Director: David Chung
Screenplay: Kan-Cheung Tsang
Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Richard Ng, Derek Yee Tung-Sing, Lowell Lo, Chindy Lau, Tetsuya Matsui
Country: Hong Kong
Running Time: 92 min
Year: 1987
BBFC Certificate: 18
Magnificent Warriors (a.k.a. Zhong hua zhan shi, Dynamite Heroes and even sometimes Yes, Madam III) is a film I’ve actually already reviewed for the site, albeit only briefly. I watched it during my 23rd (documented) ‘Weekend of Trash’ and gave the film a rare 5-star rating. So, when Eureka announced they’d be releasing the film on Blu-ray I jumped for joy.
However, I had a little trepidation about revisiting the film. Watching movies during our Weekends of Trash is different from your standard viewing experience. We chain-watch so many titles we get bleary-eyed and anything half-decent can seem like a classic when viewed in comparison to some of the stinkers we occasionally watch. As such, there was a good chance that Magnificent Warriors, the eighth film we’d watched that weekend, wasn’t as magnificent (sorry) as I remembered.
This slight worry at the back of my mind wasn’t enough to fully dampen my excitement though, so I requested a screener and my thoughts follow.
Magnificent Warriors stars Oscar Nominee Michelle Yeoh as Fok Ming-Ming, a Chinese resistance agent during the Second Sino-Japanese War. She’s sent to Kaa Yi near Tibet, to investigate the Japanese occupation of the town.
There, she meets Secret Agent 001 (Derek Yee Tung-Sing) and both end up getting tangled up with Paulina Wong (Richard Ng), a con man drifter.
The trio decide to step in and take action when they discover that the Japanese plan to use the town as a site to mass-produce a deadly chemical weapon. Along the way, they enlist the help of the town’s leader Youda (Lowell Lo, who’s better known as a composer) and his arse-kicking princess partner Chin-Chin (Chindy Lau).
So, did Magnificent Warriors live up to my fond memory and 5-star rating? Well, as you may have already noticed, I did knock the film down to 4.5 stars, so the film wasn’t quite as perfect as I remembered.
The film has a nationalistic streak that I mentioned in my earlier review and this does stick out in places, particularly during the second half when it changes into more of a war movie than the Indiana Jones clone it opens as. However, with the production company D&B (founded by Yeoh’s soon-to-be husband then not-long-after-to-be ex-husband Dickson Poon, as well as Sammo Hung and John Shum) having their eye on a Japanese audience, they make sure not to paint the nation as overly villainous, other than the primary antagonist.
Leeder and Venema mention how the character development of the film isn’t strong either and I’d agree with that. A scene that particularly stuck out like a sore thumb for me was the moment when our group of heroes are awaiting their execution and start telling each other’s backstories, somehow pausing their executioner’s own speech for several minutes. Not only is it ridiculous, it abruptly slows down the otherwise relentless pace.
Overall, however, I still thought the film delivered what I came to see and that’s action. The film is loaded with thrilling set pieces that nicely jump between martial arts, gunfights, vehicular stunts (even an aerial dogfight!) and other styles of explosive mayhem. The film rarely settles for 5 minutes without some kind of on-screen action.
Yeoh once claimed (in an archival interview on this disc) this was the hardest shoot she’d ever experienced and it almost put her off making action movies for good. She did, in fact, retire from acting briefly after only one other film, though this was more likely due to her marriage to Dickson Poon (back then it was standard practice in Hong Kong for actresses to retire after getting hitched). Thankfully, she returned to our screens 6 years later after getting divorced, but it’s easy to see why she might have found Magnificent Warriors a difficult job, as she has a lot of complex moves and dangerous stunts to master, not to mention learning how to use a whip!
As ever, Yeoh does a fantastic job though, using her experience in ballet to pull off the wonderfully intricate choreography, which often makes great use of props. Chindy Lau is also impressive in her handful of fight scenes and Derek Yee Tung-Sing makes a suitably dashing co-star.
Richard Ng is given a decent role here for once, after largely playing minor or walk-on roles. It’s a welcome move as I think Ng is the best comic performer to come out of the Hong Kong film industry. His usual hijinx are scaled back here but he does a decent job of a more dramatic role and still gets to show his comedic chops in places.
Director David Chung is better known as a cinematographer, so it’s not a surprise to see that the film looks great. It’s atmospherically lit and the action is enhanced by some nice camera movements. The production design is impressive too and great use is made of a number of Taiwanese locations. The film had a very big budget for a Hong Kong film of the time and every penny can be seen on screen.
Sadly, despite the money spent on the film, it underperformed at the box office and isn’t one of the better-remembered classics of the era. Hopefully this re-release will help win over some more fans though, as I think Magnifcent Warriors is a thrilling action-adventure that fires on all cylinders throughout its brisk running time. It may not have quite lived up to my 5-star initial viewing but it remains one of my favourite Hong Kong action movies from the era.
Film: 
Magnificent Warriors is out on 20th February on Blu-Ray in the UK, released by Eureka as part of their Eureka Classics series. The film looks fantastic – super sharp with pleasingly realised colours and very light grain. It sounds good too and you get both English and Cantonese audio options as usual.
THE SPECIAL EDITION BLU-RAY INCLUDES
– Limited Edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Darren Wheeling [2000 copies]
– 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray of the original theatrical cut (including the films’ original theatrical ending previously cut from most home video releases) from a brand new 2K restoration
– Cantonese and English audio options (both in their original mono presentations)
– Optional English Subtitles, newly translated for this release
– Brand new feature length audio commentary by Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival)
– Brand new feature length audio commentary by action cinema experts Mike Leeder & Arne Venema
– Archival interview with Michelle Yeoh
– Archival advert featuring Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh
– Archival interview with action choreographer Tung Wai
– Trailers
– Reversible sleeve design
– A Limited Edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing by James Oliver [2000 copies]
The extras have sadly been cut back a little since the original press release, which boasted new interviews with Richard Ng and Lowell Lo, as well as stating that Frank Djeng would be joined by Michael Worth on his commentary. Perhaps COVID got in the way.
It’s still a solid release though, with Djeng providing his usual rapid-fire deluge of facts about those involved in the film. He also briefly discusses the real-life war atrocities that inspired some elements of the film, which takes things in a disturbing direction for a short time.
Mike Leeder and Arne Venema also deliver the goods with their commentary, as usual, providing an enjoyable discussion on the film and those involved. Whilst they goof around a fair amount they still manage to dole out a vast array of insightful tidbits.
Tung Wai is quite honest and straight in discussing his career in his interview. He talks about his relationships with Yeoh, Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Bruce Lee, as well as the differences between shooting action in Hong Kong and Hollywood.
In her brief archival interview, Yeoh says Magnificent Warriors was the toughest movie she ever made and, at the time, she vowed to never make another action movie again. Luckily for us, she changed her mind.
The booklet is decent as always, offering an interesting essay by James Oliver and plenty of publicity images and posters.
So, whilst a couple of teased extras didn’t emerge, what we’re left with is all good and keeps up Eureka’s high standard of Hong Kong classic releases.
Disc/Package: 
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