The Good , The Bad, The Weird is one of my favourite films in a very long time. I raved about it from the time of the London Film Festival and now that it’s about to come out on DVD in the UK I feel like it’s time I started my little hype machine up again. With a glut of disappointing action films this summer (more on that to come) getting hold of this great movie on DVD might be the only way to stop Star Trek being the one adrenaline-fuelled memory of 2009.

For those that haven’t already heard about/seen it, The Good, The Bad, The Weird has been labelled an ‘Oriental Western’ by director Kim Jee-Woon, and it’s a curious action film set in 1930s Manchuria that takes its inspiration from Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but the plot is led by the Ugly (or the Weird).

Beginning with an audacious train robbery, undertaken simultaneously by three bandits, the film launches itself into a series of martial arts/Wedstern gunfight fusion battles that leap from from the screen with sheer energy. Sporting a series of twists and turns and some superb acting from Song Kang-Ho (The Host) and Lee Byung-Hun (A Bittersweet Life, G.I. Joe) in particular, it’s a film that trounces much of the competition for its ambition, it’s offbeat humour and its awesome action sequences.

One of the main reasons this film has become a favourite of mine though is that it successfully plays on older genre traditions while creating something fresh. There’s familiar moments to laugh at and enjoy as a movie buff, and excellent characters locked in an awesome battle for almost two hours. There’s action sequences that have the balance and skill of the best martial arts movies, and effects up there with the blockbusters. In short: it’s the most effective crossover movie I’ve seen in ages because it’s fun, not pretentious.

Another reason I’m so keen on this DVD is that it comes as a 2-Disc special edition full of extras. There’s a 90-minute making-of documentary that runs through the film’s production, taking in some great footage of the shots being completed: including the train smashing through a fire blockade, an incident that went wrong and nearly started a fight by the look of it. There’s also interviews with various crew involved with the design and shooting of the film, plus interviews with Kim Jee-Woon and the three stars.

But the real bonus among these extra bits and pieces is the mass of deleted scenes. Something that really grates on me is when foreign films are re-edited for the English-speaking world – as if we wouldn’t ‘get it’ otherwise. The Korean ending, which is so much cleverer and funnier, is included, as are FOUR other endings, which made me glad we could at least see the second-best ending over here. Plus there 45-minutes of scenes to watch, some of which are absolutely brilliant and could easily have made the final cut.

In fact, I’m not even going to write any more. I’m going to watch it again…

The Good, The Bad, The Weird is available from Amazon U.K. (£11.98) and Amazon U.S. ($27.99)