As producers, John Woo and Terence Chang did tend to start at the top and work down, having delivered the action masterpiece Hard Boiled, before moving on to Woo's inferior American work on the likes of Broken Arrow and Mission Impossible II, though there are a good few still willing to vouch for Woo's 1997 Face/Off. One of their more recent Heroic Bloodshed titles is the 2007 Tian tang kou, one of a small handful of Hong Kong actioners that have been retitled Blood Brothers for their western release.

It all takes place in 1930s Shanghai, a glittering city of vice and decadence. Three innocent young men arrive to this seeming paradise in search of a better future. But as time goes by, their paths diverge, even as they all descend into a life of crime. Soon, friends turn against friends, brother against brother. The blood bonds are now but relics from their early days of innocence. Once they hoped for a better tomorrow: now tragedy and betrayal have become a way of life.

Crafted by some of the acclaimed talents behind such works such as Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, House Of Flying Daggers and Brotherhood Of The Wolf and directed by relative newcomer Alexi Tan, Blood Brothers is, we are told, a bullet-soaked journey into a thrilling gangster's paradise.

Blood Brothers will be released on UK DVD on 23rd March 2009 by Metrodome at the RRP of £15.99. Extra features will include a behind-the-scenes featurette and a trailer.