Arts Alliance America, formerly known as Hart Sharp Video, continues to make slow but steady gains in the arena of Asian action film distribution here in the U.S. SEOUL RAIDERS is their latest acquisition and follows previous DVD releases of NAKED WEAPON, BANG RAJAN and DARK ASSASSIN.

This is a solid release of SEOUL RAIDERS that is presented in 16×9 format with optional 2.0 Cantonese/Korean or English. It’s a little odd that no surround track is provided but I’m not going to complain. Too often we see tampering of original mono tracks on older Asian action films when being unnecessarily up-converted to surround. Removable English subtitles are adequate. They translate Korean and Cantonese speech.

Bonus features are flimsy, which is fine for a disposable movie like SEOUL RAIDERS. I don’t think I could sit through 98 minutes of commentary. The only feature that would have been nice to see is some focus on the action choreography with emphasis on the Korean stunt crew. There is some mention and footage in the “Making of” but it’s brief.

The Making of SEOUL RAIDERS (9 minutes) - This English-subtitled featurette was produced by Media Asia and no doubt was made available on Mega Star’s DVD release. It contains behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with cast members and the director. Like most “Making of” featurettes, it’s little more than a long sales pitch for the movie. It’s still nice that AAA decided to include it and it’s better than nothing.

Trailers - No trailer for SEOUL RAIDERS or even AAA’s previous Asian action releases which is disappointing. Instead we get trailers for some other interesting films including two documentaries, HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD and WHAT WOULD JESUS BUY? and the Korean-American interracial romantic drama NEVER FOREVER.

Format: Region 1 NTSC DVD
Aspect Ratio: 16×9 Widescreen (1:78:1)
Audio: Cantonese 2.0, English 2.0
Subtitles: English
Length: 98 minutes
Release Date: 2008.09.23

Related Topics