Just Heroes
This is the forgotten John Woo film. Though it
falls between A Better Tomorrow II and The Killer, like the proverbial
uncle in jail this film is rarely ever mentioned in public. I finally had
an opportunity to see it the other night in a showing at BAM in Brooklyn
– and though its weaknesses are all too evident I still found it enjoyable
for the most part.
The directing duties are credited to both John
Woo and veteran Wu Ma so it’s difficult to say with authority which parts
are Woo or Wu! In an interview published in Asian Cult Cinema, Woo states
that he directed 80% of it while Wu Ma, Danny Lee and David Chang directed
the remainder. It certainly contains a lot of the Woo cinematic trademarks
– bullet ballet, slo-mo, over done melodrama, heated male bonding – but
also displays some tongue in cheek humor directed at himself. A young man
has A Better Tomorrow fetish – and before a gunfight he plants guns in
every vase and flowerpot he can find!
The film was done as a favor to Woo’s one time
mentor, legendary director Chang Cheh, – and the “charitable” nature of
the film and multi-direction shows at times in the sloppy editing, the
Byzantine story line and the large cast. A number of cameos are also made
– Ti Lung, Yuen Woo Ping, Lo Lieh, Bill Tung, Paul Chun Pui – as no doubt
a favor to Chang. The main cast is terrific as well – David Chiang (who
of course made a number of films for Chang), Danny Lee (who began in Shaw
Brothers films), Chen Kuan-tai (another Shaw veteran), Stephen Chow, Shing
Fui On, Wu Ma, James Wong and Tien Niu. Woo states in the same interview
that the budget was very small (and in fact the cast worked for free) and
that explains why it is so uneven. In the end, Chang Cheh refused the money
and gave it to help the study of cinema.
The respected elderly head of a triad family
is assassinated and a search is begun for the killer and whoever is behind
him. The search plays out well as suspicion falls on two of his adopted
sons – Danny Lee and Chen Kuan-tai – and on an outside triad leader, Shing
Fui On. Also looking like possible suspects are the smooth and able consigliere,
Wu Ma – and even possibly the third adopted son, David Chiang, who has
retired from the family business. The spark that ignites the action is
hotheaded Stephen Chow (this film made right before he made it big in comedies)
who is Chen’s right-hand man and suspects that Danny Lee is behind the
killing and out to grab power. As the three adopted brothers alternate
between bonding and then turning on one another, the film gets convoluted
(hurt by some confusing flashbacks) but also intriguing. The audience is
kept in the dark till near the end of the film as to the guilty party.
The film has four action scenes – some of it done
well, some not so well and some I would have to imagine is either a parody
of Woo’s earlier work or a warming up for The Killer, which came out in
the same year. In fact, one gets the idea at times that Woo was using this
film to work out some of his ideas for The Killer. The final fight is reasonably
well done – very reminiscent of the final fight in A Better Tomorrow II
– when a home becomes a slaughterhouse.
Still there are good reasons why this film is
not held in the same regard as Woo’s other late 80’s/early 90s work. The
melodrama is almost soap operish at times – an alcoholic wife of one of
the brothers in love with another brother, another wife (Tien Niu) losing
her unborn baby, the story has too many characters, the plot is overwrought,
the action not up to Woo standards – but still it is almost so messy
- so overdone - as to be rather fun.
My rating for this film: 6.0