The Valiant Ones 4K UHD (Eureka)

[cooey]

The Valiant Ones is perhaps the last true wuxia film directed by celebrated Taiwanese filmmaker King Hu, an undisputed master of the genre. Shot back-to-back with The Fate of Lee Khan (but not released until two years later), it stands as a worthy follow-up to his earlier works Come Drink with Me, Dragon Inn and A Touch of Zen.

During the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (Chao Lei), China’s coastal regions have come under attack by wokou – Japanese pirates under the leadership of the infamous Hakatatsu (Sammo Hung). To combat this threat, the Emperor tasks a trusted general, Zhu Wan (Tu Kuang-chi), with assembling a group of skilled warriors to find and eliminate the pirates. Under the command of General Yu Dayou (Roy Chiao), the band of soldiers – including husband-and-wife sword-fighters Wu Ji-yuan (Wing Bai) and Wu Ruo-shi (Feng Hsu) – set out to draw Hakatatsu, his ally Xu Dong (Han Ying-chieh) and their pirate clan into a series of spectacular showdowns.

Inspired by historical events and featuring several storied figures drawn from Chinese history, The Valiant Ones is a standout wuxia film produced during the dying days of the genre, as audience tastes were shifting towards more grounded kung fu cinema. The Masters of Cinema series is proud to present the film on Ultra HD Blu-ray from a 4K restoration.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Limited edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Grégory Sacré (Gokaiju) [2000 copies]
4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation, presented in Dolby Vision HDR from a 4K digital restoration of the original negatives gifted by director King Hu to the Hong Kong Film Archive
Uncompressed original Mandarin mono restored from the original soundtrack negative
Optional English subtitles newly translated for this release
Brand new audio commentary by Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival)
Tony Rayns on The Valiant Ones – Brand new interview with critic and Asian film expert Tony Rayns
Tsar of all the Wuxia - a new video essay by David Cairns
The Life of a Lucky Stuntman – Brand new interview with stuntman Billy Chan
My Father and I – Brand new interview with actor Ng Ming-choi
Archival 2003 interview with actress Hsu Feng by Frédéric Ambroisine
Archival 2003 interview with Roger Garcia (Hong Kong International Film Festival Society) by Frédéric Ambroisine
Archival 2016 interview with actor Ng Ming-choi by Frédéric Ambroisine
A collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Jonathan Clements

Release date: 27th May, 2024

Being announced today (29th Feb), more info to follow. Credit to Rapta for finding the leak

[MifuneFan]

Full credit goes to rapta for find this leak:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...ostcount=47293

[cooey]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

Full credit goes to rapta for find this leak:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.p...ostcount=47293

Indeed. Have amended the OP

[Dragun]

Hell yes! Maybe they will upgrade Dragon Inn and Touch of Zen to 4K. I don't want to have to get the Disk Kino releases.

Do any other King Hu films have 4K restorations?

[Beckstreaker]

Amazon UK
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CWS1DCJV

Eureka
https://eurekavideo.co.uk/movie/the-...s-4k-ultra-hd/

HMV
https://hmv.com/Store/Film-TV/4K-Ult...-Cinema-Series

Zavvi
https://us.zavvi.com/4k/the-valiant-.../15278742.html

[Zambinee]

I missed the 'heads-up' for this however just had an email from Eureka that it is released today so have ordered direct from Eureka - cheaper than Amazon!

It's a blind buy however sounds like a good film.

[cooey]

Originally Posted by Zambinee

I missed the 'heads-up' for this however just had an email from Eureka that it is released today so have ordered direct from Eureka - cheaper than Amazon!

It's a blind buy however sounds like a good film.

Cheaper from HMV (with the 20% discount) if you're in the UK

[Zambinee]

Originally Posted by cooey

Cheaper from HMV (with the 20% discount) if you're in the UK

Cheers, I keep forgetting about the 20%. Last time I used it was for Shawscope Vol.2.

[cooey]

Originally Posted by Zambinee

Cheers, I keep forgetting about the 20%. Last time I used it was for Shawscope Vol.2.

Would've cost you £20.79

HMV get pretty much all my UK orders

[The Mole]

I just watched the UK UHD.

Is it normal that the image suddenly gets considerably darker in the mittle of the shot at the end in the exact moment when the bad guy is killed? At first I thought it would be a fade-to-black but instead the image just turned dark but lingered on for a few more seconds, you see the bad guy sink backwards, and then the movie cuts to the last shot with the tombstones. To be honest it seems like some kind of color grading glitch.

[Mr. Chaverria]

Got this when it was released buy finally making time for it.

This film is bit of a who's who. I didn't expect Sammo Hung to jump in but I'd recognized his chubby face anywhere even w/ that makeup on.

Now I need to remember if the other Hu films that I own were like that? For some reason, the casting stood out wildly more to me w/ this one. Maybe Cuz I knew these actors as one thing years later and turns out they also did Wuxia years before. Oh, Hong Kong...Your industry always surprises me.

[Mr. Chaverria]

Originally Posted by The Mole

I just watched the UK UHD.

Is it normal that the image suddenly gets considerably darker in the mittle of the shot at the end in the exact moment when the bad guy is killed? At first I thought it would be a fade-to-black but instead the image just turned dark but lingered on for a few more seconds, you see the bad guy sink backwards, and then the movie cuts to the last shot with the tombstones. To be honest it seems like some kind of color grading glitch.

I forgot to respond to this.

I dunno. It kind of feels like it was intentional to emphasize what was going on. An emotional sentiment, if anything.

=======

I think I need to watch my other King Hu films. Aside from Come Drink With Me, I didn't pay attention the editing. But The Valiant Ones has some very impressive editing and off camera tricks for the in camera action. Kind of should study up on King Hu more. He came my way in a very fractured period of mine where I just rushed through his stuff to just see it. Time to really analyse the man and his methods.

Valiant Ones is a very good looking movie btw. Typically this genre doesn't have the masterful composition that Hu was allowed or he just did. Not to say Hong Kong didn't have pretty films, it did. But This one really stands out to me in a different way.