My Father is a Hero (DVD – Dragon Dynasty)

Dragon Dynasty’s Special Collector’s Edition release of MY FATHER IS A HERO, re-titled THE ENFORCER or JET LI’S THE ENFORCER, is essentially a reissue of The Weinstein Company’s previous Dimension Films release. The bad news is that the film has not been upgraded with an optional Cantonese audio track like past DD reissues but picture quality has improved and the title now includes exclusive interviews with writer/producer Wong Jing, actor Tse Miu and actor Ken Lo, in addition to audio commentary from Hong Kong movie expert Bey Logan.

DD’s release uses the same version of MY FATHER IS A HERO as the Dimension Films release. The only change is in the packaging and improved image quality. DD has regrettably opted to continue the slightly misleading representation of the movie in its title, cover art and marketing. Li’s character does go undercover as an “enforcer” but the film’s real story is about how the strong familial and martial bonds between father and son are able to overcome doubt and life-threatening situations with a healthy dose of trust in one another and kung fu skills. There is no suggestion of this until you read the description on the back cover. Unfortunately, the description is misleading by suggesting the film contains “an astonishing kung fu performance from the fiery Tse Miu.” Sadly, it’s not true. Speaking in his interview on this disc Wong Jing admits that Tse was frequently doubled by up to six different wushu artists and was picked for his acting skills and not his fighting skills.

The anamorphic picture now fills the entire window with no black bordering. The picture is crisper and the color is slightly richer. There is a remastered, 16:9 Mei Ah release from 2005 that was not available for comparison. Mei Ah’s original DVD release, now out of print, is non-anamorphic but arguably looks better than DD’s version. (see image comparision). Colors look more natural with less of the excessively rosy tint that dominates both the DD and Dimension releases. The brightness level is also slightly higher.

The international version that DD uses has not had any substantial footage removed from the original Hong Kong print. It contains only a couple very small cuts no more than a few seconds in length. One I noticed is during a scene where Anita Miu is talking with the mainland Chinese actress who plays Li’s ailing wife. In the original Cantonese translation, Miu’s character tries to hide the fact that she is investigating the woman’s husband as a possible criminal by suggesting that she is Li’s partner in selling X-rated movies. Its typical Wong Jing humor targeted to local audiences but in context of the rest of the humor in the film it still works. The available English dub has Mui only mention a nondescript job with Li and the rest of the exchange is cut short by several seconds.

The failure of DD to provide a Cantonese track is a massive blunder that will leave collectors and longtime Hong Kong movie fans fuming. I know I’m not happy. The English dub is rubbish. Despite Wong Jing’s meddling and heavy-handed direction from both Corey Yuen and Wong, MY FATHER IS A HERO possesses a fine dramatic script by CJ7 scribe Sandy Shaw that deserves better than simplified English dubbing. The film already had a hard time of balancing its serious drama with over-the-top wire action and screwball comedy. The last thing we need is to be forced to listen to a dub that turns the otherwise heartfelt dramatic scenes into a B-movie joke. The reason why English dubs in old school kung fu movies work is because they often have no meaningful drama. It’s all action and verbal sparring. It doesn’t work so well with action films containing serious, contemporary drama and this film needs all the help it can get. To look at it another way, this film does not possess enough action to be able to ignore the dramatic scenes and feel satisfied. It demands that you invest yourself at least a little in the lives of the characters and it’s near impossible with the English dub.

I’m sure that if the DD team had a choice they would have included a Cantonese track but I’m betting it was out of their hands. Chances are the label has had little control over these reissues apart from providing bonus material and as they are reissues it’s very likely that TWC is seeking to keep costs down by not paying for separate Cantonese tracks when they’re not already available.

Still, this has set a new and troubling precedent for America’s top Asian action film label that will undoubtedly create negative word-of-mouth and drive down sales among the genre’s dedicated fan base. I hope TWC knows what they are doing because this has tarnished the Dragon Dynasty brand and once that starts to happen it will be difficult to regain consumer trust and loyalty.

The question now is does this release have anything to offer fans? If you’re only interested in the movie, the answer is no. The DD release is only marginally better than the Dimension Films release, certainly not worth buying again if you already own a previous version. Anyone who wants the Cantonese version will have to settle for Mei Ah’s import. While I cannot speak for the remastered version, the now out-of-print original sported English subtitles with some odd translations but I would still recommend that over the awful English dub. Word on the forums is that an Austrian version of MY FATHER IS A HERO is forthcoming. More details on that will be coming.

If you can stomach buying an English dub version of this movie, and no doubt some fans may even prefer it, the disc does have some nice bonus material to sweeten the deal.

Audio Commentary with Bey Logan - Martial arts film expert and Hong Kong film insider Bey Logan provides another fact-filled audio commentary that includes complimentary information regarding the cast and crew, filming locations and behind-the-scenes trivia. He provides a bit of light-hearted editorializing served with a measure of dry wit and does his usual best to “ruin” the movie for the less observant by pointing out every gaffe that appears. I do think Bey was taking a bit of a vacation on analyzing the film’s action sequences this time around. He praises one scene where Li uses few wires, suggesting this to be his preference but largely skips commenting on the excessive wirework that dominates the majority of the action.

Exclusive Interview with Wong Jing (18 minutes) - One of the benefits of watching interviews with Hong Kong movie personalities like Wong Jing is that it gives him an opportunity to appear human, rather than only as the monstrous purveyor of exploitive and low-brow mainstream movies that he still is. As the main force behind MY FATHER IS A HERO, he is able to drop some juicy trivia about the production including his original intention to shoot it as more of a drama with Zhang Yimou starring in place of Jet Li. That’s the same Zhang Yimou who directed HERO and HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS. He talks about discovering Tse Miu and reveals that the actor was hired primarily for his acting ability and not for his fighting skills. He was doubled by six different youths skilled in wushu. One point of confusion is that he suggests MY FATHER IS A HERO was the first of three movies that Tse signed with Wong but THE NEW LEGEND OF SHAOLIN, starring Jet Li and Tse, was released the previous year.

Exclusive Interview with Tse Miu (16 minutes) - I haven’t yet seen Tse Miu’s latest film, CHAMPIONS, but seeing him here as a young adult I believe he needs to be starring in mainstream movies. His screen presence and unique looks as a child are still with him and he appears quite capable of taking on a variety of challenging roles. Speaking in Mandarin, Tse talks about his impressions of Jet Li, Anita Mui and Corey Yuen, and some of the challenges he faced on the set.

Exclusive Interview with Ken Lo (20) - This is a different segment from an interview that was seen in part on DD’s SUPERCOP release. This time, Lo follows discussion of his martial arts background and introduction to the film industry with comments regarding MY FATHER IS A HERO. He reminisces about working with the cast and crew, and shooting in Golden Harvest studios. He talks about Corey Yuen’s skill as an action director and specifically the difficulty he had in putting together part of the end fight between Yu Rongguang and Jet Li. Superkicker Xiong Xin-xin was called in to double a series of kicking stunts that ultimately proved too challenging for everyone, forcing Yuen to make alterations.

Format: Region 1 NTSC DVD
Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Widescreen (2.35:1)
Audio: English 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Length: 105 minutes
Release Date: 2009.02.10

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