corey yuen 's latest film , " hero " is notable on two fronts .
first this is the film to bring back the shaw brothers studio back to the forefront of film production .
secondly , the film is the re - discovery of yuen biao .
the film opens around the end of the qin dynasty , when many immigrants were making their way to shanghai .
poverty and crime rule most of china .
a young man , ma wing jing and his brother enter the fabled city and become laborers at the pier .
tam see is the most powerful gangster in town , having control of the center of the city and having an alliance with the british army .
wing jing and see become friends during a confrontation .
their friendship grows as both men start to realize their dreams , wing jing 's to be a powerful and wealthy man , and see to settle down with a woman he can truly love .
wing jing meets the singer at the club ( jessica hester ) and falls in love with her , not realizing that she is the star attraction .
after stealing her picture from a display , wing jing and his brother plot to impress her .
first they rob two foreigner 's of their money and cloths , and set up a midnight rendezvous .
unfortunately , wing jing has run afoul of a rival gangster , yeung seung who has bribed the police in an effort to gain control of see 's night club .
the two bothers are arrested and held until they manage to escape just before dawn .
jessica , having waited outside in the cold with her manager all night , gives up and returns home .
see decides to retire , he gives the night club to wing jing , as repayment for saving his life during an attempted murder .
see arranges the trade and ask his lover ( valerie chow ) to take care of wing jing .
unfortunately , she has sided with yeung seung .
the performances in the film are all top notch , with fine turns by takeshi kaneshiro as ma wing jing and jessica hester and valerie chow .
the comic turn by yuen wah , previously known as the mad vietnamese in samo hung 's " eastern condors " , is a marvelous surprise .
his gift for comedy is marvelously understated and hilarious
. the stand - out is by yuen biao who returns to the screen after a string of disappointments , with a stellar performance .
his tam see is a triad boss who knows that his time is coming to an end but still has the cunning and craft to uphold his pride .
his gangster is almost non - violent , in that he only retaliates , never instigates violence .
but when the time comes to fight , yuen biao has never looked better .
corey yuen directs the film with a maturity and a sense of pacing that has been lacking in hong kong movies as of late .
the lighting , cinematography and staging of the film are beautiful to watch .
the action scenes do not disappoint
either .
this is the most aggressive and inventive martial art choreography i 've seen in some time , actually surpassing jackie chan 's work in both ' rumble in the bronx ' and ' first strike ' .
the special effects team deserves praise for a fantastic job of making the impossible look possible .
an early fight between takeshi kaneshiro and yuen biao on the back of a horse is to be seen to be believed .
also noteworthy is the score for the film , done in
a marvelously lush orchestral style , not representative of most hong kong fare .
i would dare to say it ranks as high as the scores for both " titanic " and " rosewood " as best of the year
.
all in all , " hero " marks a grand return to filmmaking for shaw brothers .
this is the film that gives us faith that hong kong cinema is alive and flourishing .
Output: P