Product: Deadly China Hero [VHS]
Rating: 3.0
Good movie, but get the right version....
For those buying this Deadly China Hero dvd, you are getting a [junky] version of the original film Last Hero In China. The distributors for Deadly.. are known for bootleggin movies and cutting scenes out, so look for the right one if you intend to check this film out. This film is the Jet's second to the last installment to the Once Upon A Time In China (OUATIC) series. It's nothing spectacular in my opinion, but it's not a bad film either. Tsui Hark, who did the original OUATIC series is not a part of this film; instead, the dirty Wong Jing directed this film, which kind of hurt it a bit. Yuen Woo Ping still provided the choreography, but I've seen better. Wong's aunt, or love interest, (Rosamund Kwan) is also out of this picture. Jet plays Wong Fei Hung once again, and he moves his school temporarily to a new location. The school ends up next to a brothel, Fei Hung soons discovers corruption and kidnappings of women taking place around the town. Officials want to get rid of him, and of course Wong wants to save everybody as usual. This is probably all you'd need to know about the story because it really is not that interesting. Right from the start, I could not take this film seriously at all. It was trying pretty hard to be funny, and sometimes it worked, other times it failed miserably. It felt like watching a parody of OUATIC. The MA were good, but not great; there was simply too much wirework and fake elements involved. It's one thing if the movements look real, but wirework was pretty bad in this film. There's a scene where a bad official slaps his hands on tiles, and this brings them up flying at Wong; all of a sudden the official decides to literally swim or glide across the ground afterwards...couldn't help thinkin what was the point of it was, but anyways. The bad official (Alan Chui?) also has one of the most annoying laughs you'll ever hear. There were bits and pieces of battles that stood out, but not one ENTIRE fight scene impressed me. The Shaolin Master Killer Gordon Liu(Lau Kar Fai) was also in the film as a bad guy, but director Wong Jing clearly wasted Liu's talents by not using them. In addition, the outcome of his final battle is pretty pathetic. There is a fight between Liu and Jet that starts off decent until the flying elements came into play...sigh...like I said, bits and pieces. Cheung Man is also in the film, but her MA is strictly wire based and made her look like a ballerina...nothing impressive. As everyone already mentioned here, the last battle involves Jet in a chicken suit fighting a group of baddies dressed as a centipede. It's kind of silly, but the battle that follows between Fei Hung and the bad official is nice. There is still wirework done here, but this battle probably had the most REAL and serious MA. Sadly, there were many shots that made me realize that Jet was doubled for many of the sequences...sigh...you'll also see Jet try to use the drunken style, though unconvincing, and some great moves came afterwards and probably is the base of my rating. Some of the moves here are pretty brutal, and they stayed in my mind even after the film. Overall, I would call this an average movie. OUATIC 1-3 totally outshines this film because there was more meaning to it and I felt more for the characters, plus the MA was far better. I can't really recommend you to buy this film, but since it is pretty cheap, why not. Besides, it's part of Jet's Wong Fei Hung history. It's definitely worth checking out, so you can make your own opinions. To me, this film is trying too hard to be funny, and sadly I found myself laughing at scenes in the film that probably weren't intended to be funny. Better Jet films are his original OUATIC 1-3, Fist of Legend (his best), Swordsman II, Tai Chi Master, Kung Fu Colt Master, Shaolin Temple, and more...hope this was helpful, check out my other MA reviews, thanks for reading.