CALL OF HEROES, dir. Benny Chan
With fight choreography by Sammo Hung, this wuxia take on RIO BRAVO (with shades of MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and HIGH NOON) is one effective, badass pseudo-western. It’s very much in the tradition of Hong Kong kung-fu films, but the themes, the characterizations, the shot compositions, and even the music seem directly influenced by both American and spaghetti westerns. I’m usually wowed more by either the narrative or the kinetics of these movies, but I’m happy to say this is one of the rare ones that works quite exceptionally on both accounts.
It’s 1914, and warlord Cao Ying is ravaging through Northern China, plundering Stone City and driving its refugees towards the nearby city of Pucheng. The armies have been completely dispersed by the war, and the local justice is handled solely by a group of “guardians,” led by sheriff Yang (Sean Lau). When a man revealed to be Cao Ying’s son, Cho (Louis Koo), arrives in town and casually slaughters a teacher, her cousin, and one of her preteen students, Yang takes him into custody and announces his formal execution for the following day. Almost immediately, Cho’s commander Zhang Yi (Wu Jing) and his army ride into town, and demand Cho’s release, threatening to execute everyone in the town if Yang doesn't comply. The psychotic Cho refuses to leave, wishing to torment his captors and the villagers some more, and Zhang Yi informs the town that if he’s not released by the following morning, the army will return and massacre the town at full strength. Yang, his wife Chow (Yuan Quan), his troupe of guardians, and a mysterious stranger named Ma Fung (Eddie Peng) are forced to stay steadfast and resolute as the townsfolk, Zhang Yi, and even some of their comrades strive to surrender Cho over, which the young punk has assured will also inevitably lead to the town’s devastation.
So yeah, it’s basically RIO BRAVO. The sheriff and a small, thoroughly capable group have to keep Johnny Asshole behind bars while his posse of flunkies try and break him out. It’s a simple story, an age-old one, but one with very strong, pertinent themes: integrity vs. security, groupthink vs. individualism, patience vs. reaction, even prowess vs. technology (the cowardly Cho is the only character with a gun, recalling the jerk from YOJIMBO, while everyone else can do those awesome Sammo moves). The western influence extends to the score, rife with soaring, dramatic horns like the end of THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, the showdown-like standoffs, and the character of Ma Fung, who fits very well in the tradition of the wandering, well-meaning stranger who can, when necessary, layeth the smacketh downeth.
Eddie Peng’s comical Ma Fung is, by design, the most likable character of the bunch, and Peng balances the humor and mystery of the role with his obviously non-heinous physical ability. There’s a terrific subplot about his history with Zhang Yi that could’ve sustained the film on its own, and leads to its most powerful moment during the climactic battle. I love that thing in STAR TREK's “Balance of Terror,” HEAT, or 13 ASSASSINS or whatever when the warriors on opposite sides are clearly more in sync with one another than the forces pitting them against each other, and there’s an excellent example of that here with Ma Fung and Zhang Yi. It’s Sean Yau’s Yang that’s the true hero of the film, the one that proves to be a mountain of integrity when nearly everyone around him starts acting like cowards, and Yau does a great job of letting us know that there’s a vulnerable human heart underneath his sense of righteousness and honor. Even better, he’s got a vicious bullwhip that he uses to smack, toss, and garrote fools like Indiana Jones on crack. His wife, played by Quan, is far from the mere supportive female, and gets one of the most badass moments of the film: she blocks a sword with a basket, which gets cut in half, and then uses the now-serrated edges to slit the attackers throat. Siiiiiiiick.
Special mention goes to Louis Koo’s unrestrained, couldn’t-be-more-hissable villain. His first scene is a showstopper, a long, drawn-out staredown with a teacher who recognizes him, and he plucks the strings of both her and the audience like Christoph Waltz in the “Once Upon A Time in Nazi-Occupied France,” segment of INGLORIOUS BASTARDS. He’s your typical P.O.S. spoiled bitch-boy heir, one totally comfortable with telling Yang that he’ll gleefully kill the entire town whether he lets him go on his own volition or not. He pops away with a gold-plated semi-automatic while everyone else around him fights hand-to-hand, which leads to a surprisingly balletic final showdown with Yang (punctuated by an applause-worthy final move). He's the catalyst for everything that happens and is an ideal focal point for the narrative to wrap itself around.
The film is so effective and tight for so much of it that it’s a little painful when the movie falls victim to the second-act lull that plagues so much modern-day wuxia. It’s commonly known that HK cinema will tend to run the gamut from comic to tragic to action-packed, sometimes within really short runtimes, and I get the need to rack up the tension in order to set up a truly gobsmacking third act. I just don’t think the ticking-clock premise endures a big dramatic section that muddles up the middle with bogus sentiment and an inevitable conclusion. This also leads to an ending that is somewhat less than satisfying; after a pitch-perfect climactic moment, the film decides to keep the final battle going and give the local townsfolk a redemption that is wholly unearned and thoroughly unsatisfying. But said final battle, and the various other hard-hitting fights that pepper the thing, are more than impressive and powerful enough to warrant sitting through a very slight amount of sludge about an hour in.
In conclusion, if you love the old-school wuxias and spaghetti westerns and don’t think they make enough of them these days, then be sure to give this one a shot.
BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA (1986), dir. John Carpenter
God, what a piece of shit!
Ah, I’m fuckin’ with you. This is one of my favorite films of all time, obviously. To quote AIRPLANE, my momma didn’t raise no dummy. I’d actually revisited BIG TROUBLE recently, on the day of the 30th anniversary (July 2nd), and on both that viewing and this, I had no problem getting back in the same spirit I got when I first saw the movie at 12-years-old. I know the “Will you leave Jack Burton alone!” intro with Victor Wong was forced on Carpenter by the studio, who didn’t think Kurt’s character was heroic enough (sweet Jesus…), but it’s a cute little misdirect, and I like the idea of waiting the whole movie to find out when exactly this chucklehead shows “great courage.” Besides, it’s followed up by that amazing title sequence, with Carpenter’s guitar wailing away and Jack and Wang playing some epic Fan-Tan in the pouring rain. Shit will work til the apocalypse.
I don’t think I’d ever seen this one with a crowd. It’s funny, I kind of get why it maybe didn’t play all too great back in ’86. The audience was bonkers in love with Jack Burton, obviously…I mean, all 600+ seats sold out in a matter of hours, and it was directly due to the promise of a Kurt Russell/James Gunn Q & A after the feature (more on that later), so there was clearly a lot of loud affection going Jack’s way. But in the stretches where Jack’s not puffing his chest or falling on his ass (or both simultaneously), I didn’t read a lot of enthusiasm from the audience. I got the feeling that the screwball comedy and quick banter from the rest of the characters (save for possibly the immortal James Hong) wasn’t flying the way it was meant to, possibly coming off as anachronistic in a movie otherwise way ahead of its time. I personally carry a lot of love for Cattrall’s mannered work as Gracie Law, and I think Kate Burton, Donald Li (as Eddie), and especially Victor Wong are right in tune with the hyperactive mood of the piece. And who doesn’t love Dennis Dun as Wang, the badass “poor old Chinese boy” who actually puts Egg Shen’s magic potion to good use in one of the film’s two all-time fight scenes? He’s absolutely the lead of the film, urging the plot along as it goes and is always, without hesitation, the first one to jump into battle (remember, he’s the one who impales that eyeball monster, kicking off the final battle). Dun’s so charismatic and likable in this, YEAR OF THE DRAGON, and PRINCE OF DARKNESS that it’s a shame he’s been in so little else. At least we’ll always have his and Kurt’s note-perfect final exchange: “We really shook the pillars of heaven, didn’t we Wang?” “No horseshit, Jack.” “No horseshit.”
There was one unfortunate caveat that was announced right before the movie started: the 35mm print that was promised to be shown turned out to have a badly damaged audio track that apparently crackled loudly, especially during the quiet moments. Beyond Fest impresario Christian Parkes pleaded, “Being as this is the People’s Republic of Beyond Fest, I’ll leave it to you,” asking the crowd to vote on whether to screen the as-advertised 35mm print or a gorgeous 2K DCP that Fox had sent over “that looks great, sounds magnificent.” He had the crowd shout “PORK CHOP” for film and “EXPRESS” for digital. I have to admit, the notion of aurally sifting through crackle to make out the majesty of Kurt’s drawl and Carpenter’s synths didn’t sit well with me, and I, and a slight majority of the crowd, went “EXPRESS”. It was so divisive that it made things a little awkward, but it was hard to complain once the picture started "rolling" with immaculate color and sound. Just before the film, a contest was held with 9 contestants where they ran through as many Kurt Russell or John Carpenter films as they could without overlapping, with the promise of some Shout! Factory Blu-rays. If you were curious, SILKWOOD, BONE TOMAHAWK, VAMPIRES, THE FOG, CHRISTINE, BEST OF TIMES, and inexplicably, THE THING(!!) were among those that failed to get mentioned.
Following the screening was the big reason we all showed up: Mr. Kurt Russell in the flesh, looking cheery and as GQ-ready as ever (he’s October’s cover boy for that mag, after all). It wasn’t the longest Q & A in the world, maybe 35-40 minutes or something like that (or maybe it just felt short?), but Kurt ran the show with all the effortless charm he’s built up in his 50+ years in the industry, both relaying old stories and dropping some new tidbits of info here and there. Some of the more memorable bits;
-Right when he came out, he talked about how great it was to watch the movie with a fully-packed, hella-enthusiastic crowd. “I know everyone goes on about ‘Oh, that was ahead of its time,’ but that was fuckin’ ahead of its time!”
-“Some of those lines…and that elevator scene’s just magnificent, man.” (I gotta assume he meant the “I feel kinda…I feel kinda invincible,” scene. “I got a real positive attitude about this!”)
-He said that he thought of Jack Burton as, “One part John Wayne, one part Jack Nicholson, and one part myself.” He felt proud because he considers acting to be pretty much losing yourself and not looking like you’re acting, and there’s “very little acting up there. That’s pretty much all Jack Burton. There are one or two little cheesy moments, but that’s mostly Jack Burton.” His love for the character is such a big part of what defines him, and it really seems that that love and pride has only grown over the years. Not all stars stand by their work in flops as big as this.
-Additionally, he told a story of another inspiration for Jack Burton, a young actor he worked with when he was a young man. They were in the hills on location when there was a car crash out in the distance, and they both ran over to see what was up. The other actor got ahead, so Kurt yelled to see what had happened, and the actor replied, “It was an old Volkswagen and a Chevy!” Re: the make of the cars: “Who fuckin’ asked you, man?!” Kurt made sure he recalled the behavior of that actor, who represented people who would say tunnel-visioned, irrelevant things like that at absolutely the wrong moment.
-He also said he fell in love with the idea that Jack was the guy “who gets everything wrong, absolutely everything, until the one moment it absolutely matters.” Us too, sir.
-When someone inevitably asked, “What was your favorite memory on set?” Kurt answered the generic query with a heartfelt response, saying that it was one of the best sets he’d ever been on. “Every day there was something cool going on,” in regards to the wirework, special effects, and production design that permeate the film. “John and I were…we are very good friends.”
-They touched on the remake, set to star Dwayne Johnson, with Gunn commenting how hard it’ll be to replicate because “the whole movie is built on and around (Kurt) and Carpenter’s sensibilities.” Kurt responded, “As someone who’s been in a remake,” (one imagines he’s not referring to POSEIDON), that it’s totally worth doing if there’s a fresh take that’s not a complete bite of the original. So yeah, Kurt Russell is such an enthusiastic optimist that he thinks all remakes can turn out as good as THE THING. God bless him.
He talked about some of his other work with Carpenter:
-He came up with the idea for Snake Plissken’s eyepatch. When he told Carpenter, “Hey, I think Snake should have an eyepatch,” the director’s response was an emphatic “Yeah!”
-They had trouble getting Snake’s voice down. Looking like that and with his backstory, he had to have a voice different than the one folks associated with THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES. He had no idea what to do until it came time to work with Lee Van Cleef, when he got the idea, “Oh, Lee Van Cleef. THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY.” And he then proceeded to do his best Clint Eastwood, and S.D. Bob Plissken was born.
-He also broke out his Nicholson for the audience. “I’m a pretty good mimic. Catch me in the right mood, we’re gonna have a good time.”
-Though he and Carpenter were very close at the time, he was not initially supposed to play MacReady in THE THING. He was in a Ford-Han Solo situation where he was actually helping him find the right guy, and eventually just stepped in himself.
-They shot a few long shots with Kurt’s stand-in before he showed up on set, and the shots established MacReady’s goofy, big-ass sombrero he wears in the film. Carpenter hands Kurt the sombrero hen he shows up to set, to which he tells him, “I’m not wearing that fuckin’ thing,” but he had to because Carpenter had already made the decision and shot the footage, forcing Kurt to rock the ridiculous hat for continuity.
-He couldn’t recall the name of Spencer Tracy, referring to him as “Katherine Hepburn’s husband.” Then he cackled, and joked, “I really don’t know anything about the acting world!”
-Gunn said something about how he turns down more roles than he takes, to which he replied that he, “only takes roles (he) can knock out of the park. I believe in challenging yourself and finding the character, but if you don’t think you can knock it out of the park, then what’s the point?”
-“I’m very proud to have played these characters who, in a hundred years, you’ll go back and say, ‘That fuckin’ guy knew what time it was.’” We don’t appreciate this man enough, people.
I took a shit picture of he and Gunn, as I was too embarrassed to snap away on my phone while Mr. Russell graced us with his presence (I was pretty close up).
