Picture: Anamorphic Widescreen. The majority of the film is out in the battlefield, amongst the browns and grays of dirty trenches and bombed out cities, so there isn't really much of a color pallette. That is, until some blood is shed, or there is a beautiful snowbound scene, or an explosion, and the eruption of color becomes all the more striking. Intentionally stark and grim settings aside, flesh tones and general details like color and sharpness appear well rendered. Technically, the only real problem I could find was some slight pixellation in the contrast, that is, the darker elements suffering a bit from compression. It doesn't hurt the film that much, but it does make you realize why the Korean SE spreads the two and half hour film onto two discs in order to maximize the image.

Sound: Dolby Digital EX or DTS 6.1 Surround, Korean language, with optional English or Chinese subtitles. Wow. Aside from science fiction, there may be no better genre to give your sound system a workout other than a good war/action movie. From the sound of gunfire zipping through the air, the high ping of an ejected rifle shell casing, to a mortar digging into and then exploding the earth, get your surround system ready because you will feel the war all around you. Likewise, when the score drops in, it is given a generous swell to enrich the overall impact. Obviously, most people should know by now that the separation and range of the DTS track offers an extra punch, but even those that are not DTS capable will be amazed by the plain ol' DD EX sound mix. My only complaint is that I did notice a couple of flubs in the subtitles. Luckily, it wasn't a matter of a badly mangled sentences. There was just a misspelling here and there.

Extras: First, the packaging is nice, including a nice slipcase. A second disc contains the following extras: Trailer— Making of Featurette (41:00) No subs, general behind the scenes footage covering production meetings, scouting locations, makeup tests, rehearsal, and filming. — Five Interviews with the director, cast, and such, ranging from just over a minute to three minutes in length. English subbed.

Conclusion: The Korean and Japanese edition offer more extras, though unfortunately, those extras are not English friendly, so this edition becomes a more affordable importers option. Taegukgi is getting a R1 release from Columbia Tristar (under Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War), a full two disc treatment including storyboard comparisons and a couple of Korean War/Making Of featurettes from the Korean edition. So, most US buyers may want to check out that edition isntead of this one (though in terms of image/sound quality I don't know how it compares).

The film itself is a real winner. Not quite Bridge on the River Kwai or Saving Private Ryan but ten times better than Pearl Harbor. Despite a couple of storytelling stumbles, I'll mark it among the best war films I have seen and proudly put it on my DVD shelf next to Platoon, The Dirty Dozen, and The Thin Red Line.