely gone though we do see Gere with the bandaged arm later; the woman who tried to pick up Gere in the bar; Gere's confession of looking in the closet and a subsequent scene involving that are gone. What makes the US version better though is that Harriet is kidnapped much later in the film; the reveal of the perpetrators is also revealed much later and in a stronger way; and the scenes of the search for Custis in his sex bunker known as the dominion -- in which Gere and Danes actually make two separate visits (in the foreign version it was edited so it looks like they only visited once, which explains how they entered it during the day but came out at night), the first time they did not find him, but the second time, at night, they did (Danes character located him in one of the spookier scenes); and the ending is much better (yet more ambiguous in terms of Gere's motivations) in the US version. Both films possess the material to make one great film, and since I have both versions I do intend to edit my own coherent version of this movie. Hope that explains it. Any questions just ask.

One of the producers, Andrew Loo, had this to say about director Andrew Lau: "He had creative differences with Philippe Martinez and Elie Samaha (the producers). Richard was always on our (the other Andrew’s) side, but they were determined to make more of a slasher/exploitation film. In the end, we came in under budget by a million dollars thinking we would add a few scenes after the assembly cut but we were never given the chance. It could have been a really nice film."

Source: https://popcultmaster.com/2015/12/30/ten-commandments/