Chang Cheh's "Hidden Hero"

[GwaiLoMoFo]

Just watched this one last nite. One of the so called "Baby Venom" films made by Chang Cheh very late in his career. Mediocre storytelling and some above average action make it a decent watch. Although it was a bit of a throwback and i was suprised to find out it was made in either 1990(HKMDB) or 1993 (IMDB). I guess this was a loose (lower budget)remake of Cheh's Shaw film "Life Gamble". I wouldnt know not having seen "Life Gamble" myself. Action and inventive weapons were all entertaining. The "Baby Venoms" are nowhere near the talented acrobats the OG Venoms were. The only high flying acrobatics seen here are all wire assisted. The wire work itself is very poorly done, thankfully there is not very much of it.But their grounded fight performances are still fast and precise (especially finale). The finale did seem to have alot of trademark Cheh from Shaw days. There is a scene where a fighter gets a pole ran through his body a la "Flag Of Iron". The villians at the end use a "5 element style" as they wield steel poles with flags attatched. One hero even gets disembowled and ties a cloth around his waist and contiues to fight (all sound familiar?). I liked the iron glove that shot darts, bent axes, caught darts and shattered swords. 3/5 entertaining throwback.


Fun fact: According to a review on IMDB the lead actor/choreographer is the same guy who played the pole master in "Kung Fu Hustle".

[Knetan]

hey,

aka Skaughter In Xian. What did you think of the subtle moment of homoeroticism? ;)

The lead did indeed appear in Kung Fu Hustle.

[Yakuza954]

Slaughter in Xian is a different film

[Markgway]

Xian was made a few years before.

[ironfistedmonk2003]

It is the pole master from Kung Fu Hustle, Dung Chi Wa is his name and he popped up in most of the Baby Venom movies. I've not seen this one for ages and can't remember a thing about it!

[Knetan]

hey,

was reacting to the pole impaling, seems old Chang Cheh was repeating himself.

[BKarza]

CC went out and gathered up a bunch of truly ugly mainland cats to make up his final team. Hard to look at guys that look like they should be overnight radio DJs.
Much of the stuff he did with this team was retreaded work. Ninja in Ancient China was part Weird Man. Slaughter in Xian sounds like part 5V. Hidden Hero was Life Gamble. Across the River didn't remind me of anything previously done. Shanghai 1937 the same. CC did use character elements from his Shaw days. He seemed to have a thing for knife throwers and used that again in Shanghai 1937. Hidden Hero was hard to watch in it's cheapness, awkwardness and ugliness. Bad beards, cheap costumes and weapons. Bad wirework. Combine that with the fact that Life Gamble is bloody dope and this, is, not.
The action in these was kind of weird. It felt like part opera, part wushu. It just didn't flow right. There was this one very long crazy take involving swords from Shanghai 1937 that was smokin'.

[GwaiLoMoFo]

CC went out and gathered up a bunch of truly ugly mainland cats to make up his final team
:lol
I agree, but still not as ugly as the original Venoms !! Those dudes were second to none in the ugly dept 0] .

[Markgway]

By all accounts Chang should have retired after leaving Shaws with his rep intact. (Xian is a poor excuse for a movie).

Same goes for Liu Chia Liang (though Tiger on Beat is popular because it stars Chow Yun Fat it's a load of nonsense)

I can't think of a single Shaw director whose career didn't tank after Shaws closed.

[Yakuza954]

I heard in an interview that Chang Cheh's goal was to make more than a hundred films in his lifetime. Can't say that's the best motivation to have to keep on making films. It shows in the deteriorating quality of his films, though I like what I've seen of the Baby Venoms. I think he also made so many films because he was always broke. He's the only director I can think of who had 3 films dedicated to raising funds for him- Death Ring, Shanghai 13, and Just Heroes.