A MAN CALLED HERO
(Chinatown Video)
Reviewed by Jonathan
Marshall
A Man Called Hero continues the tradition of political
action-exploitation cinema of which Van Peebles Snr.’s Sweet
Sweetback’s Badass Tale remains a defining (and very weird) example. In the
context of HK cinema, Once Upon a Time in China provides the obvious comparison,
to which AMCH stands up quite well. The problem is that these films’
hyper-real, melodramatic style - particularly the fights - clashes with their serious
concerns. While it is refreshing to see Chinese portrayed as pure heroes versus demonic
Caucasians, it is hard to be sure which of the incidents portrayed in AMCH is
more ludicrous: an alliance of the K.K.K. and mystic Japanese ninjas to wipe out 1920s
Chinatown, or the vanquishing of this group by downright ‘preppie’ policemen,
preaching: "America is a free country, irrespective of race" - this prior to
even whispers of the abolition of segregation!
AMCH has some wonderful fights, heavily edited and enhanced by
computer graphics (the finale on the Statue of Liberty, though prominent in the
advertising, is a more formulaic instance). The film is also leavened by a lovely cameo
from Yuen Biao (The Iceman Cometh, Kid From Tibet, Lucky
Stars and Once Upon a Time I), while Francis Ng Chun Yu
(superb in Full Alert) brings a sense of awesome, restrained anger to the
otherwise silly role of the lead Japanese. This does not however compensate for the messy
narrative. Although HK films routinely smash genres together in a bewildering whirr, there
is just too much of this in AMCH. The script was adapted from a comic-strip
series and it shows. Two of the lead characters disappear during the concluding battle,
never to be heard of again. Did they annihilate each other off screen? Many other threads
are left dangling or under-developed (a possible second romance for the protagonist; an
implicit homosexual relationship; etc), leading one to suspect the comic was longer, with
many detailed sub-plots. AMCH is a stimulating, glossy flick with some great
set-pieces and visual design comparable to The Matrix, but in the end, Once
Upon a Time I is marginally better and A Man Called Hero never really
surpasses pseudo-political exploitation schlock like Van Peebles Jnr.’s
Posse.
© 2000 Jonathan Marshall
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http://www.heroic-cinema.com
