Reviews:Heroes Among Heroes
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ALTERNATE SYNOPSIS:
Expert fighters must band together in an ultimate martial arts showdown when Southern China's High Officers begin smuggling opium over the border, and endangering the lives of the local villagers. With no one to protect them and an Emperor who does not honor them, the people turn to the Master Fighters Lin Shih Tsui and Wong Fei Hung to battle the evil officers and bring justice to the land.
-Sony
Hero Among Heroes has the basics for a good wire-fu flick, with folk heroes Beggar So (Donnie Yen) and Wong Fei-Hung (Wong Chuen) teaming up to defeat a corrupt prince (Hung Yan-Yan) dedicated to exporting opium, but things are derailed by several very dopey "comedy" sequences, most of which feature the normally hilarious Ng Man-Tat as So's beleagured stepdad. The action, besides a few very obvious bits of wire work (as in you can actually see the wires), is rock-solid, but the exposition scenes are almost painful to watch. Hero Among Heroes is a decent rental, but it's nowhere close to the classics of the genre.
-HK Film (see my profile)
http://www.hkfilm.net
| Director Yuen Woo Ping comes through again with this spectacular kung fu action piece featuring Donnie Yen and company in top fighting form. Wong Fei Hung (played by a fantastic martial artist that I didn't recognize) has allied himself with a group dedicated to banning opium in China. Proud, stubborn, and naive Beggar So Chan (Donnie Yen) goes up against him, but after becoming addicted and recovering, he joins forces with Fei Hung. Ng Man Tat plays his shameless father, and Sheila Chan (with a ridiculous overbite for the first half of the film (???)) is his overbearing aunt. Ultra-pretty Fennie Yuen is the educated woman who studied abroad (i.e. Aunt Yee from "Once Upon A Time In China") and causes a lot of commotion due to her foreign influences, but sadly she doesn't get to fight. Unfortunately, the film is disjointed and suffers from some awkward and abrupt editing. For the first half hour, I was convinced the film was a goofy period piece comedy a la Wong Jing, but then it completely turned around and became a serious ass-kicking fest (much to my delight). And the fighting is brilliant, inspired, spirited, and plentiful. We even see Donnie Yen perform a little drunken boxing. |
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