The Good, The Bad, The Weird

[yoloswegmaster]

ONE MAP. THREE VILLAINS. WINNER TAKES ALL. Genre maestro Kim Jee-woon (A Tale of Two Sisters) set his sights on new frontiers and spiced them up with his rollicking kimchi western The Good, the Bad, the Weird. 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

DISC TWO – BONUS FEATURES (BLU-RAY™)
Corralling chaos in the desert, a new interview with director Kim Jee-woon
Dusty dust-ups and sweaty saddles, a new interview with martial arts coordinator Jung Doo-hong
Archival making of films and featurettes
Trailer gallery
Image gallery

[TechnicolorAcid]

I assume this was The Dollars Trilogy clue. Honestly not even mad.

[Finch]

Very unexpected but thrilled with this announcement.

[yoloswegmaster]

I assume this was The Dollars Trilogy clue. Honestly not even mad so this is a good announcement for me.

The tweet from Arrow specifically mentioned the Dollars trilogy and the video that they attached is from the opening of A Fistful of Dollars, so it looks like it will be getting a release soon (especially since they just announced another MGM title with The Great Escape).

This is still a cool announcement and hopefully means that we are getting more Korean titles soon.

[therewillbeblus]

I assume this was The Dollars Trilogy clue.

Hilarious if true

[yoloswegmaster]

Extras:

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

DISC TWO – BONUS FEATURES (BLU-RAY™)
Corralling chaos in the desert, a new interview with director Kim Jee-woon
Dusty dust-ups and sweaty saddles, a new interview with martial arts coordinator Jung Doo-hong
Archival making of films and featurettes
Trailer gallery
Image gallery

[tenia]

I suppose there's a 2nd disc because "Archival making of films and featurettes" includes the 2hrs making of.

[rapta]

The best surprise today, figured this might get a release from Second Sight at some point - the UK rights were previously with Icon (now Kaleidoscope), not sure if they still are or not; CJ Entertainment is mentioned on the spine of the Arrow release, so international rights could have reverted back to them. Didn't expect a 4K either, first I've heard of a restoration of this one!

Tempted to pre-order this and/or Demolition Man, tbh (both are good fun, and brand new restorations). The Great Escape takes priority over both though, for me.

PS: The Dollars Trilogy tease was for A Fistful of Dollars specifically, so not linked to this at all. This was a genuine surprise, and a good one at that! Hoping for more Korean stuff soon.

[Finch]

Nice that they got a new interview with the director.

In terms of more Korean films, they might be able to get The Wailing and The Man From Nowhere. The former especially is a perfect fit and it's only ever had a DVD in 2017 in Britain.

[ryannichols7]

that artwork is seriously terrific. pretty impressive release. Arrow really can be so great when they want to be! impressive cast for the booklet too, very nice to see Darcy Paquet writing in an Arrow booklet

[Finch]

Interestingly the International Cut is not marked as exclusive to the LE but the Last Emperor example showed that you can't rely on an alternate edit to get carried over to the regular release. But I noticed that the Great Escape sequel was marked as a LE exclusive so maybe they decided to be more transparent about what on disc stuff gets lost in the transition to the standard version.

I've only ever seen the Korean version. Can anyone make a case for the International?

[rapta]

The Wailing was last with Kaleidoscope, and I really want a UK label to pick it up (now feels like Arrow could be closer to getting it, but Second Sight are still a possibility too). I'd pre-order that one in a heartbeat, or any Na Hong-jin for that matter.

Perhaps either Arrow or Second Sight could look into acquiring recent Korean hit Exhuma? The Man from Nowhere seems to be with eOne, which likely means it's unavailable to license.

[dwk]

Interestingly the International Cut is not marked as exclusive to the LE but the Last Emperor example showed that you can't rely on an alternate edit to get carried over to the regular release. But I noticed that the Great Escape sequel was marked as a LE exclusive so maybe they decided to be more transparent about what on disc stuff gets lost in the transition to the standard version.

In this case it says the two cuts are presented via seamless branching. No way to make the alternate cut a limited edition exclusive without spending the money to re-author the disc for the standard edition.

I saw someone mentioned on the Blu-ray.com forum that this will be cut in the UK for horse falls. Can anyone confirm that (I haven't seen this film, so I don't know if it has horse falls or not.)

[yoloswegmaster]

Interestingly the International Cut is not marked as exclusive to the LE but the Last Emperor example showed that you can't rely on an alternate edit to get carried over to the regular release. But I noticed that the Great Escape sequel was marked as a LE exclusive so maybe they decided to be more transparent about what on disc stuff gets lost in the transition to the standard version.

In this case it says the two cuts are presented via seamless branching. No way to make the alternate cut a limited edition exclusive without spending the money to re-author the disc for the standard edition.

I saw someone mentioned on the Blu-ray.com forum that this will be cut in the UK for horse falls. Can anyone confirm that (I haven't seen this film, so I don't know if it has horse falls or not.)

The BBFC had to make three cuts for the theatrical release, as there were 3 cruel horse falls. It doesn't look like Arrow resubmitted it for a review, so it looks like the cuts will still be in the release.