CALL OF HEROES. (2016) DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY BENNY CHAN. SCREENPLAY CO-WRITTEN BY BENNY CHAN. ACTION DIRECTION BY SAMMO HUNG. STARRING SEAN LAU, LOUIS KOO, EDDIE PENG, YUAN QANG, JIANG SHUYING AND WU YING.
REVIEW BY SANDRA HARRIS. ©
We're back in turn-of-the-century China for this one, by which I mean the nineteenth-century-turning-into-the twentieth, and not the twentieth-century-turning-into-the-now-times, if you get me. It's a thrilling martial arts action adventure featuring the age-old struggle between good and evil. Let me see if I can condense the plot into digestible little morsels for my favourite readers. Yeah, that's you guys, haha. Here's the inside track, anyway.
The town of Pucheng is the setting for the movie, which incidentally features some stunning Chinese countryside scenery for the viewer to marvel at in between fight scenes, which come every few minutes, to be fair. China at this time is all divided up into areas ruled by governors.
The odious Cho, the spoilt-brat grown-up son of a local warlord, enjoys travelling around China killing people randomly for fun. He gets away with it precisely because of who his rich father is. It'd be a bit like if Hitler or Caligula had a son, and the son went around saying: 'Haha, I'm above the law because Hitler's/Caligula's my Pops and there's nothing you can do about it, mwah-hahahahahaha...!' and stuff like that.
Anyway, in the little town of Pucheng, Cho, or The Man With The Golden Gun as he could also be known, commits three shocking murders without any provocation whatsoever. The victims are a pretty young female teacher, a small child and a lovely old man who's just trying to feed Cho some delicious beef noodles, without scallions as well, if you please.
Never, ever kill the person who's cooking you your noodles. It's the most disgusting discourtesy. It's a worse atrocity than... than, say, kicking Bambi in the nuts while teasing him about his deceased mother. It's almost beyond insulting, is what it is.
Yeung, the rather attractive Guardian of Pucheng, throws Cho in jail and sentences him to death by execution, the normal penalty for anyone who commits murder. Cho's not remotely bothered. He's all, like: 'Yeah, whatevs, peasants. My Daddy's gonna come and get me and he's gonna kick all of your butts big-time, so there!'
(He's a bit like Freddie Quimby in THE SIMPSONS, the obnoxious nephew of Mayor Diamond Joe Quimby, who's accused in his one-and-only appearance in the show of beating a French waiter half to death for his mis-pronunciation of the word 'chowder' during a dinner party...!)
Yeung is adamant that Cho has to pay the price for his misdeeds. After all, 'justice exists only when it is maintained.' Even when he hears that Cho's Daddy's army is coming to free Cho and raze their little village to the ground, he stands firm. Even though he himself, his wife and their little daughter are all at risk, he still thinks that Cho should pay for what he's done.
The villagers are going crazy with fear. They want Yeung to release Cho and remove the threat from their little town. But Yeung stands firm, even though he's undoubtedly worried on the inside. The call goes out for heroes, men to stand with Yeung and defend not only the village, but also the principles and laws and rules of justice that are supposed to exist therein.
It's a bit like when Gary Cooper stands alone in HIGH NOON against the vicious Miller Gang, or when Clint Eastwood awaits the arrival of the outlaws alongside the terrified townsfolk in Lago, otherwise known as HELL. And remember Van Heflin waiting to put a smugly confident Glenn Ford on the 3.10 TO YUMA, when no-one else in the town would even attempt it?
Not to mention Homer Simpson in the SPRINGSHIELD episode of THE SIMPSONS, when Fat Tony's gang of Mafia mobsters are gunning for his blood and guts. Homer puts out the call for local heroes to step up to the plate and defend the town of Springfield and, typically, no-one but Homer's next-door-neighbourino and long-time enemy Ned Flanders answers the call.
Homer: 'Shut up, Flanders!'
Ned: 'Okily-dokily!'
CALL OF HEROES is a Western, really, with Western-style music and Western themes. The guy the kids call 'The Monkey King,' probably because of his truly terrible facial hair, is the guy who comes riding into town with, initially, every intention of riding straight out the other side again.
But he develops a connection with the town quickly, in particular with the pretty young teacher of the orphaned kiddies, and when she is brutally murdered, he stays to see justice done. What real man could slink away, tail between his legs, under such conditions?
But he develops a connection with the town quickly, in particular with the pretty young teacher of the orphaned kiddies, and when she is brutally murdered, he stays to see justice done. What real man could slink away, tail between his legs, under such conditions?
The haircuts are all exceptionally modern, with the exception of Mr. Mullet-Head, in this fast-moving action adventure movie that leaves you with a good feeling afterwards. The feeling that justice has been done and has, what's more, been seen to be done. The call has gone out, folks. The call for heroes. Will you answer the call...?
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY OF SANDRA HARRIS.
Sandra Harris is a Dublin-based novelist, film blogger and movie reviewer. She has studied Creative Writing and Film-Making. She has published a number of e-books on the following topics: horror film reviews, multi-genre film reviews, womens' fiction, erotic fiction, erotic horror fiction and erotic poetry. Several new books are currently in the pipeline. You can browse or buy any of Sandra's books by following the link below straight to her Amazon Author Page:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B015GDE5RO
You can contact Sandra at:
http://sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.wordpress.com
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