Now shipping is Arrow’s 4K Ultra HD for 2008’s The Good, the Bad, the Weird. Genre maestro Kim Jee-woon (I Saw the Devil) set his sights on new frontiers and spiced them up with his rollicking kimchi western!
Wrangling three of Korea’s biggest stars, he orchestrated an audacious action epic sweeping across the dusty Manchurian plains. In the 1930s, three gun-toting Koreans converge on a train with different objectives but after an explosive altercation they leave it with the same goal: track down a map leading to an unfathomable treasure. The ‘Good’ is bounty hunter Park Do-won (Jung Woo-sung, 12.12: The Day), who is chasing down the ‘Bad’, the ruthless bandit Park Chang-yi (Lee Byung-hun, A Bittersweet Life), rumoured to be the notorious ‘Finger Cutter’. Meanwhile, wily thief Yoon Tae-goo (Song Kang-ho, Parasite), the ‘Weird’, is on the hunt for anything he can get his hands on. Backs are stabbed, fingers are cut, and many bullets fly as this dangerous trio blast their way through the desert in search of untold riches.
This glorious resurrection of the Manchurian Western was the biggest and most ambitious production ever undertaken in Korea. Presented here for the very first time in stunning 4K, experience this spicy slice of wild west mayhem as you’ve never seen it before.
2-DISC LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
- Brand new 4K master, approved by director Kim Jee-woon
- DTS-HD MA 7.1 on both cuts of the film
- Optional English subtitles
- Limited edition packaging featuring newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh
- 40-page perfect bound collector’s book featuring new writing by Darcy Paquet, Kyu Hyun Kim, Cho Jae-whee, and Ariel Schudson
- Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh
- Three postcard-sized artcards
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Nathanael Marsh
DISC ONE – FEATURE PRESENTATIONS (4K ULTRA-HD BLU-RAY™)
- 4K Ultra HD (2160p) presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible)
- Includes both the International and Korean versions of the film presented via seamless branching
- Brand new audio commentary by film critic James Marsh and film critic and producer Pierce Conran
- Archival audio commentary by director Kim Jee-woon and actors Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, and Jung Woo-sung (International version)
- Archival audio commentary by director Kim Jee-woon, cinematographer Lee mogae, lighting director Oh Seung-chul, and art director Cho Hwa-sung (Korean Version)
- A new introduction to the film by Kim Jee-woon
This title is available 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!
Enjoy the film’s classic Trailer:
I need to re-evaluate this film. Kim Jee Woon directing a Kimchi Western starring 3 of my favorite Korean actors should have been the greatest thing ever for me, but for some reason, I wasn’t engaged. I felt like the film was slow, and the characters remained uninteresting just when I thought I was gonna get to know them, and I didn’t think there was much in the way of action either.
Maybe I was having a bad day.
You’re making me re-evaluate the fact that I loved it back then. In my review, I mentioned, at the time, it wasn’t Kim Jee-Woon’s best film – It’s his best looking, no doubt and the pacing is excellent. But it’s not the step-above ‘A Bittersweet Life’ that I was hoping it would be. The action is what shines the most; it’s crisp, fast, inventive and brutal. A lot of it filmed with beautiful scope in mind, such as the horses running through gritty explosions; and even Road Warrior-style vehicle chases.
Loved it back then and love it now! ‘A Bittersweet Life’ will always be my favorite Kim Jee-woon movie, but this is a close 2nd (and if anything is the one I re-watch more). A pitch perfect update of the ‘Manchuria western’ genre that was so popular in Korea during the 70’s, it gets everything right – the tone, the pacing, and some of the best action ever put on screen. The epic chase sequence finale involving bandits on horseback, Japanese army jeeps, Song Kang-ho on his motorbike, cannons, and Santana’s ‘Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’ still gets the adrenaline pumping even 16 years later.
Great to see that both the International and Korean versions will be included on this release. Personally my preference is always for the International version, with the extra scenes featuring Uhm Ji-won and the extended ending that the Korean version includes feeling largely superfluous to the narrative. Sometimes leaner is better (something I tend to say a lot about Korean cinema!).