RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Chung Mo A rare post studio closure kung fu spectacular from the Shaw Brothers. Even Mona Fong is involved. Longtime kung fu actor and director, Corey Yuen, has the reins.The plot follows the exploits of a refugee from Shangdong province, Ma Wing Ching, and his brother as they try to climb the ladder of success in the chaos of colonial Shanghai in the 1930's. Ma Wing Ching is a super kung fu fighter although it's never explained how he got so good. He gets involved with the local king pin Tam See, played by Yuen Biao and falls in love with a beautiful singer at one of Tam See's nightclubs. After fighting off a rival gang, Ma Wing Ching is given a chance to work for Tam See but he refuses and proceeds to build a criminal empire of his own. But it's a nice criminal empire as Ma is sympathetic to the plight of the exploited Shanghai coolies! All doesn't go well as Ma becomes the target of the rival gangs.The first thing I noticed was the excellent recreation of Shanghai and all the period trappings. This is a well designed film. The martial arts are as expected from Corey Yuen and well done. When the action is going it's very entertaining. Unfortunately Mr. Yuen's cartoonish style seems at odds with the very realistic sets. The fights are absolutely fantastic in both senses of the word. Things happen that are completely unrealistic and that sort of hurts the film. Mr. Yuen also has no sense of epic scale and many of the great sets are never shown very well. The camera-work is good but not anything to raise the film up above a dozen other martial art films of the last twenty years. The story treats the characters very superficially and that causes boredom to set in at times.Fun but not among the greats.

maxxk24 Well it was kind of surprising watching heartthrob Takeshi Kaneshiro performing martial arts,which he did a decent job of.But it was still a great movie on the aspect of the rags to riches story gangster martial arts style.The movie could of been better if there were more intricate martial arts sequences,along with Yuen Biao showing sexy Takeshi Kaneshiro some new moves.Also,as charming as Takeshi Kaneshiro always is.He just wore too much clothing in this movie.This movie also comes with some little nice twists to the plot,along with a great emotional action packed climax.It was'nt a 10,but the drama,martial arts action,especially towards the end,& humor won it an 8.

Libretio HERO (Ma Yong Zhen)Aspect ratio: 1.85:1Sound format: MonoCorey Yuen's period adventure HERO marked an impressive return to the action movie fold by Shaw Brothers, following a long period in which the studio had concentrated almost exclusively on TV production. A remake of the Chang Cheh classic BOXER FROM SHANTUNG (1972), HERO follows the adventures of a courageous country boy (Takeshi Kaneshiro) who flees rural poverty and relocates to Shanghai circa 1911, where his impressive fighting skills bring him to the attention of a benevolent gangster (Yuen Biao) who agrees to mentor him. Thus emboldened, Kaneshiro rises through the ranks of the criminal underworld, until he's challenged by a powerful rival (Yuen Tak) who plots against him. Tragedy ensues.The concept is old-fashioned, but director Yuen energizes proceedings with New Wave fervor, employing thousands of extras in a bid to recreate the majesty of old Shanghai, whilst filming the combat sequences in a defiantly modern manner, pitting hordes of axe-wielding assailants against lone protagonists who are forced to use acrobatic manoeuvres and everyday objects to fend off a potentially horrific death. Yuen's script (co-written with Kay On) is eventful and melodramatic, and the sweeping visuals (by cinematographer Tom Lau) are further highlighted by a sumptuous music score, co-written by William Hu, Raymond Wong and Lincoln Lo. But while the film delivers on action and spectacle, it fails to establish the characters as anything more than stock figures, which essentially limits the narrative's dramatic impact. For all that, however, the performances are uniformly excellent, and HERO's all-star cast is divided squarely into the beautiful (Kaneshiro, Valerie Chow, Jessica Hester), the bold (Yuen Biao at his most virtuous), and the beastly (Yuen Tak as the villain, lacking only a top hat, cloak and twirly moustache).NB. Shot in mainland China, the film was consequently subject to strict Chinese censorship laws which curtailed some of the gorier violence (a Shaw Brothers trademark). These scenes weren't restored for the HK theatrical/video release, though a more complete version turned up later on DVD in the UK.(Cantonese dialogue)

more-3 This movie (German title:"Shanghai Hero") is one of the best HK- movies I´ve seen for a long time. It has cool fighting action a clear plot and dramatic and funny moments. It has everything a good HK-movie needs. I mean there is nothing bad or ridiculous about this movie. I will give that movie 8 1/2 stars.