Shanghai Hero - The Legend

HERO (Ma Yong Zhen)

Aspect ratio: 1.85:1

Sound format: Mono

Corey Yuen's period adventure HERO marked an impressive return to the action movie fold by Shaw Brothers, following a long period in which the studio had concentrated almost exclusively on TV production. A remake of the Chang Cheh classic BOXER FROM SHANTUNG (1972), HERO follows the adventures of a courageous country boy (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who flees rural poverty and relocates to Shanghai circa 1911, where his impressive fighting skills bring him to the attention of a benevolent gangster (Yuen Biao) who agrees to mentor him. Thus emboldened, Kaneshiro rises through the ranks of the criminal underworld, until he's challenged by a powerful rival (Yuen Tak) who plots against him. Tragedy ensues.

The concept is old-fashioned, but director Yuen energizes proceedings with New Wave fervor, employing thousands of extras in a bid to recreate the majesty of old Shanghai, whilst filming the combat sequences in a defiantly modern manner, pitting hordes of axe-wielding assailants against lone protagonists who are forced to use acrobatic manoeuvres and everyday objects to fend off a potentially horrific death. Yuen's script (co-written with Kay On) is eventful and melodramatic, and the sweeping visuals (by cinematographer Tom Lau) are further highlighted by a sumptuous music score, co-written by William Hu, Raymond Wong and Lincoln Lo. But while the film delivers on action and spectacle, it fails to establish the characters as anything more than stock figures, which essentially limits the narrative's dramatic impact. For all that, however, the performances are uniformly excellent, and HERO's all-star cast is divided squarely into the beautiful (Kaneshiro, Valerie Chow, Jessica Hester), the bold (Yuen Biao at his most virtuous), and the beastly (Yuen Tak as the villain, lacking only a top hat, cloak and twirly moustache).

NB. Shot in mainland China, the film was consequently subject to strict Chinese censorship laws which curtailed some of the gorier violence (a Shaw Brothers trademark). These scenes weren't restored for the HK theatrical/video release, though a more complete version turned up later on DVD in the UK.

(Cantonese dialogue)

Well it was kind of surprising watching heartthrob Takeshi Kaneshiro performing martial arts,which he did a decent job of.But it was still a great movie on the aspect of the rags to riches story gangster martial arts style.The movie could of been better if there were more intricate martial arts sequences,along with Yuen Biao showing sexy Takeshi Kaneshiro some new moves.Also,as charming as Takeshi Kaneshiro always is.He just wore too much clothing in this movie.This movie also comes with some little nice twists to the plot,along with a great emotional action packed climax.It was'nt a 10,but the drama,martial arts action,especially towards the end,& humor won it an 8.

This movie (German title:"Shanghai Hero") is one of the best HK- movies I´ve seen for a long time. It has cool fighting action a clear plot and dramatic and funny moments. It has everything a good HK-movie needs. I mean there is nothing bad or ridiculous about this movie. I will give that movie 8 1/2 stars.

With a better script and thought this could have been a great film. The cinematography is good and the set designs excellent but the plot and script let it down. Yuen was getting older here but still has some good moves and can act, unlike many of the others including Kaneshiro. But Yuen Tak can fight if way over the top in his villain role. The rest of the characters are not memorable but several of the set piece fights are good.

There is a terrific fight between Kaneshiro and Yuen early in the picture, one of the best I've ever seen, and nothing that follows it can quite match up to it (not even that hilarious anachronistic snippet near the end); it also eventually overdoses on violence for no good reason, in my opinion, but the whole film still makes for an involving experience. The audience I saw it with just loved it.