HEROES OF THE WILD

heroesofwild
Originally uploaded by doctoraok.

Heroes of the Wild is a decent, old school kung fu film. Chen Sing plays the "hero" who kills an old kung fu master, as his son is flying a kite on the beach. After this, Chen takes the orphan as his pupil. "Train hard so you can take revenge on me" he says. To prove how cruel he is, Chen kills a stray dog (this scene is cut from the film, but the aftermath is shown). Following this scene, the movie veers into Spagetti Western territory (even stealing some epic Western music) as Chen and his pupil kick some butt. Somehow the two form a strange relationship, where they are constantly threatening to kill each other "for honor".

The fight scenes are choreographed by Corey Yuen and Yuen Biao, and have the great timing and action you expect from an old school kung fu film a la Shaw Brothers. The editing is a bit off earlier in the movie, but it improves as the fights get longer and more important. It's a good thing the DVD comes with a "right to the fight" feature that skips all that melodrama before the fights. There are also moments when you have unintenionally hilarious situations, for example, the longest, most overacted death scene I have ever witnessed in a kung fu movie. Filmed in slow motion with no sound, it practically begs the audience at home to insert your own "death scream".

The film presention is typical for those in the late '70's, with many scratchs, blotchy color stock and other hallmarks of cheapo chinese cinema. The typical English dubbing also lends itself to the "but still" drinking game (take a drink whenever a character says "but still"). So I will recommend this movie, but be sure to have a few beers to make it more enjoyable.