Just Heroes

Just got done watching Just Heroes (1989) and it was a blast. Yeah it's not as great as The Killer (1989), but I never expected the movie to do that.

Positives for Just Heroes (1989): The movie's premise is a very interesting one in that there's also a mystery as who the main villain could be. It was also great to see Danny Lee in his second straight John Woo Movie after The Killer (1989) and of course he is excellent in this movie. The action sequences and shootouts are spectacular in this movie.

Negatives for Just Heroes (1989): The movie isn't as engaging or emotional as The Killer (1989) but then again that's a hard movie to follow up.

Overall, Just Heroes is yet anothr fantastic movie in John Woo's filmography.

John Woo gangster pic that involved the direction of a couple other people including Ma Wu and Danny Lee. Really the last Triad picture John Woo would do in his career because for one, The Killer is a hitman portrait film. Also, Bullet in the Head uses different genres to move the story along. Even Hard-Boiled which includes a triad gang war is a film that is looking from the outside. Yi Dan Qun Ying/Just Heroes(1987) is the last film for John Woo that focused on the insides and mentality of the triad organize crime society.

Closer in plot to Rich & Famous(1987) than the A Better Tomorrow films by John Woo. Very good action crime flick by John Woo that although flawed is much better than his Hollywood films of Broken Arrow(1996) and Mission:Impossible 2(2000). Suffers from some of the same flaws that was apparent in Heroes Shed no Tears(1985). Includes inconsistency in story, acting, and direction. Still Just Heroes(1987) is a worthwhile John Woo pic because of the excellent action set pieces.

Does bog down during the dramatic scenes but only in small doses. I find it interesting to see people who are supposedly close start setting up affinities with whoever will be the new boss of the gang. Deals with a gang war that begins after the elder boss abdicates his position of power due to being assassinated. The opening of Just Heroes(1987) sets the tone for what will happen for the rest of the film. Just Heroes(1987) is a Triad take on the King Lear story although not as grandeaur or magnificent as Akira Kurosawa's treatment of the same subject in Ran(1985).

At certain times the film becomes a satire of A Better Tomorrow(1986) and A Better Tomorrow 2(1987). In fact I feel that some of the ideas used in Just Heroes are left over from ABT and ABT2. One of the characters who is a protege of Wai(triad turned fisherman) fantasizes about being like Mark Gor from A Better Tomorrow(1986). He even recites some of Chow Yun Fat's famous lines from John Woo's breakthrough motion picture. The best parody is when the young man puts hand guns in flower pots just like Mark Gor during the resturant shootout in ABT.

A rare dramatic role for Hong Kong Comedy king, Stephen Chow who passes with flying colors. The main characters in Just Heroes(1987) like in the director's post ABT and pre Hollywood films are looking for spirital ablution in order to start anew. One of the few times in a Hong Kong film where Danny Lee does not portray a Police officer. The version of Just Heroes(1987) on video is missing the scene where before the ex-girlfriend of Wai dies she whispers to him of who is responsible for the death of the gang's late boss. Yi Dan Qun Ying/Just Heroes(1987) contains an awesome gunbattle that is one of John Woo's best in one of his HK films.

Yi Dan Qun Ying/Just Heroes(1987) is a very good action flick with tones of King Lear. Just Heroes(1987) was done between A Better Tomorrow 2(1987) and The Killer(1989). The film is really a parody of A Better Tomorrow 1&2. There is a character in the film who likes to recite lines by Mark of A Better Tomorrow(1986). John Woo even pokes fun at the famous guns in the flower pot scene by using it again.

This was one of two films that Danny Lee did not appear as a Police Officer(the other being City on Fire). The film opens and ends with some excellent gun play. Its about members of a Mob gang who scamble for control after the head is assassinated. Danny Lee is very good in the role of the confused Sou. John Chiang is good as the idealistic Wai.

Although not as brilliant as the best of John Woo, its still superior to three out of four films that he has done in the USA. Just Heroes is notable for the early appearence of Comedian Stephen Chow in a dramatic role. Deals with the themes of honor and loyalty. The movie shows that there are differences between the fantasied and reality of life as a Triad. Ti Lung has a short cameo that ties Just Heroes(1987) to the two A Better Tomorrow films.

Just Heroes(1987) has a lot in common with the similarly themed epic Tragic Hero(1987). Woman have a much bigger role here that is unusual in a John Woo film. More than one person directed this feature film. One of my favorite scenes is the flashback sequence with the gun battle. Another favorite scene is the shoot out at the deserted mine.

The movie that Chang Cheh's disciples, John Woo, Wu Ma, and a host of others, put together to help their master ease the debts. Everywhere on the net I see all these people complaining about the film. After I watched it, I don't see why people would hate this, unless you're a diehard John Woo fanatic/macho person. Yes, women have a more prominent role in this film! They have an impact on the plot! They aren't just flower vases! "Just Heroes" (or "Tragic Heroes" if you like) borrows sections of "The Godfather", complete with the intrigue. Only complaint that I have is that the ending was a little rushed, which is to be expected since they were pressed for time, and at times the storyline pulls in all sorts of directions, but the gunfights were some of the best I have seen. The deconstruction of heroism was great, with the last few minutes powerfully hitting the mark. Great work for a film that was put together in a few weeks.

The crime business gets an even more banalizing makeover in this John Woo blowout than it does in the beige-suit-and-silver-tie-clip yakuza world of Takeshi Kitano's gangland melodramas. Reportedly thrown together in haste, this web of intrigues in a most routinely businesslike mob world has it all: tippling molls, Kun Opera, quadruple-crosses, buckets of Wooian sentimentality, and world-class, state-of-the-art action choreography. Woo learned from the masters Walter Hill and Sam Peckinpah and did them one better: nobody on this earth, except Steven Spielberg on a good day, understands the ballet of gunmen and camera like Woo. It's become a cliche, but it's true, and this underrated movie proves it: Woo raised the bar and then hurtled over it. He's the tops.