Bullet in the Head: Limited Edition – Arrow Video (4K UHD/Blu-ray Combo)
Theatrical Release Date: Hong Kong, 1990
Director: John Woo
Writers: John Woo, Patrick Leung, Janet Chun
Cast: Tony Leung, Jacky Cheung, Waise Lee, Simon Yam, Fennie Yuen, Yolinda Yam, Shek Yin Lau, Chung Lin
Release Date: June 21st, 2026
Approximate Running Time: 130 Minutes 50 Seconds
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen / 2160 Progressive / HEVC / H.265 / HDR10 Dolby Vision
Rating: 18 (UK)
Sound: LPCM Mono Cantonese, LPCM Mono English, Dolby Atmos Cantonese
Subtitles: English, English SDH
Region Coding: Region Free (4K UHD), Region B (Blu-ray)
Retail Price: £29.99 (UK)
"Set during the Vietnam War, the film follows B, Fai and Wing (iconic actors Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Jacky Cheung and Waise Lee), three best friends fleeing from Hong Kong to seek their fortune as smugglers. In Saigon, they join forces with fellow expat Lok (Simon Yam) and double-cross the ruthless gangster Luong to steal his gold and rescue nightclub singer Sau-ching (Yolinda Yan) from his clutches. The gang must fight their way out of the country in a nightmarish odyssey where each new battle pushes them beyond their limits and threatens to destroy their friendship." - synopsis provided by the distributor
Video: 5/5
Here’s the information provided about this release's transfer, "The film has been restored in 4K resolution and graded in HDR10 and Dolby Vision. The original 35mm camera negative was sourced from the Hong Kong Film Archive and scanned in 4K by Interface Video Production Ltd in Hong Kong."
Bullet in the Head comes on a 100 GB triple layer 4K UHD.
Disc Size: 92.2 GB
Feature: 87.1 GB
Although Arrow Video uses Shout! Factory's master as the foundation of their source, they have performed additional color grading. I didn't have any issues with either release's color timing, though there is some debate over which one is more aesthetically pleasing. That said, the source looks phenomenal; image clarity, contrast, black levels, and compression are solid, and the image always looks organic.
Bullet in the Head, the festival cut, comes on a 50 GB dual layer Blu-ray.
Disc Size: 42 GB
Feature: 38 GB
There are multiple options to watch the festival cut and an extended festival cut. Both versions can be watched with or without the alternate boardroom ending, and the extended festival cut contains footage previously exclusive to the theatrical cut.
Audio: 5/5 (All Audio Tracks)
This release comes with three audio options, a LPCM mono mix in Cantonese, a LPCM mono mix in English and a Dolby Atmos mix in Cantonese. The two mono tracks are comparable to the Shout! Factory 4K UHD release, while the newly created Dolby Atmos track gives fans of this film a new way to experience it. That said, all of the tracks sound excellent, and the Dolby Atmos does a phenomenal job of expanding the sound spectrum without straying away from the original mono track’s intentions. Included are English subtitles for the Cantonese language track, English SDH for the English language track, and English subtitles for Cantonese text when watching the English language track. Language tracks and subtitles can only be changed via the setup menu and not during playback. It should be noted that Arrow Video has done additional work on their subtitles and they are not the same ones used by Shout! Factory.
Extras:
Extras on the 4K UHD disc include an image gallery (46 images—stills/Japanese press book/lobby cards/posters/home video art), theatrical trailer #1 (3 minutes 34 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), theatrical trailer #2 (4 minutes 6 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), deleted and extended scenes with text information about them (12 minutes 33 seconds, Dolby Digital mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), alternate boardroom ending (5 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), English export credits (5 minutes 59 seconds, Dolby Digital mono English, no subtitles), and an audio commentary with film critic Frank Djeng.
Blu-ray disc one comes with the festival cut (136 minutes 8 seconds, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, LPCM mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), the festival cut with boardroom scene (125 minutes 54 seconds, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, LPCM mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), the extended festival cut (136 minutes 42 seconds, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, LPCM mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles), and the extended festival cut with boardroom scene (126 minutes 28 seconds, 1.85:1 aspect ratio, LPCM mono Cantonese with removable English subtitles).
Extras on Blu-ray disc two include an archival interview with director John Woo titled Life Through a Lens (13 minutes 1 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with actor Jacky Cheung titled Baptism of Fire (14 minutes 28 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with actor Waise Lee titled Paradise Lost (14 minutes 1 second, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with actor Simon Yam titled Biting the Bullet (15 minutes 17 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an archival interview with stunt coordinator Lau Chi-Ho titled A Walk on the Wild Side (14 minutes 28 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with associate producer Patrick Leung titled Tempting Fate (19 minutes 32 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), an archival interview with editor David Wu titled Natural Selection (32 minutes 31 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with actress Fennie Yuen titled The Long-Suffering Siu-Chun (19 minutes 39 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), an interview with author Grady Hendrix titled Hong Kong Confidential: Bullet In The Head (13 minutes 9 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with Dr. Lars Laamann titled Apocalypse How? - The Period of Provocations (27 minutes 9 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips), an interview with production planner Catherine Lau titled Tumultuous Times (15 minutes 11 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), an interview with editor David Wu titled Apocalypse Woo (7 minutes 51 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English, no subtitles), an interview with producer Terence Chang titled Army of One (4 minutes 42 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips), an interview with actor Waise Lee titled Head Case! (18 minutes 24 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo Cantonese with removable English subtitles), and an interview with director John Woo titled Brilliance with a Bullet (43 minutes 28 seconds, Dolby Digital stereo English with removable English subtitles for Cantonese film clips).
Other extras include a reversible cover art, a double-sided foldout poster, six postcard-sized art cards, a chipboard slipcase, a slipcover, and a 40-page booklet with cast & crew information, an essay titled John Woo’s journey into the Heart of Darkness written by Priscilla Page, an essay titled The Death of Heroic Bloodshed written by Sean Gilman, an archival writing titled Watching as Men Fall written by Arnaud Bordas, an excerpt from an interview with John Woo conducted by Stéphane Moïssakis, and information about the transfer.
Summary:
Three friends flee Hong Kong after one of them murders a street punk. They go to Vietnam to wait things out. Upon their arrival, they get caught in the crossfire between the war protestors and military, causing them to lose the merchandise they were transporting from Hong Kong. Struggling financially and feeling hopeless, they befriend Ah Lok, a professional hitman who offers to assist them in escaping Vietnam. While they are in the country, they become embroiled in a conflict that tests the limits of their friendships.
What began as a prequel to A Better Tomorrow evolved into what is widely acknowledged as John Woo’s most personal film. When John Woo and Tsui Hark ended their working relationship, the latter decided to direct the A Better Tomorrow prequel. After their breakup, John Woo decided to rework his original idea, and what evolved is a film that takes on the 1967 Hong Kong riots; it also takes aim at the 1989 incident in Tiananmen Square in Beijing using the Vietnam War as the backdrop.
Nostalgia is present in Bullet in the Head’s opening setup; reportedly, John Woo drew moments of inspiration from his experiences growing up in late 1960s Hong Kong. While most of this initial setup shows a carefree side of the three friends, once they arrive in Vietnam, things take a considerably darker turn. From there, the narrative is one bleak moment after the other, building to its poignant finale: the two living friends force each other to confront the choices they made.
Although Tony Leung would become famous years later working with Wong Kar-wai, at this point in his career he had yet to establish himself as a box office draw. His two co-stars, Jacky Cheung (High Risk) and Waise Lee (A Better Tomorrow), were more supporting than leads at that time. The most prominent cast member is Simon Yam (Naked Killer) in the role of a Hong Kong hitman living in Vietnam. That said, all of the performances are excellent, especially Jacky Cheung's, whose character suffers a brain injury from a bullet in his head.
Something that immediately grabbed me while watching Bullet in the Head was how its production design puts you back into the 1960s. This extended to the score, notably the use of Neil Diamond’s song, I’m a Believer. In addition to the main credits featuring an instrumental rendition of "I’m a Believer," this song plays a significant role during one of the film's most memorable scenes, which involves an assassination that occurs in the bathroom.
While there is never a shortage of carnage in the cinema of John Woo, Bullet in the Head is by far and away his most brutal film. The sequences set in the prisoner of war camp and the aftermath of the three friends' escape are particularly striking. Another brutal moment takes place shortly after the three friends arrive in Vietnam, and a young man responsible for a car bomb is found by the military, who then shoot him in the head. Ultimately, Bullet in the Head is an emotionally charged, thought-provoking film that stays with you, making it John Woo's crowning achievement.
For their release, Arrow Video has added a substantial number of new extras and four alternate versions of the film. In comparing the two releases, it is evident that Arrow Video’s version stands out as the superior choice over Shout! Factory’s offering. Bullet in the Head gets a definitive release from Arrow Video. Highly recommended.
Note about the 4K screenshots: It is not possible to make Dolby Vision or HDR10 screenshots that faithfully match the experience of watching a film in motion on a TV. Instead of not having any screenshots, all of the 4K screenshots are m2ts taken with a MPC-HC player and lossless PNGs.
Written by Michael Den Boer
