If you’re ever found yourself in a labor dispute, been laid off, fired, forced to quit, demoted, or bullied on the job just be glad that you didn’t have to deal with Bolo Yeung.
In CHINESE HERCULES Yeung, kung fu fandom’s inimitable (say that word three times fast) strongman plays hired muscle for an organized crime syndicate that plans to push dockworkers out of their job, presumably to use the dock for smuggling operations. When the foreman (Wong Chung-shun), backed by his labor force stands up to their corrupt boss in defense of their jobs, Yeung and a ruthless syndicate boss (Fong Yau) arrive with only one response, “Kill ‘em and dump ‘em.”
One by one the ineffectual workers fall to Yeung and his Herculean strength. The only worker capable of taking on this dastardly behemoth is Michael Chan, who plays a former fighter haunted by the memory of having accidentally killed a man (Kong Do) with his fists in a fit of rage. But Chan has vehemently vowed never to fight again, to the point of trying to crush his own left hand with a rock. Despite the suffering of his fellow dockworkers, Chan refuses to budge until Kong Do’s sister arrives after months of searching to convince Chan to overcome his guilt. She also comes with news that Chan really didn’t kill her brother after all, but she decides to play amateur psychologist and not tell him the truth for his own good.
CHINESE HERCULES is a misleading international title clearly used in an attempt to tie the movie into the prolific European sword and sandal drive-in flicks of the 1960s. The craze was kicked off in 1958 when bodybuilder and former Mr. Universe Steve Reeves took on the role of the Greek hero Hercules in LE FATICHE DI ERCOLE (aka HERCULES UNCHAINED).
Bolo Yeung certainly possesses the build of a Hercules character, but his movie is otherwise a routine Chinese boxer pic that reworks the plot to Bruce Lee’s THE BIG BOSS.
Michael Chan is a competent kung fu lead with good looks, charismatic potential and capable screen fighting skills. However, he’s reduced to being a morose and largely passive figure throughout the movie. We only get to see him fighting at the beginning and end.
With such a misused lead, it’s up to the rest of the cast to carry much of the film. The marketing would suggest Yeung is the real star, but that’s not exactly the case. He doesn’t even make an appearance until nearly hour into the movie. From then on, he appears as the brooding sidekick to Fong Yau, putting the squeeze on dockworkers when ordered to and delivering one-note lines about dumping and killing people in response to Fong’s rhetorical questions.
Wong Chung-shan makes a good showing as the principled, elder foreman with his own vow not to use violence until pushed beyond his limits. He previously starred in a number of ’60s-era wuxia pian and as swordsmen, but honestly performs a lot better with his fists.
Fight choreography is credited to TRANSPORTER director Corey Yuen Kwai, who also appears onscreen as one of several syndicate thugs. Other onscreen bit parts are filled by Yuen Clan members Brandy Yuen, Yuen Bun, Yuen Shun-yi and MIRACLE FIGHTERS star Yuen Yat-chor. Corey frequently worked with the Yuen Clan, but isn’t related to them. The Yuen Clan was mentored by Yuen Wo-ping’s father Simon Yuen (DRUNKEN MASTER) while Corey Yuen’s “clan” name comes from the same Peking opera school instructor who trained Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung.
The film’s fight scenes follow the external boxer style of the day closely and are actually quite good, if somewhat rough around the edges. There are a couple screen fighters, such as Chan’s onscreen lady friend who are dreadful in their execution. The two boss villains are also especially thin, to the point of looking malnourished and certainly do not look capable of channeling any force through their punches and kicks. But with Corey Yuen and Yuen Clan members orchestrating fights and performing many of the stunts, it’s not surprising to see tightly-crafted battles with a healthy mix of strikes, breaks and throws.
I couldn’t help enjoying the presentation of one fight scene in particular where a dockworker who attempts to challenge the syndicate is beaten up. Set inside a house, a token bimbo smoking a cigarette casually stands in the background while this poor chump gets beaten to death. It’s a small but significant detail where the direction intentionally keeps her smug presence apparent to the viewer to reinforce the callousness of the violence unfolding. It may be a stretch, but it reminded me of Wes Anderson’s deliberate framing of Gwyneth Paltrow’s frequent background sulking in THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS.
Bolo Yeung is a tad more stiff than usual, but otherwise performs quite well, with surprisingly fast movements considering his size. He has a nifty signature move for the film that involves crushing his victims’ skulls with his forearms like an apple press.
As a whole, CHINESE HERCULES is unimpressive. The action is solid and more story-driven than usual, but the plot is far from engaging or original. This makes the frequent breaks in the fighting dull, especially with no engaging lead actor to carry the viewer along. Good camera work helps to spruce up the otherwise drab look of the film with lots of good close-ups mixed with wide shots, decent use of the widescreen lens and a few unusual overhead or tilted shots to enhance the action. Bolo Yeung fans should check this one out, even if his role doesn’t quite live up to the “Hercules” hype.
by Mark PollardRelated Topics:
Genre: Kung Fu
- Jared
