The Eagle Shooting Heroes (1993) User Reviews

Cross Dressing, Ape/Dinosaur Super Kung Fu Masterama!

[loganx-2 · 7/10 · 21 August 2008]

Wang Kar Wai Present's...it's absurdly funny, especially after just having watched "Chungking Express" and "In The Mood For Love", because a lot of the same actors, are here at their most ridiculously over the top.

The first scene, is like Kill Bill on a Bollywood stage, and one of the best fight sequences, anywhere in general. Outside of the lightning fast camera moves, and garish bright colors oozing with 70's Kung Fu Fantasy nostalgia, there's a very Stephen Chow type rhythm kept between slapstick gags and zany skits, and flying feet and fists.

The movie does slow down a bit, as it starts mixing together a diverse array of characters and stories, a prince trying to achieve immortality by meeting his true love, a ruthless villain who can't kill a suicide beggar, as a favor, no matter how much the beggar begs, without injuring himself , a cross dressing Kung Fu master determined to avenge her lover or find someone with suitable "pecks" to substitute, and then there's a an ape and a dinosaur in a cave (the worst movie monsters since Ed Wood), which are there because....

It's fun, and immaculately casted. But a bit of a drag of times. It's hard not to smile at the silliness of it all though. Still, Wang Kar Wai and his crazy friends, are alright by me.

It's a rainbow Sake shot of Hong Kong screwball fury, with flying boots and invincible killer bees.

Don't try to understand, just have fun

[freakus · 8/10 · 16 January 2000]

This is one of the wildest, most confusing and most enjoyable films I have seen in awhile. There are 6 or 7 plotlines (I think) and I couldn't even keep straight who was male and who was female much less what their story was. Granted I can't speak cantonese and I don't get a lot of the cultural references but I think even if I was Chinese I would have a hard time figuring out what the heck is going on.

But ultimately it doesn't matter! If you like HK epic costume/swordfighting/kung fu period pieces, then don't miss this. There are love triangles/quadrangles/pentangles, guys running around in gorilla suits, centipedes crawling around in people's stomaches. They put everything they could think of in this one. I particularly like the announcement of all the ridiculous "techniques". (try and guess what move "monkey stealing peaches" is)

If that doesn't convince you, Bridgette Lin AND Maggie Cheung. Just turn your brain off and watch.

Eagle Shooting Wacky

[ChungMo · 6/10 · 22 June 2006]

There's "anything goes" and there's "Eagle Shooting Heros". About as unhinged as HK style comedy can get. Shot during a lull in shooting Wong Kar Wai's "Ashes of Time", this film seems partially improvised on the spot.

There's some sort of plot but it's really an excuse for the stars to run about in crazy "Persian" costumes or to cross-dress. Explosion kung fu, a gorilla, a 6 ft. talking bird, a floating head, flying boots, time-reversing kung fu, a soccer match and lots of unrestrained wire fu. It begins crazy, stays crazy and ends crazy.

Does it work? The actors are having fun and that rubs off on the viewer, however I found the film's lack of a real structure tiresome. The scenes comes off more like elaborate TV skits. Lots of obscure HK film references might bore the average viewer. But to the film's credit every time I was losing interest they do something so silly I was laughing again. The energy is so high that the hit and miss nature of the whole production isn't much of a problem. The martial arts are done for comedy's sake and are really sped up.

This is one of the most extreme examples of wacky HK comedy. Not used to HK comedy? You might be advised to skip this one at first. Or get ready to watch it over the course of several viewings because it can be exhausting to watch.

Colorful and wildly entertaining!

[vid-10 · 9/10 · 21 February 2004]

Fast in pace and rich in adventures, extravagance, color and music, "Eagle Shooting Heroes" adopts the same characters of "Ashes of Time" but, unlike Kar-Wai's epic movie, here they stand on the screen with the sole purpose of entertaining... and they fully succeed!

The movie can be roughly divided into 3 parts: in the first part, which takes place over a wide landscape, we get to meet the 9 (!) protagonists one by one, and learn about their quest (it can be love, world domination, revenge or achieving nirvana). Lin Ching Hsia and Chiu-Wai in particular shine and deliver the first ferocious confrontation of the movie, by showing us two terrific kung-fu moves: the "Sea can't be Measured" and the "Toad Shen-Kong".

Once we have met all the characters, the second part gathers them together in the enclosed space of an inn, so we see them interact. Hysterically funny is Joey Wang, who may be Leslie Cheung's sweetheart, but apart from that bears very little that can be referred to as sweet. Highly entertaining are also Ka-Fai and Jacky Cheung, who try to win the resistance of their loved ones with their musical talent.

Finally, the third part shows the ultimate confrontation. The ending may actually be the only flaw of the movie, and I personally agree with the character interpreted by Leslie Cheung, who at one point states "too ridiculous!".

However, apart from the bizarre ending, this is an excellent movie... but be prepared for many surprises! And if you thought the cross-dressing of Ranma and Final Fantasy VII are extreme, be ready to change your rankings, as far as extravagance is concerned! 9/10

PS: The DVD (from Ah-Mei) allows selection of Mandarin or Cantonese language (with English/Chinese subtitles burned on the movie), but other than that, no extra feature is included at all.

wasn't even SUPPOSED to be a classic

[draggy · 23 December 2003]

This movie has gone cult classic. it was filmed at the same time as another movie. Same actors. Same Costumes. This one was just done for fun. the other movie(the name escapes me), was supposed to be this HUGE hit(like Men In Black by today's standards) and it flopped majorly! but this movie lives on. go fig.

I Didn't See Any Eagles, So I Don't Know Who Was Shooting Whom

[boblipton · 6/10 · 28 November 2018]

This comedy from Jeffrey Lau is supposed to be a parody of Louis Cha's novel. When it comes to the plot, it's impossible to synopsize, but that's not a problem, because it's really about people acting in silly fashions, mockery of normative and romantic sexual relationships, and Sammo Hung's comedic fight choreography. A lot of it seems to be modeled on the Three Stooges.

There are comedies in which no one does anything funny. It's simply that things turn out well, according to the classical distinction between Comus and Momus. Then there are a lot of comedies in which people do lots of funny stuff, until someone says "This is all well and good, but we're ignoring the story." So they stop being funny to show us how things turn out well according to the classical distinctions between etc. and the change in tone makes me yawn. The boy gets the girl? Well, I'm glad you told me. Sorry I nodded off there.

This movie works at keeping you laughing through the end. Some of the boys get some of the girls and some of the boys get the boys in the next life, when it will be all right, and some of the boys get to go to Heaven, even if they don't get the girls, so that's all right too. And the baddies get their butts kicked. Is it a well told tale? No. But it was funny through the end.

Forget about storyline

[Elmyras · 8/10 · 5 February 2004]

This movies is best viewed as a series of sketches with a loose background story. I'd previously watched it on VHS but I think somebody borrowed and never returned it as it has gone missing. I finally got the DVD version and watched it today. It's a no frills DVD - looks like it's been transferred straight from video.

Anyway, it is as funny as it was the first time round. I had such a stomach ache from laughing so hard and I could feel the tears welling up.

The most memorable 'sketches' are: Jacky Cheung vs Tony Leung in the forest (this one is long and just hilarious from beginning to end) and the dancing and singing number with Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung Ka Fai. There are other funny moments throughout but if you get the humour, then these two scenes will kill you. The 4 above mentioned actors give the funniest perfomance.

One thing that has to be said is that I watched a Cantonese version which had Chinese and English subtitles. If these English subtitles are the only translation available then I feel sorry for anyone watching with those as they are truly dreadful. Some of the lines are literally translated (resulting in nonsense) and others, I have no clue what script they are translating from. Shame really, as the delivery of some of the lines is just too funny, especially from Tony and Jacky. Brigitte Lin has also got to be the most beautiful woman in the film and Leslie is cute, cute, cute.

The only weakest link to me was Veronica Yip who's popularity at the time had recently risen due to baring all in some movie or other. Hence her appearing in a movie with all these huge stars. I have no complaints with the other actors. Carina Lau is one of my favourite actresses. She does a good job albeit in a slightly kooky role. A lot of overacting at times but it's goes with the spirit of the film - it's just for fun and I sure had a lot of it from watching.

8/10, mostly for the laughs.

This is a 10 at its time

[jusfeel · 10/10 · 13 August 2015]

There is a wind that blows and all the good things grow with it. After the wind is gone, the good things turn back and never come any good things alike again.

So this film is from a wind that was blowing during that span of years in Hong Kong, never again you would be able to see those director, actors, screen writers, dress designers, stunt man so passionate and joyfully getting involved for fun, for imagination, for successful results.

The same name, even same director had shot anther one with the same Chinese name in 2011. It's rated very low in IMDb and it's rated like 3 in a Chinese review site. You can see how people hated it because the lack of dedication of the actors, the ridiculous taking-audience-as-a-fool jokes and random involvements of all the celebrities from musical industries into the acting business and they are naively thinking themselves that they are doing a good job. It's a shame, as simple as it is.

But this film has stars in it, real stars. Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung, Carina Lau Brigitte Lin, Jacky Cheung...I just can't name them all here. The director is the same director who 2 years later directed the 2-squeal films (A Chinese Odyssey Part One: Pandora's Box, A Chinese Odyssey Part Two - Cinderella) which turns to absolute classic now and ever and make Stephen Chow an iconic star as well.

The Mandarin voice-over done by Taiwan people is superb so if you are learning mandarin, it's top Mandarin. Originally it's Cantonese.

If you like Gongfu movie, this one is a blast. It's fine nice delicate cut between a flying Gong Fu super power guy and gravity still making sense here. It's a blessing in the 90s when computer is not good enough to make all the digital stuff. I personally prefer a stunt man than GC effect, it's real fake, not fake fake.

Again, the wind was there and people had no intention for fame and fortune because there is none, they made a laugh and take great joy about what they did - this film.

More nonsensical nonsense.

[OllieSuave-007 · 1/10 · 6 April 2015]

There are comedies out there that are so out-of-this-world and wild that you would have fun with, but they at least have somewhat of a plot or story that you can follow. This film is such a fantasy mess with childish acting and a script that goes no where that I couldn't find myself to finish it.

Never mind that this film features a prominent Hong Kong cinema cast, including Leslie Cheung, Carina Lau, Tony Leung, Maggie Cheung and Veronica Yip. It's such a nonsensical and dumb movie that you would find even Saturday morning cartoons have more meaning than this.

Do yourself a favor and stay away from this movie! There are a lot of better stuff from Hong Kong cinema.

Grade F

The Avengers of Hong Kong Cinema Assembled in this one.

[yadavanita-18093 · 8/10 · 14 October 2020]

A really fun filled comedy Wuxia movie starring almost every Big Titan of the Hong kong cinema in the 80's and '90s. A really fun movie with good slapstick humour and gags which will surely bring smile to your face. If you are familiar with the great Names in the cast and have seen their other works, seeing them together to make a fun movie together after the intense work on "Ashes of Time" will surely be a pleasing experience for you. The plot is somewhat simple yet bizarre and has good colourful shots which pleases you. It is a fun filled ride and you should definately give it a watch fan or not of hongkong cinema as this film surely help you be one.

Tons of good actors in it but really really terrible movie!

[jarharnamme · 1/10 · 3 May 2021]

Is it a parody of condor heroes? I've no idea.

All I know is it's that terrible.

Watch it when there's a monthly special of wong kar wai and this movie is in the bundle.

Thank god it wasn't really directed by him because it's abomination!

Oh it's probably directed for chinese speaking because I've no idea or get the jokes in this movie.

Basically I've just waste 2hrs of my life try to understand the jokes but I still can't get it. It's really that bad for non chinese audience!

One of the Funniest Movies Ever

[zensurfer-31578 · 10/10 · 8 July 2017]

This is for me one of the funniest movies ever. It has slapstick, cross-dressing, gender-bending, confused identities, ridiculous costumes, over the top martial arts battles and some cultural references I didn't get. Don't try to figure out the plot or story line there isn't much of either one of those. But there are a number of laugh out loud moments, I think the movie might be much funnier in Cantonese, the English subtitles seem to work well here. Spoiler here, one of the funniest moments in the movie is when one of the characters starts singing to the melody of the intro of the William Tell overture, that cracks me up every time I see it. So there you have it this movie is the winner of "Best Use of the William Tell Overture(with lyrics)" I can only imagine how much funnier it is in Cantonese.

if ever any movie could truly get called bananas, this is it

[lee_eisenberg · 9/10 · 7 January 2024]

It should be well established that Hong Kong's martial arts movies are usually excuses to show off a series of stunts and gags. Always enjoyable. However, I don't know if any of these movies has been as over-the-top as Jeffrey Lau's "Se diu ying hung: Dung sing sai jau" ("The Eagle Shooting Heroes" in English). This is truly one of the wackiest, insanest movies that I've ever sat through. In addition to the stunts, it simply has the most bonkers plot ever. They just throw in one thing after another. Seriously, it's like they mixed Looney Tunes cartoons with Chinese mythology, and then went with a throw-anything-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks plot.

And I loved every second of it. Movies like this are what makes life worth living. I'll have to see more of Lau's movies. I hope that they're as fun as this one.

who is smarter than who

[yejdudhdhhd · 9/10 · 28 December 2023]

People always go through this stage. When they see a mountain, they think they have seen the whole world. After reading a book, they think they have seen the truth themselves.

After experiencing some things, I started to flaunt the title of great enlightenment. After encountering some feelings, I immediately set up a memorial archway to give people some guidance.

The smarter, the more self righteous, the more paranoid and stubborn, the more confused and confused one becomes, and the more one becomes trapped in their own circles. The top ruffian in the world, Beijing Laowang, said: Buddha - he rose from deep contemplation and imagination that could move the universe, why-- It is nothing more than to open up a clear understanding for all sentient beings in the world, you, me, and all the little creatures that follow.

Wang Jiawei seems to understand quite well, but after some thought, he still doesn't understand. Liu Zhenwei doesn't seem to understand, there's no need to ponder. If he doesn't understand, he doesn't understand. Great wisdom brings great sorrow, and little wisdom brings joy.

In the world, who is smarter than who? Everyone goes from not understanding to understanding, from understanding to not understanding, and then from not understanding to indifferent. However, the world is always changing, and understanding cannot always be understood. Yesterday is like that, today is like this, and tomorrow is still unknown. Forever understanding is equivalent to pretending to understand, pretending to understand is not like not understanding.

In a word, wacky

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 9 February 2021]

A crazy spoof movie from Hong Kong, taking a Louis Cha novel and using it to go way over the top in its satire of the Hong Kong wuxia genre from the 1960s onwards. Apparently shot while on a break from ASHES OF TIME, this features an all-star cast in a cheaply-shot and quickly-made fantasy story which adopts a scattershot approach that won't be for all tastes. All becomes apparent when you realise this quirky comedy was a Chinese New Year celebration film. Various characters come together in a battle against evil royal usurper Tony Leung: there's Leslie Cheung as the goofy hero, Brigitte Lin as the princess he loves, the other Tony Leung as a weird monkish figure, and finally the great Jacky Cheung as a kung fu-fighting hobo. The OTT action scenes are a hoot, employing madcap choreography by one Sammo Hung, and the special effects are a real wonder (!), but the gurning, grinning, over the top portrayals of some of the cast were just too much for me to handle at times.