Violência Máxima

Review: The first thing that I noticed with this movie, is how dated it looked, and the soundtrack was pretty awful. I also didn't like the narrating right at the beginning of the film because I found it a cheap way to get the movie going. Apart from that, I enjoyed the whole gangster element of the film and the brutal baddie Yung (Alex Man), who basically went on a killing spree to get to the top, was great. Chow Yun-Fat's character, Lee Ah-chai, was always great and when he teamed up with Kwok (Andy Lau), near the end, they really worked well together. I must admit, the action scenes were way over the top and the amount of times that people were getting shot, before they died, was ridiculous but it's still a watchable, old school gangster movie which does have its good points. I just wished that I saw the first movie, Richard & Famous, before I watched this one! Watchable!

Round-Up: This movie was directed by Taylor Wong, who has made 22 movies for the Oriental market but his Rich and Famous franchise has to be his best movies to date. He definitely got the most out of the actors/actresses but the whole dated look of the movie, let it down for audiences who watch it today. 

Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: HK $19million

I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/crime/dramas starring Chow Yun-Fat, Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Danny Lee, Alex Man and Siu-Fung Wong. 5/10

Pacing was too fast, Exposition dump didn't help and things were just all over the place. Its one of those times where over the top didn't impress me. The deaths of people who were significant to the main character felt of that vain too. I didn't care a single bit.

Judging by the title I thought I was gonna have another tear-jerking but action masterpiece like The Killer, which is something that is far incomparable to this underwhelming film.

Hong Kong director Taylor Wong's Tragic Hero (1987) is a sequel to his Rich and Famous (also 1987), and these both films belong to the same masterful category as John Woo's A Better Tomorrow series (1986 and 1987) for example. They are convincing heroic bloodshed dramas that are not interested at all in the usual HK slapstick humor and really want and try to develop the characters to become as multi leveled and real as the ones in Woo's films and other non-commercial and deeply personal films from Hong Kong.

This pharagraph may spoil Rich and Famous a little! Tragic Hero continues where Rich and Famous left. Chow Yun Fat's gangster boss Chai tries to live peacefully with his wife and son but as the opening credit text tells it is not easy when one's past is like Chow's and the ghosts and enemies from your past life will haunt you more or less. The betraying and evil rival gangster boss Yung is played by Alex Man and his righteous brother by Andy Lau. Originally all three were brothers but at the end of the earlier film, Yung betrayed the other two and so Chow and Lau remained together. Yung is still as selfish and violent as he used to be and it all leads to the explosive conclusion that is close to, believe it or not, the finale in Woo's incredible A Better Tomorrow 2 (1987).

Tragic Hero is a more noteworthy in many levels than its predecessor. It has some wonderful dramatic scenes that are usually lacking almost or completely in HK films like these as most films are only interested in action and furious gun fights. In Tragic Hero, the protagonist is Chow and his family suffers a lot because of his criminal (past) life and there is one very great scene involving Chow and his wife and how they express each others' feelings on screen before the dramatic incident. This is something one wouldn't expect to find from many films of the genre and it is so great they wanted to make this film drama as much as action. The other characters are also well written, especially the wicked Yung and his bad and selfish relations to his relatives and friends. Tragic Hero, like Rich and Famous, is written by Stephen Shiu and veteran Manfred Wong the latter having written also such HK classics like Ching Siu Tung's wonderful wuxia tale Duel to the Death (1983) and Lam Nai Choi's seriously demented and ultra violent Killer's Nocturn (1987) to name just a few.

Violence is again very sudden and perhaps even more brutal than in Rich and Famous. The way the film makers show how criminal life does not pay and will not work is very merciless and occasionally reminds also of the work of other directors depicting same themes like Takeshi Kitano and John Woo. Everyone is exposed to violence and it will hurt and destroy the "good" as well as the "bad" everytime it's being used. The mentioned final massacre at the gangster boss' house is pretty close to the finale in Woo's Tomorrow 2 but still doesn't reach its surreal atmosphere and completely over the top mayhem. The action is pretty breathtaking in Tragic Hero and it all looks as great as it does in the greatest efforts of the genre. Other Hong Kong action maestros like Kirk Wong and Ringo Lam have a very noteworthy colleaque in the form of Taylor Wong.

Chan Wing Leung's soundtrack is also surprisingly effective and adds to the dramatism of the scenes. It may sound occasionally a little like Ennio Morricone's music in Sergio Leone's masterpiece Once Upon a Time in America (1984) but still it has enough originality and heart to impress. Tragic Hero like Rich and Famous are both gangster films depicting big bosses, their servants, friends and their relations but still I don't think these films (nor the other original and thus noteworthy HK action dramas) copy or imitate Western films, like Francis Coppola's The Godfather saga, of the same genre at all. It is obvious Rich and Famous and Tragic Hero both came straight from the heart and that's why they are so serious, lack the unnecessary humor and happy endings and are so noteworthy as pieces of cinema.

The film has also some very clever details and ideas in storytelling like most of the assassination scenes and how they don't necessarily involve words at all: just eyes and faces to make the scenes in their silence very powerful and close to the master of silence, Takeshi Kitano. Some of the plot turns may not make too much sense like the capturing of Chow's character at one point and how it ends up. Also, at the end a dramatic and violent thing happens to Chow's most beloved ones and emotional effects of this incident should have been depicted a little more carefully in my opinion. Now it feels a little like they just wanted to get to the spectacular final action scene as fast as possible. Still the ending is very powerful, furious and extremely infernal heroic bloodshed finale and it may have the answer to my above complaint, too, if interpreted very carefully and with subsequent viewings.

Tragic Hero is very close to the greatest things HK cinema has to offer. Strong drama, incredible action and honest depiction of things in our world like violence and bad and evil thoughts inside people's minds and towards other people. No entertaining characters or calculating and commercially potential endings to make things lighter and harmless, just honest cinema. 7/10

"Black Vengeance" is an alternate title for "Ying hung ho hon" AKA "Tragic Hero" (1987). I have just seen this on VHS, together with the first part of the story, "Gong woo ching" ("Rich and Famous"), also 1987. (The poster and 2 stills featured on the page are for a 4-DVD set of movies starring Rod Perry (The Black Gestapo), Fred Williamson (Black Cobra 2), Richard Lawson (Black Fist). The fourth movie is called "The Black Six"). Strangely, while the characters retain their original names in "Rich and Famous", in "Black Vengeance" Chow Yun-Fat's character is named Eddie Shaw, Alex Man (Man Tze Leung) is Harry, and Andy Lau is called Johnny. Also confusing is the fact that 1994 is given as the copyright dates on both films. Perhaps that was the year they were American-dubbed. According to the release dates given on IMDb "Tragic Hero" was released before "Rich and Famous". Was there any reason for releasing the sequel first? Despite some users' comments, I enjoyed these films, although they aren't among CYF's best such as "The Killer" and "Hard-Boiled" which are truly astonishing. However,if one day I come across a 2-DVD set of "Rich and Famous" and "Tragic Hero" I won't hesitate to buy it. Hopefully, these comments about "Black Vengeance" clear up, which was also for me, a mystery as to where it belonged in Chow Yun-Fat's filmography.

Chow Yun-Fat stars in Tragic Hero, which is a reason to see the movie. However, Tragic Hero is nothing special, when compared to classics like The Killer and Hard Boiled. Chow Yun-Fat acts cool as always, and the action is nicely shot. You could say that Tragic Hero is a mix of The Godfather and The Killer. Tragic Hero is definetly worth a go, if you are a fan of Hongkong action movies. There are lots of worse movies than this. 6,5/10