Hua! Ying xiong

Oddly enough, then I actually never got around to watch the 1992 movie "What a Hero" (aka "Hua! Ying xiong") before now in 2021, especially odd since I am big fan of Maggie Cheung. But I had the opportunity to get to sit down to watch it in 2021, so of course I jumped at the chance. Needless to explain why.

And first of all, I must say that I was surprised at the sheer amount of famous Hong Kong actors and actresses they had managed to get together for this 1992 movie. The movie was starring Andy Lau, so you know that chances are high that you are in for something watchable. But the movie also had the likes of Maggie Cheung, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Paul Chun, Meg Lam, Nick Cheung, Fui-On Shing, Roy Cheung and Michael Wai-Man Chan on the cast list. So if you are familiar with the Hong Kong cinema, then you are most certainly in for a treat.

Now, the movie was watchable, sure. But this was hardly a grand moment in Hong Kong cinema. The storyline, given the fact that this is an action comedy, was as to be expected. It was all over the place, and it was actually a bit difficult to find the main focus of the storyline. So writers Dung Hoh and Jeffrey Lau weren't exactly delivering gold here.

"What a Hero" is a stereotypical and generic action comedy from the early 1990s as they were back in the day of Hong Kong cinema. So if you are familiar with that era and style of movies, you know what you are getting yourself into here.

While I sat through the entire movie, I can honestly say that this is hardly a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time, because the storyline just didn't prove all that interesting.

My rating of "What a Hero" lands on a very mediocre five out of ten stars.