[KFCC] Heroic Fight Review

Story: Duh is the head of a successful company, which is being watched closely by a local Triad group. When he decides to dedicate his life to protecting his young granddaughter, and gives the business to one of his son’s, the other son (Dick Wei) is determined to take control of the operation. Duh decides that the only way he can leave behind these pressures is to fake his own death, and so employs a local movie stunt team to achieve this so that he can dedicate his life to raising his granddaughter.

Review: ‘Heroic Fight’ is like talking to a hyperactive nine-year old boy with attention deficit disorder while he is ripped to the tits on sugary drinks. Sporting an obvious Yuen Clan influence, this movie takes elements which made earlier Yuen movies ‘Miracle Fighters’ and ‘Shaolin Drunkard’ so great, and transposes them to 1980’s Hong Kong. Yuen Cheung Yan plays a wizard of a different kind, and becomes a technical wizard learned in the arts of movie making. Instead of magic, gadgets are used to dispose of evil henchmen, and instead of ghosts and demons, we have movie costumes used in battle.

In it’s own way, this is quite post-modern stuff. By playing a movie stunt team, the tricks and stunts are semi-factual versions of the real methods used in HK movie making, and the movie props used are neither realistic or convincing in any context but a movie set. This allows the set-pieces to transcend their ridiculous premise, giving a sly wink to the audience and suggesting that the film’s detractors sit down, shut up and enjoy it. It’s just a movie!

In amongst the HK style insanity, there are a lot of references to 80’s Americana. One key scene sees Duh’s Granddaughter Ting-Ting, (dressed as an 8 year old freaky whore-child version of Madonna) go to a McDonald’s restaurant with her friends. In comes Mickey Mouse, who uses balloons to float Ting-Ting up to the roof, where she is smuggled away by kidnappers. Lin Hsiao Long witnesses this happening, and uses her BMX skills to rescue Ting-Ting. Then we see Duh informed of this plan on his various telephones, shaped as a Coke Can and Garfield the cat. If this wasn’t barmy enough, this scene is only a quarter of the way into the film. Later on the American influence is seen at a wedding reception shoot-out. The good guys disguise themselves as a band, and sing ‘Power of Love’ by ‘80s power ballad crooner Jennifer Rush (‘I am your lady, and you are my man’).

Lin Hsiao Long is perfectly cast, even though it is unclear whether her character is supposed to be male or female. Whichever is the case, she is fantastic as a boyish have-a-go hero. Yuen Cheung Yan is also very good as the buck-toothed head of the stunt-team, and the lesser members of the cast all play along with a refreshing enthusiasm. Special mention has to go to the always watch able Dick Wei, who as lead bad guy, has one of the few serious roles in the movie, and somehow remains menacing even when fighting against papier-mache monsters.

The Yuen Clan have never been to everyone’s taste, and to some their movies may be too silly to absorb, but if you enjoy the more unusual oddities of Hong Kong cinema, then ‘Heroic Fight’ is a fix of pure ‘A’ grade hallucinogen. There is some genuinely satisfying Kung Fu on display, but depending on your idea of a good HK movie, other things get in the way, such as the squashy faced dog in a nappy, the rocket powered skates, the BMX stunts, and the giant ‘Rock ‘em, Sock ‘em Robot’. In retrospect, maybe including Jennifer Rush was just pushing things too far.