The Eagle Shooting Heroes

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Year of release: 1993

Genre: wuxia/comedy

Director: Jeff Lau

Action director: Sammo Hung

Producer: Wong Kar-Wai

Writer: Jeff Lau

Cinematography: Peter Pau, Andrew Lau

Music: Mark Lui, James Wong

Editor: Hai Kit-Wai

Stars: Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Ka-Fai, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai, Jacky Cheung, Brigitte Lin, Joey Wong, Maggie Cheung, Carina Lau, Veronica Yip, Kenny Bee

Rated IIA for mild violence and language

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Eagle Shooting Heroes  Eagle Shooting Heroes

Eagle Shooting Heroes  Eagle Shooting Heroes

Jeff Lau's The Eagle Shooting Heroes, a parody of the Jin Yong novel Legend of the Condor Heroes, was supposedly produced by Wong Kar-Wai to help finance Ashes of Time, which was quickly becoming a laborious shoot that was spiraling out of control and, perhaps more importantly, out of money.

For a project that -- like many Hong Kong comedies -- was ostensibly slapped together to make a quick buck, the results with The Eagle Shooting Heroes are surprisingly fun, though no doubt it will help to have watched a few wuxia (fantasy swordplay) movies in your time, as well as have a tolerance for the goofy slapstick HK comedies skew towards, to get the most enjoyment from this film.

Trying to boil down the plot of The Eagle Shooting Heroes to a few sentences is an exercise in futility that your intrepid reviewer isn't even going to try and accomplish here. Suffice to say, the story revolves around a large group of characters (reusing much of the cast from Ashes of Time) who are after a mystical martial arts book, as well as trying to get into each other's pantaloons.

Of course, we also get the occasional sword fight, as well as goofier stuff like musical numbers and a guy in a gorilla suit. Even if you're used to the dense and multi-layered nature of the typical wuxia plot, you might find yourself wondering exactly what the hell is going on in parts, especially if you are watching one of the older Hong Kong video versions, which feature such badly-translated gems like "it took my seven digestive pills to dissolve your hairy crab".

The Eagle Shooting Heroes gets by a lot on its' star power � many of the actors involved aren't known for their comedic work, but still turn in fun performances that propel the movie along, at least to an extent, especially when buoyed by some solid action scenes that were helmed by the venerable Sammo Hung.

In the end, though, The Eagle Shooting Heroes feels too bloated and overlong to be truly effective. Jeff Lau (who also wrote the script) dips into the same well too many times, especially when it comes to jokes about the characters' sexuality. At first, these sorts of quips are a wry commentary on the somewhat silly and unbelievable (and at times homoerotic and/or phobic) state of romantic relationships in the wuxia world, and actually a nice change of pace in a genre that usually depends on broad stereotypes to produce cheap jokes. But by the time things wrap up, the jokes, like the movie as a whole, becomes a bit tiresome and almost wears out its' welcome.

RATING: 7