As you might guess, we're going to be playing catch-up on news stories for a couple of days since our return from sunny climes. And we might as well start with the fine people at Arrow Video, who last week announced the UK Blu-ray release of Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins…, the action-packed 1985 cult favourite from renowned Bond director Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun).

First they faked his death and gave him a new identity. Now a top secret organisation is training a former New York cop to combat corrupt forces operating outside of the law. His mentor, Chiun, is an ageing Korean master of the martial arts who can run on water and dodge speeding bullets.

Born on the pages of Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir’s The Destroyer series of men’s adventure novels, Remo Williams was placed in the capable hands of Bond director Guy Hamilton for his big-screen outing. Fred Ward (Tremors, Southern Comfort) plays the trainee assassin, with Academy Award-winner Joel Grey (Cabaret) occupying the role of Chiun.

Arrow Video’s newly-restored presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements by MGM, comes with a bumper crop of special features, including all-new interviews with Joel Grey (who reflects on his role as Chiun), Oscar-nominated make-up expert Carl Fullerton and composer Carl Safan, who talks in some detail about his much-loved score.

The disc will also feature the much-awaited feature-length documentary Remo, Rambo, Reagan and Reds: The Eighties Action Movie Explosion, which looks at 80s action cinema and where Remo Williams fits among his peers. The documentary includes new interviews with genre expert Bey Logan, Remo producers Larry Spiegel and Judy Goldstein, celebrated directors Sam Firstenberg (American Ninja) and Mark L. Lester (Commando), producers Don Borchers (Angel) and Garrick Dion (Drive), filmmaker and scholar Howard S. Berger and Professor Susan Jeffords (author of Hard Bodies: Hollywood Masculinity in the Reagan Era).

Alongside this, the Blu-ray disc will also feature the original theatrical trailer, a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Red Dress and a sizeable collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the origins of Remo Williams by Barry Forshaw and an on-set report from American Cinematographer magazine.

Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins... makes its worldwide Blu-ray debut on 7th July 2014 from Arrow Video at the RRP of £24.99.

Boasting a High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the film from a digital transfer prepared by MGM Studios, original uncompressed stereo 2.0 PCM audio and optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, the disc will have these extra features:

• Isolated music and effects soundtrack

• Audio commentary with producers Larry Spiegel and Judy Goldstein

• Remo, Rambo, Reagan and Reds: The Eighties Action Movie Explosion – all-new feature-length documentary from High Rising Productions focusing on a decade of cinematic destruction and Remo Williams’s place among the carnage. Includes new interviews with genre expert Bey Logan, Remo producers Larry Spiegel and Judy Goldstein, celebrated directors Sam Firstenberg and Mark L. Lester, producers Don Borchers and Garrick Dion, filmmaker and scholar Howard S. Berger and Professor Susan Jeffords

• When East Met West – Joel Grey reflects on his turn as Chiun

• Changing Faces – make-up expert Carl Fullerton discusses his Oscar-nominated work on Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins…

• Notes for a Nobleman – composer Craig Safan talks about his classic score

• Theatrical trailer

• Reversible Sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Red Dress

• Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the origins of Remo Williams by Barry Forshaw and an on-set report from American Cinematographer magazine