Hero (1997)
[director Corey Yuen]
Cast: Takeshi Kaneshiro, Yuen Biao
Corey Yuen is one of the most accomplished and innovative kung fu choreographers on modern Hong Kong. But as a motion picture director, he generally fills his movies with lackluster dramatic sequences and uninspired comedy. That same thing happens in this movie, which also happens to be the Shaw Brothers return to feature films after almost 15 years in television.
Production-wise, it’s very handsome, an evocation of an historical period gone by. There are also a couple of great performances here: Valerie Chow, a not very well-known actress who has memorable little cameos in Chungking Express and The Blade, does a great job here as a seductress just trying to survive in a world of gangsters, and Corey Yuen’s classical opera brother, Yuen Biao, who gives the performance of his life as an aging warlord turned gangster boss.
Unfortunately, these excellent attempts are weighed down by the overall uninteresting nature of the script and also by the casting of Takeshi Kaneshiro as the hero of the title. Giving Kaneshiro a one-note, martial arts-heavy role isn’t a very good casting call—he is supposed to be the martial arts equal of Yuen Biao…not quite. It’s maybe the only serious misstep to date in Kaneshiro’s exciting career.
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