Heroes of the East

Rating R Formats DVD Genre action Starring Gordon Liu, Yasuaki Kurata, Lau Kar-Leung Directed by Chia-Liang Liu Publisher The Weinstein Company - Shaw Brothers

Heroes of the East gives us a glimpse of what movies like Bringing Up Baby could’ve been like if Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn had known kung fu.  The film deftly combines screwball comedy with action and marital discord with stunningly intricate martial arts battles.

Gordon Liu, better known to American audiences as Pai Mai in Kill Bill II, stars as Ah To, a young Chinese man whose father has arranged for him to marry the daughter of a Japanese business associate. His new wife, Kung Zi, dazzles Ah To with her beauty, but makes him a laughingstock in the community with her interest in martial arts.  This spurs conflicts between them over both the differences in Chinese and Japanese culture and in Chinese and Japanese martial arts.  These conflicts often spill over into kung fu contests in which the two spouses constantly try to top the other.  

Essentially Heroes of the East is a movie of two halves.  The first half tells the comedic story of a stubborn couple who simply cannot see eye to eye on anything.  The real battles, however, come in the second half of the film.  

After growing tired of constantly fighting with Ah To, Kung Zi goes back to Japan.  Ah To responds by sending her a letter detailing just how much Chinese martial arts are better than their Japanese counterparts.  When the letter finds its way into the wrong hands, Ah To finds himself challenged by seven angry Japanese martial arts masters. 

The second half of the movie involves Ah To fighting seven separate battles against the various Japanese masters.  The choreography of these fights is simply astonishing.  The director, Chia – Liang Liu, gives almost equal time and attention to each match, which makes you appreciate the difficulty level involved in these styles of fighting.  Another fun thing about this film is that each different style is pointed out to the audience so that you aren’t left guessing. 

Despite the fact that screwball comedy and kung fu may seem like an odd combination, the film pulls it off.  The fight scenes are so extraordinary to watch that the lack of character or story depth is immaterial.  While the main theme of the film is respect, its main selling point is fun.  With some funny misunderstandings, and exhausting martial arts, the movie is a definite pleasure to watch.  The DVD also contains some cool bonus features including an explanation and demonstration of the various martial arts styles seen throughout the movie.