4 Star

Fight the Oppressors.

Eureka have brought us a Stunning Action film, with guns and explosions. All brought together with bone crunching stunts and amazing Martial Arts. Director and Cinematographer David Chung (Once Upon a Time in China, It’s a Drink! It’s a Bomb!) tells the tale of the 1930’s when Japan is expanding, and the locals don’t like it. Sit on the edge of your seat for this thrill ride.

The world has suffered a depression during the thirties and to secure economic growth the Imperial forces of Japan have expanded into United East Asia. The natives are trying to fight back and in the remote mountain regions, Fok Ming-Ming (Michelle Yeoh, THE POLICE STORY TRILOGY, Mechanic Resurrection, Star Trek: Discovery Season 1) owns a bi-plane which she uses to carry cargo to the mountains. Today she is delivering to a gunrunner (Jing Chen, Long Arm of the Law, Dragons Forever), who supplies the local fighters, this is our first disagreement, which means a fight sequence. Right from the off, we see the stunts and skills of Miss Yeoh, with more than her fists and feet, as she takes on the skills of Indiana Jones’ favourite tool the whip, and causes chaos to the non-paying rebels.

In Kayi City in the Bhutan Region, Lord Youda (Lowell Lo, Chicken and Duck Talk, Doctor’s Heart), has to deal with Japanese General Toga (Tetsuya Matsui, Lucky Stars Go Places), who says that Youda should be happy that he wants to build a chemical plant in his city. But Youda’s friend, the spy 1 Wong (Tung-Shing Yee, Sisters of the World Unite, Gift from Heaven), knows that the Japanese have perfected a deadly gas, that they try out on innocent civilians, and that is what they want to produce in the chemical plant.

Back at home, Ming’s grandfather (Feng Ku, Five Deadly Venoms, Wu Song), is working with Big Brother Lung who is in the military, and they want to rescue Youda, by getting Spy 1 to get Youda out of the city and fly him back to Grandfather. Ming is brought in for this. Add in a pigeon with a wristwatch and you have a recipe for disaster. Spy 1 is supposed to get the watch, so Ming can identify him, but swindler Paulina Wong (Richard Ng, Millionaires Express, Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars) gets his hands on it, which leads to the comedy side of this hard hitting film. Paulina gets into trouble with some local thugs, which brings in Youda’s would-be girlfriend Chin-chin (Chindy Lau, A Better Tomorrow II), who is another feisty young martial artist.

All the players are now together, can they defeat the might of the Japanese Empire and save the city of Kayi? Well there is plenty of fighting, sword fighting, motorcycle riding, and explosions, as well as the superbly executed Martial Arts choreography. Plenty of skills on show in this action film.

A must for the Michelle Yeoh fan.

MAGNIFICENT WARRIORS is still an 18 certificate.MAGNIFICENT WARRIORS [Zhong hua zhan shi] aka. Dynamite Fighters (Eureka Classics) Special Edition Blu-ray is available from the 20th February 2023

Special Features:

• Limited Edition O-Card slipcase featuring new artwork by Darren Wheeling
• 1080p HD presentation on Blu-ray of the original theatrical cut (including the films’ original theatrical ending previously cut from most home video releases) from a brand new 2K restoration
• Cantonese and English audio options (both in their original mono presentations)
• Optional English Subtitles, newly translated for this release
• Brand-new feature length audio commentary by Asian film expert Frank Djeng (NY Asian Film Festival)
• Brand-new feature length audio commentary by action cinema experts Mike Leeder & Arne Venema
• Archival interview with Michelle Yeoh
• Archival interview with action choreographer Tung Wai
• Archival advert featuring Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh
• Trailers
• Reversible sleeve design
• PLUS: A Limited-Edition collector’s booklet featuring new writing by James Oliver