AKA: Tragic Heroes

Manadrin title: Yi Daam Kwan Ying (Righteous Courage Group of Heroes)

Magnum / Golden Princess, 1987, 97 min.

Stars: David Chiang ("Wai"), Danny Lee ("Sou"), Chan Koon Tai ("Tai"), Steven Chow
Directors: John Woo, Ng Ma
Producer: Tsui Hark
Writers: Tommy Hau, Kuang Nieh
Cinematographers: Cho Wai Ki, Yee Tung Lung
Editor : Hung Choi

Available on video (widescreen and subtitled) from Tai Seng

The assassination of the beloved head of a crime family sets up a power struggle between his three adopted sons (one of which is played by Danny Lee -- hell must have frozen over for a minute because he's actually a gangster here instead of a cop). The plot thickens when there is evidence that one of them is a traitor.

While having many of the elements that make for a great heroic bloodshed movie, Just Heroes falls flat. The plot exposition moves at a snail's pace; even though the movie is only around 90 minutes, it seems much longer because so much time is seemingly wasted on unnecessary scenes. The characters aren't very well developed and their motivations are cloudy at best -- this may be due to the fact that Just Heroes (at least the version I saw) has some of the worst subtitling I have ever seen in a HK movie. Just about every line in the movie is mistranslated so badly, it makes the story almost unfollowable. The references to A Better Tomorrow (made by a Mark Gor wannabe) are strange and somewhat unsettling (in that Woo would need to be a vulture towards his own work, though in Woo's defense he stated in an interview that the character was intended as a parody). Actionwise, there are some pretty impressive sequences (especially the final shootout), but since we don't care about the characters, they lack the punch of a movie like A Better Tomorrow.

Even big John Woo fans will have a hard time sitting through this one.

RATING: 4.5

Interesting trivia:

• Woo co-directed the film as a favor to help out his old friend Ng Ma and mentor Chang Cheh. Woo worked with Chang on many of his early kung fu movies and Chang's influence (especially in the realms of editing) remains in Woo's films to this day. Chang was an important director for the Shaw Bros. studios (where many of Hong Kong's top stars and directors got their start in the 1970's), so most of the cast and crew worked for free in deference to their "old master."
• After the film's run at the box office, Woo tried to give the film's proceeds to Chang Cheh, but he refused the money. The cash would eventually go to museums and schools to aid in the study of cinema.
• Woo stated in an interview that he ended up directing about 80% of the movie, with Ng directing most of the other scenes. Stars Danny Lee and David Chiang also directed small portions of the movie.
• This was one of Steven Chow's final dramatic roles before he became a comedic actor, which led him to become the most popular movie star in Asia.
• The basic plot is from Shakespeare's King Lear, which Akira Kurosawa (one of Woo's favorite directors) had dealt with in Ran.

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