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.

Wang Kar Wai Present's...it's absurdly funny, especially after just having watched "Chungking Express" and "In The Mood For Love", because a lot of the same actors, are here at their most ridiculously over the top.

The first scene, is like Kill Bill on a Bollywood stage, and one of the best fight sequences, anywhere in general. Outside of the lightning fast camera moves, and garish bright colors oozing with 70's Kung Fu Fantasy nostalgia, there's a very Stephen Chow type rhythm kept between slapstick gags and zany skits, and flying feet and fists.

The movie does slow down a bit, as it starts mixing together a diverse array of characters and stories, a prince trying to achieve immortality by meeting his true love, a ruthless villain who can't kill a suicide beggar, as a favor, no matter how much the beggar begs, without injuring himself , a cross dressing Kung Fu master determined to avenge her lover or find someone with suitable "pecks" to substitute, and then there's a an ape and a dinosaur in a cave (the worst movie monsters since Ed Wood), which are there because....

It's fun, and immaculately casted. But a bit of a drag of times. It's hard not to smile at the silliness of it all though. Still, Wang Kar Wai and his crazy friends, are alright by me.

It's a rainbow Sake shot of Hong Kong screwball fury, with flying boots and invincible killer bees.

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.

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.

There is a wind that blows and all the good things grow with it. After the wind is gone, the good things turn back and never come any good things alike again.

So this film is from a wind that was blowing during that span of years in Hong Kong, never again you would be able to see those director, actors, screen writers, dress designers, stunt man so passionate and joyfully getting involved for fun, for imagination, for successful results.

The same name, even same director had shot anther one with the same Chinese name in 2011. It's rated very low in IMDb and it's rated like 3 in a Chinese review site. You can see how people hated it because the lack of dedication of the actors, the ridiculous taking-audience-as-a-fool jokes and random involvements of all the celebrities from musical industries into the acting business and they are naively thinking themselves that they are doing a good job. It's a shame, as simple as it is.

But this film has stars in it, real stars. Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung, Carina Lau Brigitte Lin, Jacky Cheung...I just can't name them all here. The director is the same director who 2 years later directed the 2-squeal films (A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box, A Chinese Odyssey Part Two - Cinderella) which turns to absolute classic now and ever and make Stephen Chow an iconic star as well.

The Mandarin voice-over done by Taiwan people is superb so if you are learning mandarin, it's top Mandarin. Originally it's Cantonese.

If you like Gongfu movie, this one is a blast. It's fine nice delicate cut between a flying Gong Fu super power guy and gravity still making sense here. It's a blessing in the 90s when computer is not good enough to make all the digital stuff. I personally prefer a stunt man than GC effect, it's real fake, not fake fake.

Again, the wind was there and people had no intention for fame and fortune because there is none, they made a laugh and take great joy about what they did - this film.