Ooooooh. Just spied this over at CityonFire. DVDActive has announced the release of a R1 edition of Sung-su Kim's stunning Musa: The Warrior, starring Ahn Seong-gi [The Duelist, Arahan and Silmido], Jeong Woo-seong [Phantom the Submarine and Daisy] and Zhang Ziyi [Hero and House of Flying Daggers].
Quick Story Outline: A Korean delegation of diplomats and troops is charged with spying and exiled by the Chinese government to the desert. Surviving a attack from a Mongolian troop the surviving members rescue a captured Chinese princess [Zhang Ziyi]. She promises the delegation a ship back home if they take her to a castle across the desert. They meet with the Mongolians at the castle in a climactic battle.
Released by Sony, this will be the 154 minute version of the film. I already have a 130 minute version and it seemed long enough. But it is a stunning piece of work and definitely deemed worthy of a viewing. The film itself will be presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Korean 2.0 Surround tracks. Why the dubbing is presented in better sound quality I don't know but shame on whoever isn't doing the Korean/Mandarin dialogue in 5.1 as well. The release date is set for March 7th and it will be available packaged with House of Flying Daggers which is a no-brainer considering they seem to be marketing this edition mostly on the star power of Zhang Ziyi. Which is also a shame because despite the available cover shot she doesn't lift a sword in the film. In fact, I think the cover art is crap. Regardless, Musa is good and you should see it.
Source: CityonFire
I'll pick this up just to get a version with some decent english subtitles. The CJ Entertainment R3 DVD I imported a year ago has some really screwed up subtitles. I'll just combine the 5.1 Korean audio and the new version's subtitles and make my own master copy. Although it's really a shame Sony doesn't just include the 5.1 Korean audio.
what a terrible cover
Hey, it's the real cut instead of the international, good on Sony for that. I'll pick it up just as a matter of principal to support decent local releases ... plus I'm not 100% sure that my current copy is legit ...
Horrible cover, indeed. Worst cover since Infernal Affairs, even. But good to see Sony release a proper version, at least that's quite encouraging.
Indeedy. I should have stroked Sony's ego some in the post because they are really the only studio out there doing a decent job with foreign properties. Forget decent. They're doing an excellent job. Good for Sony. Just for this I am buying one of your televisions.
Good news for those who get the pleasure from "Musa" that I didn't. Until now, the only recommendable transfer has been by HK Video, available from overseas.
On watching the film a few months back, what struck me the most was the total absence of drama. Poor writing & weak battle scenes aside, the camera work on the picture as a whole, which was billed as one of the costliest Asian productions at the time, was pedestrian at best. By good camera work, I also mean lighting and movement. If you've seen "The Sheltering Sky", you'll know what I mean. Zhang Ziyi, while not a particularly gifted actress, is capable of far more than is seen in either of these works.
As for "Flying Daggers", Zhang Yimou gave up making movies a long time ago. I have said elsewhere that I would take one "To Live" over 100 "Hero"'s, & and I'd take one "Not One Less", shot on a shoestring with non-professionals over these two bloated works.
I must agree with Mack, Sony does an admirable job with their transfers, a shame that so many studios appear to neglect the 5.1 original soundtrack on these imports...does it eat up a lot of megabytes or something? Nonetheless, shrewd marketing on Sony's part; for those wishing to see these titles for themselves, they couldn't do better than to check out this set.
i don;t like how the cover has these two, to single them out from the other main characters, and they have swords...she does not fight, he fights but all the time with a spear
American market stereotyping to sell $13.49 of a great film
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