Se diu ying hung: Dung sing sai jau

It should be well established that Hong Kong's martial arts movies are usually excuses to show off a series of stunts and gags. Always enjoyable. However, I don't know if any of these movies has been as over-the-top as Jeffrey Lau's "Se diu ying hung: Dung sing sai jau" ("The Eagle Shooting Heroes" in English). This is truly one of the wackiest, insanest movies that I've ever sat through. In addition to the stunts, it simply has the most bonkers plot ever. They just throw in one thing after another. Seriously, it's like they mixed Looney Tunes cartoons with Chinese mythology, and then went with a throw-anything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks plot.

And I loved every second of it. Movies like this are what makes life worth living. I'll have to see more of Lau's movies. I hope that they're as fun as this one.

This movies is best viewed as a series of sketches with a loose background story. I'd previously watched it on VHS but I think somebody borrowed and never returned it as it has gone missing. I finally got the DVD version and watched it today. It's a no frills DVD - looks like it's been transferred straight from video.

Anyway, it is as funny as it was the first time round. I had such a stomach ache from laughing so hard and I could feel the tears welling up.

The most memorable 'sketches' are: Jacky Cheung vs Tony Leung in the forest (this one is long and just hilarious from beginning to end) and the dancing and singing number with Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung Ka Fai. There are other funny moments throughout but if you get the humour, then these two scenes will kill you. The 4 above mentioned actors give the funniest perfomance.

One thing that has to be said is that I watched a Cantonese version which had Chinese and English subtitles. If these English subtitles are the only translation available then I feel sorry for anyone watching with those as they are truly dreadful. Some of the lines are literally translated (resulting in nonsense) and others, I have no clue what script they are translating from. Shame really, as the delivery of some of the lines is just too funny, especially from Tony and Jacky. Brigitte Lin has also got to be the most beautiful woman in the film and Leslie is cute, cute, cute.

The only weakest link to me was Veronica Yip who's popularity at the time had recently risen due to baring all in some movie or other. Hence her appearing in a movie with all these huge stars. I have no complaints with the other actors. Carina Lau is one of my favourite actresses. She does a good job albeit in a slightly kooky role. A lot of overacting at times but it's goes with the spirit of the film - it's just for fun and I sure had a lot of it from watching.

8/10, mostly for the laughs.

A really fun filled comedy Wuxia movie starring almost every Big Titan of the Hong kong cinema in the 80's and '90s. A really fun movie with good slapstick humour and gags which will surely bring smile to your face. If you are familiar with the great Names in the cast and have seen their other works, seeing them together to make a fun movie together after the intense work on "Ashes of Time" will surely be a pleasing experience for you. The plot is somewhat simple yet bizarre and has good colourful shots which pleases you. It is a fun filled ride and you should definately give it a watch fan or not of hongkong cinema as this film surely help you be one.

There's "anything goes" and there's "Eagle Shooting Heros". About as unhinged as HK style comedy can get. Shot during a lull in shooting Wong Kar Wai's "Ashes of Time", this film seems partially improvised on the spot.

There's some sort of plot but it's really an excuse for the stars to run about in crazy "Persian" costumes or to cross-dress. Explosion kung fu, a gorilla, a 6 ft. talking bird, a floating head, flying boots, time-reversing kung fu, a soccer match and lots of unrestrained wire fu. It begins crazy, stays crazy and ends crazy.

Does it work? The actors are having fun and that rubs off on the viewer, however I found the film's lack of a real structure tiresome. The scenes comes off more like elaborate TV skits. Lots of obscure HK film references might bore the average viewer. But to the film's credit every time I was losing interest they do something so silly I was laughing again. The energy is so high that the hit and miss nature of the whole production isn't much of a problem. The martial arts are done for comedy's sake and are really sped up.

This is one of the most extreme examples of wacky HK comedy. Not used to HK comedy? You might be advised to skip this one at first. Or get ready to watch it over the course of several viewings because it can be exhausting to watch.

For some odd reason, then I've actually never watched the 1993 movie "Se Diu Ying Hung: Dung Sing Sai Jau" (aka "The Eagle Shooting Heroes") before now in 2025. And it is not because I didn't know that the movie existed, and I even had a DVD version of it laying around since around the mid-2000s. But I just never got around to watching it, which is odd as I am a big fan of Maggie Cheung.

But 2025 would be the year that I finally got around to sit down and watch what director Jeffrey Lau had to offer. Maybe I had been missing out on a great action comedy in Hong Kong cinema here.

While I have indeed not read Louis Cha's novel, upon which the movie was based, then I must say that writers Louis Cha and Jeffrey Lau certainly put together and enjoyable and funny script and storyline. The movie doesn't take itself particularly serious, and you have to sit down to watch this with a very open mind and be prepared for an abundance of silly scenes.

I have to say that I am overwhelmed by the sheer amount of acting talents that starred in the movie. This was most definitely a treat for any fan of the Hong Kong cinema. Sure, I knew that the movie had Maggie Cheung in it, but I wasn't aware that talents such as Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Brigitte Lin, Tony Ka Fai Leung, Jacky Cheung, Carina Lau, Joey Wang, Veronica Yip and Kenny Bee was also starring in the movie. The sheer amount of great performers on the cast list really took me by surprise. Needless to say that the acting performances were good.

My rating of director Jeffrey Lau's 1993 movie "Se Diu Ying Hung: Dung Sing Sai Jau" lands on a six out of ten stars.