When retired gang leader Wang-Jae is murdered, detective Tae-Soo returns to his hometown for the first time in ten years after leaving to become a detective in Seoul. Tae-Soo reunites with his old high school friends to say farewell to Wang-Jae, but feels that something is not right about his death. With his fists and temper at his side, Tae-Soo uses the power of the law to stir up a few hornet nests trying to figure out just what happened. For his troubles, Tae-Soo is beset by multiple gangs, all trying to keep Tae-Soo from finding out too much. But with his friend Seok-Hwan at his side, whose fists are just as merciless, Tae-Soo starts tearing through the lies, deceptions, and criminal activity setting up shop in the tourist district. And when he finally gets someone to talk, he learns that it may just be their mutual friend Pil-Ho behind the murder.

Ryoo Seung-Wan, who both directs and stars as Seok-Hwan, may not be pushing any boundaries with this 2006 action-drama from South Korea, but his style and enthusiasm more than make up for treading in safe waters. Ryoo, who has previously brought fan favorites No Blood No Tears, Arahan, and Crying Fist to the screen, once again dives head first into a world of brotherhood, betrayal, and sacrifice, which are themes that should be more than familiar to those who have swam in the waters of South East Asian cinema. Using a series of flashbacks and storytelling, Ryoo gets all of the characters and their relationships set up quite quickly, but by no means skimps on their depth. Even given the film’s short time devoted to the character build-up, Ryoo shows his strength at giving the audience all the information they need to understand what is going on.

Beyond the characters, Ryoo shows once again his talent at bringing brutal street fighting to the screen with finesse and style. Though Ryoo and Jung Doo-Hong, who stars as Tae-Soo, are able to show off their tae kwon-do training, a majority of the fights are pure and simple brawls, with just enough choreography so the stunt team doesn’t kill each other. Ryoo explains in the audio commentary that they would just set up multiple cameras, have everyone fight in one huge take, and then edit the sequence later. This style allows for Ryoo’s nigh-trademark film speed adjustments and quick editing, while keeping all the characters and their actions easy to follow, and the tone of the fight consistant.

The two major fight sequences are simply jaw-dropping, and even if you may be slightly turned off by melodramatic friendships and betrayal, they are worth a rental at the very least to see. The first features Tae-Soo, in a possible homage to The Warriors, as he fights solo against five gangs — including a breakdancing gang, a BMX gang, a gang of schoolgirls, a gang of schoolboys, and a baseball team with face paint — that each have their own unique uniform and fight style. The second sequence takes up the final twenty minutes of the ninety minute running time, which features Tae-Soo and Seok-Hwan fighting their way through stage after stage of fighters a la The Game Of Death or a martial arts video game in order to get to the “final boss.” Each stage features different fighting styles, different weapons and different enemies, with Ryoo changing up the accompanying music and camera work to keep your interest for every minute!

The domestic release of The City Of Violence comes courtesy of Dragon Dynasty, a genre label under the newly formed Weinstein Company. The Weinsteins, who were once the targets of the seething wrath of Hong Kong fans for their Dimension releases of Jet Li and Jackie Chan films, which only featured English dubs and shortened versions of the movie, have finally come around and given the fans just what they want — original dialogue and subtitles, the uncut film, and plenty of extras. A quick look at the original CJ Entertainment extras looks like they’ve ported over the entire Region 3 release. As well as a Dolby Digital and DTS Korean soundtrack, an English dub is also made available on this DVD, for those that can’t deal with “reading” a movie.

Ryoo Seung-Wan’s audio commentary, which is in Korean and has English subtitles translating, is provided during the film on Disc One of this two-disc set. He spends equal time talking about the technical aspects of the film and giving anecdotes and stories. He also spends a lot of time talking about the films that influenced him. Keep a pad of paper handy during this commentary, as every movie he name drops is worth hunting down. Disc One is rounded out by a coming attractions reel, trailers for The City Of Violence and the always welcomed bloopers montage.

Disc Two is broken down into three main section: Pre-Production, Production, and Post-Production. Each section provides great and in-depth looks at the evolution and filming of The City Of Violence. Ryoo Seung-Wan is on hand in interview segments as well as commentary on certain segments. The complete extras breakdown as such:

– Deleted and Alternate Scenes
– A Behind-The-Scenes Exploration Of The Action Sequences
– The Making Of The City Of Violence
– 5 Behind The Scenes Production Featurettes
– Interview and Commentary On The Action Sequences by Jung Doo-Hung
– Interviews With The Cast

The best part is that everything has been subtitled. For years, English-speaking East Asian cinema fans have basically been at a loss with DVD imports, as the extras were rarely subtitled. Now we finally get a chance to really dive into some of the great interviews and featurettes with full knowledge of what is being said. Even with the Weinsteins’ shaky past with their previous outputs, they can at least be given praise for finally delivering some truly Special Edition releases. The Weinstein Company’s Dragon Dynasty is quickly becoming a go-to source for both recent and modern classic films from Hong Kong and South Korea that once were only to be had at shops deep within Chinatown or from small online websites, and with each further release they will surely atone for the sins of their DVD past.