On March 30, 2026, Arrow (UK) is releasing the 4K Ultra HD for Hard Boiled, John Woo’s 1992 Hong Kong action masterpiece, which can be pre-ordered today at Goodie Emporium!
In the 80s and 90s, director John Woo would cement his reputation as a master of action films with classics like A Better Tomorrow, The Killer and Bullet in the Head. This would culminate in 1992 with the release of his masterpiece Hard Boiled, the hyperkinetic, hyperviolent exemplar of the Heroic Bloodshed genre.
Iconic actor Chow Yun-Fat (City on Fire) stars as Tequila, a gung-ho cop working to bring down Johnny Wong (Anthony Wong, Infernal Affairs), the villainous triad boss who maintains a stranglehold on Hong Kong’s illegal gun trade. Johnny attempts to recruit Ah-Long (Tony Leung, Bullet in the Head), an assassin from a rival syndicate, just as the insubordinate Tequila gets taken off the case. Taking justice into his own hands, Tequila tracks Ah-Long down and uncovers an intricate web of deception that threatens to boil over into all-out war.
A fiery coalescence of electrifying performances, elaborate narrative and operatic gunfights, Hard Boiled has rightly been exalted as the undisputed champion of Hong Kong action films, ready to unleash a hail of bullets anew in this stunning restoration exploding with extras.
Limited Edition Features:
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
- Double-sided foldout poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella
- Collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by Priscilla Page and archival writing and an interview with John Woo by Stéphane Moïssakis
- Six postcard-sized artcards
Disc One – Features and Extras (4K Ultra HD):
- 4K Ultra HD (2160p) Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Original lossless Cantonese mono and Dolby Atmos audio, and English mono audio
- Optional newly translated English subtitles for the Cantonese soundtracks and optional English for the deaf and hard of hearing subtitles for the English soundtrack
- Brand new audio commentary with director John Woo and film journalist Drew Taylor
- Brand new audio commentary with film historian Frank Djeng
- Archival audio commentary with John Woo and producer Terence Chang
- Archival audio commentary with John Woo, Terence Chang, film critic Dave Kehr and filmmaker Roger Avary
- Deleted and extended scenes
- Original trailers
- Image gallery
Disc Two – Extra (Blu-ray Region B):
- Violent Night, a brand new interview with John Woo
- Boiling Over, a brand new interview with actor Anthony Wong
- No Room for Failure, a brand new interview with Terence Chang
- Hard To Resist, a brand new interview with screenwriter Gordon Chan
- Boiled to Perfection, a brand new interview with screenwriter Chan Hing-Ka
- Body Count Blues, a brand new interview with composer Michael Gibbs
- Hong Kong Confidential: Inside Hard Boiled, a brand new interview with author and Hong Kong cinema expert Grady Hendrix
- Gun-Fu Fever, a brand new interview with author Leon Hunt
- Chewing the Fat, a brand new interview with academic Lin Feng
- American Cinematheque 2025 Q&A with John Woo
- The Test of Time, an archival documentary featuring interviews with John Woo, Terence Chang, editor David Wu and actor/stunt coordinator Philip Kwok
- Archival interviews with actors Chow Yun-Fat and Tony Leung
This title can be pre-ordered at The Goodie Emporium, a U.S.-based online store that currently has many Import Shaw Brothers/Golden Harvest/martial arts DVD/Blu-ray movies in-stock – with New titles being added regularly!
I need to sell my Shout 4k set and get this instead just because of the coverart
I ordered this one and didn’t realize that it only includes the 4k version, where the Shout version has both the 4k and bluray. I’d rather have the Shout version but it keeps getting sold out.
The cards are better than the French version, so is I’m sure the booklet, and we can see the original poster.
I’ll probably sell my HKVIDEO version and buy the Arrow one.
Got it preordered from Arrow Films directly, I can retire my Tartan Asia DVD at last. Now all I need is a boxset release of Aces go places, waiting patiently for such event. The only downside is that no available space left on my shelf unit, need another one.
Check out the various comparison shots of the Shout vs the Arrow Disc out there on various forums/websites. The Arrow colour grading resembles the Criterion DVD. Shouts 4k disc isnt bad, it just doesn’t look like the version I remebered watching back in the 90s.
I wish Shout did more due dilligence rather than rush these to market. If The Swordsman Trilogy is a taste of things to come we are in trouble. No commentaries on any of the movies and parts 2 and 3 looks the same as the HK bluray which was in itself a DVD upscale. Even the supposed 4k scan of part 1 doesn’t look that good either