Dragon Dynasty has been re-releasing a number of Hong Kong action and martial arts movies recently. While they release movies from such stars as Jackie Chan and Jet Li they have also been re-releasing many of the Shaw Brothers martial arts movies. The Shaw Brothers are famous as Hong Kong action pioneers. Heroes of the East is one of the films from their heyday in the 60s and 70s. It was directed by Lau Kar-Leung (also known as Chia-Liang Liu) who also directed The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, My Young Auntie, and the Jackie Chan vehicle The Legend of the Drunken Master. He also choreographed and acted in many Shaw Brothers’ films. The film stars Gordon Liu (also known as Chia Hiu Liu) who also starred in The 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Five Shaolin Masters, and other Shaolin kung fu movies. He is best known to Western audiences as Pai Mei , the kung fu master in Kill Bill: Vol. 2.
The movie has a simple setup. Liu plays Ho Tao, a Chinese man whose marriage to the Japanese Yumiko (Yuka Mizuno)is arranged because of a business relationship between the families. After they are married, Yumiko moves into Ho Tao’s family estate. For the first few days they get along well, but Yumiko insists on continuing her martial arts practice and wants to replace all the Chinese kung fu training equipment with her Japanese equipment. This leads to a argument over which is superior: Chinese martial arts or Japanese martial arts? This escalates into actual physical fights, in which Ho Tao demonstrates the Chinese techniques and Yumiko demonstrates the Japanese.
After a few fights, Yumiko returns to Japan. Thinking that it will get Yumiko to return to China, Ho Tao sends a challenge to her. His letter challenges her to fight with seven different styles; if she beats him with any of them he will concede that Japanese martial arts are superior to Chinese. His challenge letter is answered not by Yumiko, but by seven Japanese masters. This sets up the action for the rest of the movie. Ho Tao must fight each of the seven Japanese masters, one a day.
Because of the set-up, the action in the movie is nearly non-stop. It is a bit of a Hong Kong movie lover’s dream because there are so many different styles on display. Ho Tao fights a kendo master, a judo master, a karate master, a ninja, and more. Despite the amount of fights they do not feel repetitive, mainly because of the different styles used. The fights are presented well. Long shots show both characters’ movements at once and are intercut with closer medium shots for emphasis. Unlike many modern films, editing is not used a crutch to make the action look more intense. The fights are more grounded than many modern Hong Kong martial arts film as well; there is no wire fu. All of these factors make the fights more believable than ones we are accustomed to seeing. My complaint with the fighting is that the final sequence is not an epic, blow-your-doors-off showdown that many martial arts movies end with.
Lau Kar-Leung’s directing style is good for this type of movie. He uses a lot of zooms and long shots which match the mood of the movie well. He paces the movie quickly, which recognizes that martial arts movies are about the fights more than anything else. The movie has consistent humorous tone when Ho Tao is dealing with anyone other than the Japanese. The movie’s sound effects are over-the-top; this is exactly the type of movie that can be described as “chop-socky”. While the presentation of Heroes of the East is inline with the trends of the time, it has aged better than many other similar films.
The one complaint I have is that the story between Ho Tao and Yumiko is never really completed; towards the end the story becomes more about Ho Tao’s relationship with the Japanese masters. The pacing is a little too quick at times as well; there could have been a little breathing room between fights.
All in all, Heroes of the East holds up better than most of Hong Kong martial arts movies from the 70s. The premise is a great one for a kung-fu movie, and the action follows through well on that premise. While the fights may not be as intense as more modern day ones, there is too much action to ever be bored. This is a must watch for Shaw Brothers fans and even fans of more modern day action films will find this an enjoyable viewing experience.