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Reviewed 1/26/01 | Background | Movie Review | DVD Review | Recommendation

Background 

Mega Star / 1986 / 81 minutes
Directed by John Woo
Written by John Woo

Made during a bleak period in John Woo's directorial career, the film had been shelved for some time, evidently deemed not acceptable for release. Until the financial success of his first gangster flick, A Better Tomorrow, that is. Heroes opened theatrically in Hong Kong in September 1986, one month after ABT debuted and caused a sensation. It performed quite modestly at the box office and has only recently received a DVD release.

Producer Peter Chan eventually became better known as the producer and/or director of many of the films made by the UFO production company's in the 1990's, including He's a Woman, She's the Man and Comrades, Almost a Love Story. Editor Peter Cheung Yiu-Chung worked on many of the films made by Sammo Hung and Jackie Chan, as well as Big Bullet and the more recent I.Q. Dudettes and Treasure Hunter.

Movie: plot, performances, production, rating

A ragtag group of soldiers, led by Eddy Ko Hung and authorized by the Thai government, is determined to bring a drug warlord to justice. This skeleton of a plot allows for a multitude of brutal action sequences and minimal character development. The action scenes are filmed competently but don't stand out. The story pauses at a couple of points for some strangely inappropriate black comedy; since the film totals only 81 minutes, it feels like these scenes were added simply to pad out the running time.

The film is rated Category II. Many scenes feature explicit violence, either gunshot, knife, or other sharp weapon; one gruesome torture scene; one attempted rape; one brief sexual situation with partial nudity; drug use; child endangerment.

DVD: look, sound, subtitles, and features

Making allowance for the age of the film, this is a decent, letterboxed (1.85 to 1 ratio) presentation. The source print has a number of noticeable flaws, but the color vibrancy and black levels are adequate.

Cantonese, Mandarin, and English audio tracks are provided. I listened to the Cantonese track (remastered in DD 5.1) and it sounded OK. The dialogue is intelligible and the sound field is fairly deep with occasional sub-woofer action. The dubbed English audio is not recommended.

Traditional and simplified Chinese removable subtitles are provided in addition to English; the English titles are large and white, but the many grammatical errors are a drawback and sometimes hindered comprehension, at least for a moment or two.

The disk is divided into 9 chapters. "About the Film" contains a cast and crew listing and a brief synopsis. The film's theatrical trailer (with a multitude of spoilers) is included. "More Attractions" include excellent trailers for Woo's 1979 film Last Hurrah for Chivalry, as well as Duel to the Death, The Magnificent Butcher, and Naked Killer. By excellent, I mean ones that make you want to see the flick, and all four succeed admirably.

Buy, rent, or pass?

Pass. John Woo enthusiasts will want to see it, and the additional trailers almost make it worth a rental on their own. But remove John Woo's name from the credits and you would be forgiven for mistaking this for an extremely violent episode of a routine television show about the futility of the drug war.

 

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