I've often flitted between ratings for this late turn-of-the-century kung fu drama based of one of my favourite comic books, The Blood Sword. It's nothing massive - just that sometimes I am entertained more by it than at other times. However, with this review I guess I need to settle on something...
Created by Ma Wing Shing, acclaimed director Andrew Lau brings a very lavish and very large scale adaptation to the screen, with a Hong Kong cast to make anyone want to see it. At the time, it also harked the big screen return of a certain Yuen Biao (which got my attention)!
The highest grossing Hong Kong movie upon it's release, A Man Called Hero is beautifully filmed in a classic Hollywood way, and is huge on sets and characters, with no expenses spared on production values. The follow-up to Lau's own Storm Riders (another Ma Wing Shing adaptation from the same studio), the visual effects were the dogs balls at its time of release in terms of Hong Kong movie standards. And while they do the job in bringing Shing's comic book to life, they just haven't dated well considering.
Ekin Cheng is great as Hero, getting plenty of action and drama to play with and is joined by a few of his Young & Dangerous co-stars (also from Andrew Lau). The handsome Nic Tse plays his son, who comes about a lot of years later when his father is in-hiding in the US after killing a Westerner for murdering his parents...
Understandable I guess! This in turn leads to Nic and Jerry Lam heading to the States to find him, and a host of flashbacks that tell Hero's own story of his life there.
Although he has a prominent role, Biao's character unfortunately doesn't get the acrobatic, fast kicking, fight scenes we all love seeing when he is in action. Don't get me wrong - I still enjoyed seeing him move, but the overall choreography and editing seemed to hinder his return for me. It was nice, however, to see him return in full Peking Opera gear for an action scene that looked great (towards the end of the film).
Fight director and actor, Dion Lam, plays one of my favourite characters from the comic, Shadow, a masked fighter with no arms who uses his ponytail with deadly precision! Action star Mark Cheng leads an odd group of (ninja inspired) Japanese assassins, which also include the super cute Shu Qi, as well as Sam Lee, who conspire with the great Elvis Tsui to kill Hero Hua!
While the action isn't terrible, it just didn't have enough 'oompf' for me. In a time where we are spoilt with big-screen comic book movies, its all about impact and hard action - but this didn't have it. If the fight scenes had have been under the control of Sammo Hung, I reckon that would have worked. Director Andrew Lau is all about the cinematography and drama, which works fantastically, but I guess I just wanted more.
Kudo's though to the end battle on the Statue of Liberty between Ekin Cheng and Francis Ng, that makes the X-Men finale seem boring...
Overall: Drama heavy, this comic book action film visually impresses and pleases as a fan of the original material..!
Created by Ma Wing Shing, acclaimed director Andrew Lau brings a very lavish and very large scale adaptation to the screen, with a Hong Kong cast to make anyone want to see it. At the time, it also harked the big screen return of a certain Yuen Biao (which got my attention)!
The highest grossing Hong Kong movie upon it's release, A Man Called Hero is beautifully filmed in a classic Hollywood way, and is huge on sets and characters, with no expenses spared on production values. The follow-up to Lau's own Storm Riders (another Ma Wing Shing adaptation from the same studio), the visual effects were the dogs balls at its time of release in terms of Hong Kong movie standards. And while they do the job in bringing Shing's comic book to life, they just haven't dated well considering.
Ekin Cheng is great as Hero, getting plenty of action and drama to play with and is joined by a few of his Young & Dangerous co-stars (also from Andrew Lau). The handsome Nic Tse plays his son, who comes about a lot of years later when his father is in-hiding in the US after killing a Westerner for murdering his parents...
Understandable I guess! This in turn leads to Nic and Jerry Lam heading to the States to find him, and a host of flashbacks that tell Hero's own story of his life there.
Although he has a prominent role, Biao's character unfortunately doesn't get the acrobatic, fast kicking, fight scenes we all love seeing when he is in action. Don't get me wrong - I still enjoyed seeing him move, but the overall choreography and editing seemed to hinder his return for me. It was nice, however, to see him return in full Peking Opera gear for an action scene that looked great (towards the end of the film).
Fight director and actor, Dion Lam, plays one of my favourite characters from the comic, Shadow, a masked fighter with no arms who uses his ponytail with deadly precision! Action star Mark Cheng leads an odd group of (ninja inspired) Japanese assassins, which also include the super cute Shu Qi, as well as Sam Lee, who conspire with the great Elvis Tsui to kill Hero Hua!
While the action isn't terrible, it just didn't have enough 'oompf' for me. In a time where we are spoilt with big-screen comic book movies, its all about impact and hard action - but this didn't have it. If the fight scenes had have been under the control of Sammo Hung, I reckon that would have worked. Director Andrew Lau is all about the cinematography and drama, which works fantastically, but I guess I just wanted more.
Kudo's though to the end battle on the Statue of Liberty between Ekin Cheng and Francis Ng, that makes the X-Men finale seem boring...
Overall: Drama heavy, this comic book action film visually impresses and pleases as a fan of the original material..!