7-Man Army: Quick Takes

The bells of patriotism ring loudly throughout Chang Cheh's 7-Man Army, an all-star (cast includes Ti Lung, David Chiang, Fu Sheng, Chen Kuan-Tai and Chi Kuan-Chun) war-action-drama of the epic proportions you've come to expect from the man. Co-directed by understudies Wu Ma and Hung Ting-Miu (the latter never directed again), there's technical excellence/embarrassment on screen early on. Utilizing the widescreen format for copious amounts of extras fighting, explosive mayhem does ok for itself but the reactions of those affected by such things as explosions are painfully mistimed. All that grandeur for nothing it seems and when settling down to explore characters, the film goes into forced flashbacks that manage to add nothing at all. It's as if Chang Cheh expects the autopilot to work here but he damn near kills the film. Thank god he's got more mayhem up his sleeve and combining it with man to man combat, he manages to gleefully but successfully push his thematic buttons once more. Few did it as well as Chang Cheh, painting the screen red in blood in the process. You'll have to disregard certain logic and the cast looking rather uninspired outside of the action. Once past that, 7-Man Army delivers.