Member 66 Mantis Posted May 2, 2013 Member Share Posted May 2, 2013 Anyone know anything about this film? Is it any good? It was produced by Yuen Woo Ping. Never heard of this one. At least, I don't THINK I have... http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chinese-Heroes-DVD-NEW-aka-Ninja-Clan-Revenge-/251260720592?pt=US_DVD_HD_DVD_Blu_ray&hash=item3a804e55d0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Yang Wu Liang Posted May 2, 2013 Member Share Posted May 2, 2013 I like it a lot mate, here's a review I did a few years back... Not a bad little film this one and unlike the rest of the post ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’ period martial arts films it’s got no pretensions of being in the least bit ‘arty’ and there’s not a wire in sight (well, one briefly at the end actually). Whilst it might not have the budget of CTHD or Hero the production values are still fairly high and it certainly delivers in terms of action. I’m not going to go on about the plot too much because rewatching it last night I realised just how much the director Douglas Kung managed to cram in - suffice to say an innocent and upstanding youth (John Zang Chun) moves to town to make something of himself and gets involved in a Chinese Vs Japanese plot and learns a few lessons about friendship (and kung fu) off a scruffy martial arts master (Chin Kar Lok) and his group of kiddy mates. I’m sure any fan of kung fu films will enjoy the plentiful fighting in Chinese Heroes which to me looked like a combination of new wave and old school styles. The editing is fairly quick at times but there are still some relatively lengthy exchanges during which the cast all demonstrate excellent screen fighting skills, both with swords and hand to hand. As I mentioned before there’s only one brief flip right at the end that uses wires (there might have been one or two more instances but I didn’t notice) but for the most part the action is entirely grounded and relies purely on the talent of the actors. There are one or two moments where cgi comes into play but they are almost exclusively during dream sequences, as part of his training Chin Kar Lok teaches John Zang Chun a technique of training in his imagination where he’s transported to the Shaolin Temple to train with the monks and spar with a load of ninjas, who with the help of some nifty editing can disappear at will (Don’t let this put you off the film though because it’s done well and is one of my favourite bits despite it’s improbability). Basically what I’m saying is that there’s loads of fighting and it’s all done well, the finale in particular against the powerful head ninja (who’s name escapes me) is very well executed and looks especially painful with some real bone crunching stunts on display. ‘Chinese Heroes’ is something of a throwback to the heyday of old school kung fu movies both in terms of the action and the story. Although I haven’t got anything against ‘wire fu’ as such it’s good to see a period martial arts film that can reject the use of wires and still deliver loads of quality kung fu. If I’ve got a criticism of the film it’s the silly new wave style comedy that occasionally crops up between the fight scenes, it’s fairly innocuous though and barely worth mentioning, apart from that it’s all good - especially if you like ninja's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member 66 Mantis Posted May 2, 2013 Author Member Share Posted May 2, 2013 Thanks for sharing your review. Yeah, this definately sounds like something I need to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted May 2, 2013 Member Share Posted May 2, 2013 This sounds interesting! I also found out this is also called Dragon Hero http://www.hkcinemagic.com/en/movie.asp?id=6627 by the way shouldn't this is be in the modern martial arts section seeing as it's from 2001? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member 66 Mantis Posted May 2, 2013 Author Member Share Posted May 2, 2013 Whoops! Didn't catch the release date. Sorry, wrong section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member 66 Mantis Posted May 2, 2013 Author Member Share Posted May 2, 2013 And now that I know that it's also called Dragon Hero, I found a trailer for it. Looks pretty cool except for the annoying CGI stuff in the morphing scenes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted May 2, 2013 Member Share Posted May 2, 2013 And now that I know that it's also called Dragon Hero, I found a trailer for it. Looks pretty cool except for the annoying CGI stuff in the morphing scenes: Agreed about the CGI/effects but looks like it could be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted May 17, 2013 Member Share Posted May 17, 2013 found this on Amazon UK... Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member 66 Mantis Posted May 17, 2013 Author Member Share Posted May 17, 2013 found this on Amazon UK... Here Most likely this is where the ebay store got it's dupe from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member blue_skies Posted May 18, 2013 Member Share Posted May 18, 2013 Most likely this is where the ebay store got it's dupe from. No they must have gotten it from elsewhere as my UK DVD has a 1.78:1 letterbox widescreen image and that eBay shop said its 2.35:1, so they come from different sources. The UK disc also comes with a choice of Cantonese with English subtitles and an English dub. Note to any moderator: this thread should be in the modern martial arts section! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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