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Shot back-to-back with Ashes Of Time and sharing much of the same cast, the stars get to let their hair down in a very different take on the same Louis Cha novel…
Set in the ‘wild youth’ of Louis Cha main characters from his novel Eagle Shooting Heroes, this shares the same cast, crew and even character names as Ashes, but as a broad comedy played it could hardly be more distant.
The dastardly Ouyang Feng (this time played by Tony Leung Chiu-wai) attempts to usurp the kingdom from the Princess (Brigitte Lin). The only thing that can save it, she must find and learn the Book Of Yin. But who can she trust…?
Directed and scripted by Jeff Lau, the co-founder of Jet Tone productions with Wong Kar-wai, The Eagle Shooting Heroes seemed a neat way to make the most of a great cast and crew being put through there paces on Kar-wai’s own Ashes Of Time. Indeed, despite being shot back-to-back with Ashes, it still managed to get released a year before it. A rather telling footnote to Kar-wai’s troubled production, he even managed to direct and release Chungking Express – one of his best and most-loved films – before Ashes was completed.
With the current crop of stern, mainly humourless wu xia movies, it’s easy to get caught up in the bravado sleeve notes and see this as an enjoyable spoof of the genre – but let’s clear this up, the films of the late 80s and early 90s were by no means as earnest. The tone had been set by Ching Siu-tung’s enormously successful A Chinese Ghost Story, starring Leslie Cheung and Joey Wang, with dazzling if bizarre set pieces of action, horror movie references (particularly The Evil Dead) and knowing in jokes. At the height of the genre’s popularity, when films like Swordsman II, New Dragon Inn and Mr. Vampire were amongst the most popular films of the genre, few films took themselves that seriously.
In fact, apart from Ashes Of Time, it wasn’t until Ang Lee successfully rebooted the wu xia film genre with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that the more humourless, overly melodramatic (and sometimes unrelentingly hysterical) films of today were born. Even back in the late 80s they were something of a target, parodied (in passing) courtesy of another film starring Leslie Cheung, the classic (and well-worthy of a proper UK/US release) Rouge.
Wong Kar-wai and Jeff Lau had already set the scene with an earlier adaptation of a Louis Cha work, Saviour Of The Soul. A very loose rendering of the second Eagle Shooting Heroes novel, know as The Return Of The Condor Heroes in the west, Kar-wai and Lau’s version updates the action to modern day, but leaves all the heroic martial arts and magic in place. (Even the literal translation of the films title is ‘91 God-Eagle-Hero-Couple.) Mixing action, violence and slapstick, the tone of the film seems often messy, and definitely incongruous with Kar-wai’s better-known work – but hell, can’t the guy have a little fun sometimes?
If Ashes Of Time is a homage to the martial arts novels Kar-wai and Lau grew up with, then The Eagle Shooting Heroes is more of an ode to the films of the 60s, particularly the Shaw Brothers, complete with over-the-top (though expertly choreographed) fight sequences by Sammo Hung, bright gaudy costumes and sets, and musical numbers. Like the dazzling rooftop fight sequence neatly makes fun of such scenes in Shaw Brothers films (and in later movies like Yuen Woo-ping’s Iron Monkey) with its utter outrageousness.
The humour is typically broad – as Cantonese comedies usually are – often descending into farce, running in and out of but it’s fun to see the crème of Hong Kong actors hamming it up. (No doubt letting off steam from their gruelling Ashes shoot, this may well have given them the emotional energy to be so restrained in Kar-wai’s film.)
Leslie Cheung and Joey Wang (who’s scenes were cut from Ashes) are particularly entertaining as the martial arts couple, performing Flirting Eyes and Mushy Love Sword Styles. There’s a Match Of The Day reference (complete with the theme tune) with Tony Leung Ka-fai’s head as a football. (Don’t ask!) Carina Lau takes a more central role the frankly confused Master Zhou, leader of a martial arts school. Maggie Cheung, Veronica Yip and Kenny Bee (who appeared in Saviour Of The Soul) also appear. And Jacky Cheung? Well he appears as Hong Qigong again, even wearing much the same costume.
It’s all pretty silly, but rather fun – and a million miles away from Ashes Of Time…
DVD details
Distributor: Artificial Eye (UK)
Great transfer of the movie, and despite what it says on the sleeve it's the full length Hong Kong cut. However, with only trailer included as an extra you might want to opt for the Jet Tone Collection, with Chris Doyle's Away With Words and Eric Kot Man Fai's First Love for better value.
