Ngai sing

Note: Check me out as the "Asian Movie Enthusiast" on YouTube, where I review tons of Asian movies.

Set in 1914 following the collapse of the Ching dynasty, the film tells the story of a group of villagers (lead by Lau Ching Wan and Eddie Peng) who stand up to a cruel young warlord's son (played by Louis Koo) who is protected by a Commander (played by Wu Jing) with proficient martial arts skills as well as a small army. Our main protagonist, the whip-wielding militia captain Yang (Lau Ching Wan's character) has guarded his remote hometown for years, and he alone now stands between the village and this ruthless band of troops who are loyal to the warlord who has been wreaking death and destruction in the region. One morning, the warlord's son saunters into the village and kills a few people, but is quickly captured and prepped for execution. But before the execution can commence, Wu Jing's character shows up and gives the village a deadline to either voluntarily release the warlord's son or face slaughter.

I found the premise interesting because the warlord's son is captured by the villagers very early on, forcing them to decide on whether or not they should execute him. This conflict is at the center of the film for basically the entire runtime – and it's not an easy decision when you put yourself in their place. And most fortunately, this film does take the time to establish the dramatic aspects of everything. "Call of Heroes" isn't just a brainless, dumb action movie. It actually has some character depth and builds anticipation for the action scenes.

It's also anchored by a very good cast, all of whom nail their characters and are fun to watch. Lau Ching Wan has been carrying movies in lead roles for ages, so he's just as reliable as he's always been. If you want some recommendations with him, I would point you to "Lost In Time", "Mad Detective", "The Longest Nite", and "A Hero Never Dies." Louis Koo – who I've covered a bunch of times already on this YouTube channel – is good as the slimy, sadistic bad guy, and his over-the-top performance works. Eddie Peng is an actor who I always enjoy seeing, and here he plays a character who really does not care about the villagers at first but eventually comes to their aid when he sees the injustices they must endure. Some other Eddie Peng titles I would recommend are "Unbeatable" and "To the Fore." And finally, Wu Jing is a convincing villain who is not purely evil like Louis Koo's character. On the contrary, Wu Jing's character simply has a warped set of principles and life philosophies. So it's nice to have four lead characters who are distinguishable from one another, and add something different to the story.

With regard to the action, it is of a good quality. It mostly showcases hand-to-hand combat that is impressive and spaced out nicely, with the finale representing the best set piece. I was particularly surprised that Eddie Peng moves very well for an actor without martial arts background. He has a convincing "fighting presence" that helps to sell the action. A lot of the fights have a hard-hitting, impactful feel to them. But I will say that there is some CGI that is used at times. For example, Lau Ching Wan's whip will occasionally be CGI'd. Also, the ending has one bigger CGI shot, which is a little distracting but I thought it was no big deal. Overall, I was definitely satisfied with the quality of action in this film.

So "Call of Heroes" is definite crowd-pleaser by director Benny Chan. And for some odd reason, I've seen Benny Chan's name before, but I never took the time to check out his filmography. Listen to this resume of highlights: Big Bullet (1996), Who Am I? (1998), Heroic Duo (2003), New Police Story (2004), Invisible Target (2007), Connected (2008), and Shaolin (2011). He's made some other stuff too, but he's contributed enough entertaining action movies to be given special consideration by me. Which means that I will be following him and looking forward to whatever he does next. One thing that I really like about Benny Chan's films – outside of the high octane action itself – is that he seems to have a knack for pacing action flicks. His movies flow very well and rarely feel bogged down or tedious. One reason for this is that he spaced out the action scenes throughout the runtime, but he's also good at showing the development of conflicts and characters enough to bridge the fights. As a viewer, you don't feel like you're just sitting around, waiting for the next action scene. And that's a good thing.

This is an interesting Martial arts movie in that it follows a tradition used by many Martial Arts producers to copy old Sergio Leone type movies.

The lone traveller enters a village where evil outsiders set out to destroy the town and kill many ordinary innocent people. A clash of good over evil where the town's folk eventually pull together to defeat their attackers.

It has all been done before and the irony is that Sergio Leone was himself copying from the early samurai movies when he produced his now famous spaghetti westerns. This movie very much copies that mould and even the background music is reminiscent of those old Sergio type westerns.

The story is good and the characters are interesting. However the evil of the Louis Koo character is shockingly evil and there are some unexpected moments. For me the weakness was the two friends (or were they brothers?) I just could not believe that one could go along with the unnecessary evil of the warlords son, but apart from that they were good characters.

The Martial arts was of a high standard, as you would expect with the great Sammo Hung directing the action scenes, and Ching Wan Lau was outstanding as the whip cracking Sheriff. Eddie Peng is very good in his Clint Eastwood role. All the other supporting characters were well acted and the Direction was excellent. There is some CGI but this is not overused as it is in many modern movies of this genre.

So over all not a bad Martial Arts movie.

The leading actors are splendid...but they don't want to fight like this...

With China's film industry in the throes of a CGI craze (think the most recent 'League of Gods'), it is almost refreshing to see a traditional martial arts blockbuster like 'Call of Heroes' that doesn't substitute the authenticity of real sets or props for computer-generated ones. That means the whip you see Lau Ching Wan crack on screen as the commander of a small group of guardians for the besieged city of Pucheng is every inch real, for which Lau went through a month of rigorous training to prepare for. It also means the city Pucheng where most of the action is set is also filmed against an actual set, which took its director Benny Chan almost five months to build. Even more comforting is the fact that Chan (who takes top screen writing credit here among four other co- writers) understands the importance of a good story and strong characters, and uses both to craft a compelling Western about justice and its enforcement.

Oh yes, lest it doesn't seem apparent from the grave expressions of its lead cast on the poster or its action-packed trailers, Chan has modelled his film firmly on the genre tropes of the classic Western. The opening scene establishes Eddie Peng's Ma Feng as the mysterious wanderer with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humour, awoken from his post-lunch stupor at a secluded diner by a stuttering bandit in the midst of robbing its owners as well as the other patrons. True enough, after the requisite character introduction to Lau's Sheriff Yang Kenan, Ma Feng rides into the town of Pucheng claiming to have no purpose other than follow wherever his horse (which he names 'Taiping' or 'world peace' in Chinese) takes him.

Though sequestered in a deep valley, Pucheng is under threat of invasion by a ruthless warlord Cao Ying, whose equally cold-blooded son General Cao Shaolun (Louis Koo) had mercilessly slaughtered the villagers where Miss Bai and her students had fled from and is preparing to repeat the deed. The army protecting their village has been called into battle with General Cao's men at the frontlines, leaving the security of Pucheng to Sheriff Yang and his band of guardians.

It is all but clear to Sheriff Yang that Shaolun – who rides into town alone at the crack of dawn and proceeds to kill three people in cold blood – intends to be caught, and is only playing on the minds of Pucheng's ordinary citizens as well as its law enforcement to see how far they would go to save their own skins. His general Zhang Yi (Wu Jing) interrupts his trial in open court to demand as much, with the ultimatum that he will lead their junior commandant Shaolun's army to invade the village and rescue him if he is not released by daybreak the very next morning.

To Sheriff Yang, the choice is clear – there can be no justice if it is not enforced – so threat or no threat, Shaolun will hang for his crimes. Yet after an attempted prison break led by two of General Zhang Yi's subordinates leaves two of Sheriff Yang's guardians dead, the villagers are left even more cowed by the threat of complete annihilation, turning up en masse to petition Sheriff Yang to release the prisoner in the hope of avoiding war. Therein lies Sheriff Yang's moral and professional dilemma as well as the movie's central theme – justice at what costs and to what extents – which is fleshed out poignantly thanks to Chan's compelling storytelling and his actor Lau's commanding multi-layered performance.

In the same vein, Ma Feng's choice will also be ethical – stay and defend Pucheng alongside Sheriff Yang or simply leave and let them fend by their own defences? Bearing in mind the titular call, it isn't hard to guess which Ma Feng eventually chooses, especially after we learn of his past with General Zhang Yi. That history also adds texture and depth to their one-on-one showdown at the end – more than just a battle of Eddie's twin swords and Wu Jing's spear, it is their 'brotherhood' which is also put to the test. That the clash between the two martial-arts trained actors bristles with ferocity and nail-biting tension is testament to Sammo Hung's action direction, which complements the robust character drama with four thrilling set- pieces.

As its title suggests, 'Call of Heroes' is a team effort where the whole is much bigger and better than the sum of its individual parts. Neither its story or the central theme is new, but Chan has fashioned a gripping period drama that reinforces the virtue of staying true to one's morals. As with his previous 'The White Storm', Chan's ensemble cast also deserves credit for the strength of their acting – and even Koo turns out a surprisingly inspired choice sneering and smarming as the heartless villain at the heart of the story. Like we said at the start, this is a refreshingly solid old-fashioned action-packed blockbuster that is also likely to be one of the best Chinese movies you'll see this year.

I liked the lead actors a lot. I thought they all did a good job, as opposed to the usual Chinese acting in movies in the genre. And I thought the basic concept of the film was great! There is this evil killer that just gets put in jail in the first part of the story, but then the fact that he is an important political figure starts to stir all kinds of things. It was almost a censure of the Chinese political system.

However, this is where the good things end. The plot was convoluted enough to never learn much about the individual characters, thus they are hard to empathize with. Time management isn't great either. Half of the movie happens in a day and the second is not clear, since a guy has time to travel with children to the capital and back and save the day. The kung-fu was minimal and still a bit too much. For example there is a scene where they destroy all munitions so that they have the opportunity to fight hand to hand.

Bottom line: it was enjoyable and I liked the underlying message, but the film was pretty bland.