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| HERO. Starring - Kaneshiro Takeshi - Yuen Biao - Hsun Jessica Hester - Chow Kar Ling. Director - Corey Yuen. 1997. 1898 – Two brothers Ma Wing Jing and Ma Tan Cheung escape the Shantung droughts and head to Shanghai to earn a living. They arrive to find the city at it’s most turbulent as Triads fight for control of the major territories. The main Triad gangs are those of Tam See who is supported by the British leaseholders of Shanghai and his bitter rival Yang Shuang who is supported by the local police force. After arriving in Shanghai the brothers are soon noticed by Tam See who immediately tests Wing Jing’s resolve. He soon learns that not only is Wing Jing adept in martial arts, he is also an honourable and proud man after he declines Tam Sees’ help in forging a name for himself in Shanghai. Within a short time Ma Wing Jing also arouses the attention of Yang Shuang after defeating his henchmen the ‘Four Axe Kings’, during a brawl to capture the notorious club Spring from the hands of Tam See. Once again ma Wing Jing declines any reward from Tam See, preferring instead to make his own fate and to capture his own territories. Amidst the mayhem Wing Jing falls for Kim the beautiful singer from the club Spring but she is left heartbroken after a rendezvous with Wing Jing goes pear shaped when he and his brother are arrested as robbers whilst waiting for her. During their time in the police station Wing Jing learns of a plot by Yang Shuang and his backers the police to kill Tam See and his men. Only he can help Tam See but how will he get to him and how will he mend Kim’s broken heart? I have tried to condense the plot as much as possible for this review, so if you feel I have left some key elements out then don’t worry I just didn’t want you the reader getting bored too quickly ;) Anyway, Hero is an interesting movie focussing on three men and a manipulative woman’s attempts at controlling Shanghai all assisted by both the corrupt local police force and the greedy British leaseholders who serve no purpose other than to stir things up that bit more. The bitter feud is intriguing and compelling with twists and turns all over the place keeping the viewer glued to their seats throughout. It was good to see Yuen Biao playing a bad/good guy for once and he pulls it off with little effort, looking more and more menacing as the story progresses. Kaneshiro (eye candy) Takeshi also plays his role as the overly ambitious Ma Wing Jing with ease and is obviously well suited to this kind of role. Valerie Chow is the only other really noteworthy cast member pulling off the manipulative Yam Yeung Tien , however her make up after the slashing sequence is diabolical. The action is basically a mix of gunplay and martial arts with some interesting fight scenes thrown up especially the laughable initial Tam See / Ma Wing Jing horse fight scene, the fighting is great but the stuffed horses head is so apparent it totally ruins the sequence. The rest of the fights are better with an amazing end sequence spoiled only by the horrendous editing, in which we see the fluidity of the fight suddenly seem to skip about a hundred frames. Why? I have no idea, as the HK censors generally let anything through, but for some reason deemed it necessary to cut the throat slash sequence entirely, if you watch very slowly in slo-mo you can just catch the beginning of the segment. Corey Yuen has delivered a well-shot and well-scripted story that is ultimately let down by bad FX and shoddy editing. Shame really, as this could have well been a fantastic movie, but as it stands is only just above average. 7*******stars. |
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