On December 2025/January 2026, Australian label Chameleon Films is releasing a Blu-ray (Region B) for A Hero Never Dies, a 1998 Hong Kong actioner from director Johnnie To (Three, Office, Fulltime Killer).
The blood-splattered hero film ignited a golden age of Hong Kong cinema in the 1980s, full of outlandish action, mammoth body counts, and plots that might have been hewn out of granite. While Johnnie To came late to the genre, he gives us one of its most exuberant and unrestrained achievements.
Jack (Leon Lai) and Chau (Lau Ching-wan) are rival bodyguards whose bosses are engaged in a bloody power struggle that has spilled out of Hong Kong and into Thailand. The two opposing gunmen butt heads, cars, and wine glasses, though they are mirror images, alike in the belief that their destiny stems not from the stars but from the barrel of a gun. Much blood and even more red wine will be spilled in extremes of violence and loyalty. You know the feeling. You have an automatic pistol in each hand, and you walk into a room full of people who need to be shot…
Features:
-
- Digitally cleaned-up & restored feature presentation
- Collector’s slipcase & booklet featuring a new essay by film writer & programmer Tim Youngs
- New audio commentary by Hong Kong cinema expert Frank Djeng
- New interview with Co-Screenwriter Yau Nai-hoi and Action Choreographer & actor Yuen Bun (26 mins)
- New interview with Milkyway Image sound designer Martin Chappell (42 mins)
- “Escaping Fate” – a new video essay on A Hero Never Dies by filmmaker Zach Closs (9 mins)
- Newly translated and improved optional English subtitles by Dylan Cheung
- Archival: Interview with actor Yoyo Mung Ka-wai (3 mins)
- Archival: Outtakes (5 mins)
- Archival: Photo gallery
- Archival: Trailer
Watch the film’s classic Trailer below:
Looking forward to the Chameleon Release of A Hero Never Dies… I know I am speaking on behalf of many Johnnie To fanatics… When are we finally going to get a Bluray English Sub releases of The Mission and The Longest Nite… Well over due.. Come on Eureka, 88Films, or Chameleon…
How dare you leave Expect the Unexpected, Too Many Ways To Be Number One, Fulltime Killer, and the Odd One Dies out! 😉 Agree on the UK labels. But at least we got PTU, Running out of Time etc from them. But these were more like a bunt, than a grand slam!
I wonder if there’s some legal issues with getting new Milkyway Blu Rays that are just being sorted out. Too Many Ways is one that’s been begging for a great release. The DVD went out of print before Blu Rays were invented!
There are now region free Blu Rays for The Longest Nite and Expect the Unexpected. Let’s hope The Mission and Too Many Ways are next