Kap ba ba dik sung

Maybe Jet's most successful break from traditional hero to modern day action man, this isn't a classic in any means but does deliver a contemporary Li performance in keeping with his growing US following. The story doesn't take us anywhere new - Jet is an undercover cop set to bring down top criminal Yu Rong Guang and things get messy when the family becomes involved. Thankfully the moderate screen action demands top-drawer performances from its stars and delivers - of course wushu wonderkid Tze Mui, playing our hero's young son, is notably the best thing. Of the action, a nifty three-on-one near the end may require the odd rewind.

I was entertained when I saw this Jet Li film in a second hand theater. The story is a little melodramatic but the fight scenes are outstanding. Gei Ba Ba De Xin/My Father is a Hero(1995) was the first Jet Li movie that I ever saw. One of his last films from Hong Kong before heading for Hollywood. My Father is a Hero(1995) is an unusual Jet Li picture because it mixes gunplay with plenty of martial arts.

My favorite scene is the shootout at the restaurant. I hate the version released here as The Enforcer because of the English dubbing. The action scenes are aggressively directed by Corey Yuen(director of the visually splendid Saviour of the Soul{1992}). Jet Li shows that he's the closet there is to a successor to Bruce Lee. Anita Mui kicks butt as Inspector Fong Yat Wah.

Interesting mix of family drama, crime thriller and kung fu as Jet Li plays a mainland Chinese cop going undercover to infiltrate a robbery gang in Hong Kong. His young son has been told his dad is a wanted criminal, but the son continues to have faith in him. When Jet's wife dies, a female HK cop (played by Anita Mui) enters the mix and brings the son to Hong Kong. While the plot is fairly engaging, it sometimes slows down the action, which is not as extensive here as it is in so many of Jet Li's Hong Kong films. However, the boy (played by Tze Miu) is a kung fu champ himself and contributes some clever fight scenes including a confrontation with taunting classmates. There's one mind-boggling action scene involving a garbage dump and a garbage truck, which finds Anita scurrying up a tall iron gate, shooting the truck driver as the truck barrels towards her, leaping from the top of the gate through the smashed windshield and into the passenger's seat, and commandeering the truck, all without a scratch. The big action finale takes place on a large yacht where an auction of illegal Chinese treasures is underway and Jet takes on all three bad guys, played by the formidable trio of Yu Rong Guang (IRON MONKEY), Ngai Sing (THE BODYGUARD FROM BEIJING, KUNG FU CULT MASTER), and Ken Lo (DRUNKEN MASTER II). Here Jet uses his son in a most ingenious (and impossible) manner to defeat the bad guys.

This is one of my all time favourite Jet Li films, and I've seen all but 4 of them (that have been released anyways). I thought the plot was VERY good and the acting was top notch too. The fight scenes were very good and well...it was just amazing. Most importantly, an incredible rarity, it didn't have a kid who annoyed the hell out of me! Quite an impressive feat.

The general plot is quite standard: An undercover cop takes on one last dangerous assignment, relations involved, etc. There have been many, many films with the same type of plot.

However, this film manages to stand out on its own. The father-son combo of Jet Li and Tsu Miu works remarkably well (the 2nd time these two have been paired up). Anita Mui stars as a HK cop trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Throw in an over-acting (but still funny) villain (who incidentally played Iron Monkey), and we have an action-packed thriller to the end.

The emotional parts of the film may drag a bit, but it's not too excessive. Jet Li especially succeeds in this role... we can see the internal conflict and pains of emotion within. The scene where the villain tries to get his son to ID his undercover dad is very notable.

There may not be as much kung fu as most fans would like, but we do get to see Li wield a new type of weapon. Generally the kung fu serves to move the plot along, not to be specifically highlighted as the main attraction. That's okay, considering the movie is so well done....