La légende des héros

'Magnificent Warriors (1987)' should, in theory, be an absolute blast. With almost wall-to-wall action that's as well-choreographed as you could hope, Michelle Yeoh in the leading role as an Indiana Jones homage, and a story that escalates from a small-scale weapons deal to a larger conflict concerning a city's resistance against the Japanese military, there's very little that outright doesn't work about the picture. However, I found it very difficult to remained engaged with it. I felt a disconnect between what I was seeing and what I was feeling, constantly aware that I should be really enjoying almost everything on screen but never quite being able to do so. Perhaps that's due to the fact that I was very tired when I watched it, or perhaps it's due to some underlying issue that's hard to pinpoint but has a distinct impact nevertheless. Either way, the result is an affair that's enjoyable yet not particularly compelling. It doesn't help that the flick has a somewhat odd pacing that makes its final third feel far longer than it actually is, slowing the relatively breezy feature down just enough that you're surprised when you instinctively check the clock and see there's still quite a lot left. The movie is well-made in most of the ways that really matter, and its star is as superb as ever as she kicks butt and takes names (and even uses a whip), but I don't enjoy it as much as I feel I ought to. It's strange to feel as though you don't like a particular movie because of your state of mind, as it calls into question any criticisms you have of the affair. However, if the feature was more engaging and - to a lesser yet still significant degree - exciting, it surely would have inspired me to sit up in my seat and pay more attention to it. It probably doesn't help that the audio was awful in the version I saw; whoever mixed it clearly wanted to avoid the common mistake of having people turning the sound up to hear the dialogue only for their ears to get blown out by the explosions and gunfire that follows it, but they clumsily compress each and every action-related sound effect so that they pop less than any of the speaking and it's just really weird to listen to. Ultimately, this is a decent - if fairly unremarkable - action flick with some flat-out fantastic set-pieces but an overarching sense that nothing is as impactful as it ought to be. Still, even at its least compelling, it's an entertaining experience that isn't likely to disappoint genre fans too much.

Michelle Yeoh is a daring adventurer, singlehandedly destroying a village of men who try to cheat her of twenty tael (although she uses a lot of footwork), and flying her yellow biplane around to win aerial combat against a Japanese fighter plane; this is during the Second World War. Her grandfather sends her on a mission to rescue Prince Youda of a city where the Japanese wish to set up a poison gas factory. She mistakes wanderer and con man Richard Ng for the agent she is supposed to meet, but soon settles out that it is actually Tung-Shing Yee. Meanwhile, Chindy Lau is in love with the timid Youda, played by Lowell Lo. When Lo refuses to order the deaths of the three leads, Miss Lau rouses the people of the city to revolt against the Japanese. This results in a big battle in which it looks like a company of mortar men and ninjas attack Fort Zinderneuf from THE LAST REMAKE OF BEAU GESTE.

Miss Yeoh is the star, but clearly the producers thought she was not strong enough to carry the movie by herself, so they got involved in a lot of elaboration which works very nicely. She still loks great running, and her martial arts are very good to watch, but Ng steals the show with his con man character, and the final battle is a lot of fun to watch. There's a lot of anti-Japanese sentiment, still de rigeur in Chinese movies, but with a hint that things can work out in the end. Lots of fun.

"Magnificent Warriors" finds its leading star, Michelle Yeoh, in top form: her speed and dance-like grace make her fight scenes a pure pleasure to watch (she's also good with a whip....and a rope....and a spear....well, you get the idea). And as a bonus, there is another girl, the beautiful and feisty Cindy Lau, who fights as well! Richard Ng, perhaps better known for his role in the "Lucky Stars" films, provides the comic relief, and he's actually quite funny here. The action offers a good mix of martial arts and large-scale battle scenes, and the story is (after the first 30 minutes) engaging and at times even inspiring. The production is spectacular and the music score appropriately epic. If you want to see an Asian take (plus a female twist this time) on the Indiana Jones formula, this is a much better choice than Jet Li's "Dr. Wai And The Scripture With No Words". (***)

The movie certainly delivers enough, whether you are a die hard fan of Hong Kong cinema, or a casual watcher. It has strong production values, amusing comic relief, and of course a great deal of action. Once again, Michelle shows her stuff, and she is spectacular to watch.

Still, even though this is a very entertaining movie, I couldn't help but feel that the movie was spinning its wheels a bit too often. Some scenes do seem to go on further than they should. I also got the impression that the antics would be wilder and over the top (a la DR. WEI IN THE SCRIPTURE WITH NO WORDS) than they ended up. It seemed like it would be more "epic". But that's a minor complaint, and the movie does make up for it with a gargantuan battle at the end!

This film is set during the Japanese occupation of China and follows pilot Fok Ming-ming as she tries to help a leading member of the resistance. Things don't quite go according to plan as she initially mistakes a conman for the agent. Later they are found by the real agent and the three of them start working together to thwart Japanese plans to build a chemical weapons factory in a remote city.

If you want lots of well-choreographed martial arts action combined with plenty of laughs you could do a lot worse than this. The story is fairly easy to follow and effectively introduces the key characters in an entertaining way before the main action gets underway. There are numerous action sequences throughout the film with the sense of danger increasing towards the end. These sequences are all impressive with great martial arts, some shooting and some impressive explosions. The cast is solid; most notably Michelle Yeoh who excels as Ming-ming. She really impresses in her fight scenes but also brings a sense of fun to her role without feeling silly. Richard Ng was a lot of fun as the roguish conman... I couldn't help wondering if his character partly inspired 'The Weird' in the Korean film 'The Good, The Bad, The Weird'! I was a bit surprised that the film is rated '18' here in the UK as there is nothing too extreme shown; I suspect if re-rated it would only be a '15'... and that due to certain language in an early scene. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of action-packed, but not overly intense, martial arts films.

These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles.