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Magnificent Warriors Blu-ray Review

Michelle Yeoh carries “Magnificent Warriors.” 

Directed by David Chung, 1987’s “Magnificent Warriors” takes place during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The story revolves around Fok Ming-Ming (a Chinese pilot, spy, weapons smuggler and general badass) who is sent to Kaal to aid a Secret Agent to stop invading Japanese forces from building a poison gas plant and rescue Kaal’s Lord Youda. Throughout the mission, Fok Ming-Ming encounters help from a con man and a Princess (Chin-chin) and finds herself becoming a part of the city’s resistance fighters against the Japanese army. 

“Magnificent Warriors” (AKA “Dynamite Fighters”) is certainly a departure from the usual martial arts fare in that it’s a part spy movie, part war movie, part martial arts movie, part comedy movie, and part action-adventure movie in the vein of Indiana Jones all rolled into one. If that all sounds like too much, well, that’s because it is. Although Kan-cheung Tsang’s script is admirably ambitious, the story attempts to do too much. At its core, this is a Hong Kong action movie, but the movie’s injection of wartime drama, patriotic and anti-war messages mixed in with some random Indiana Jones flavored action set pieces (primarily in the film’s thrilling first 20 minutes) and cartoony hijinks (largely by the con man character) don’t exactly mix well together tonally. There’s no consistency in the storytelling with its weird shift in tones. Plus the messages the movie is trying to convey are contradicted essentially amid the focus on the relentless action. 

Speaking of the action, it’s definitely top notch here. While the climactic battle looks a bit cheap, the martial arts combat is first rate. The first 2 action set pieces with Michelle Yeoh involving a whip and a rope are particularly noteworthy here. If you’re an action junkie the movie is well worth watching just for those action sequences alone. Of course, there’s plenty of action outside that involving a plane dogfight, motorcycles, shootouts and sword fights too. 

The now Academy Award nominated Michelle Yeoh is at her butt kicking best here. While the movie itself may not be a top tier martial arts vehicle, Yeoh is in peak form with an exciting adventurous character. As mentioned above, her action sequences are nothing short of thrilling and are far and away the highlight of the entire feature.

Video/Audio:

Presentation: 2.35:1 1080p. How does it look? 88 Films has given this film a 2K restoration and the result is a quality upgrade that offers up impressive image clarity.

Audio Track: Cantonese Mono and English Dub Mono. How does it sound? The Cantonese and English tracks are a bit flat, but the original language Cantonese track is the better option. The English dub is actually passable, but there’s a noticeable weird background hum at times.

Extras:
* Double-sided poster
* A booklet featuring an essay by author Matthew Edwards, photos, publicity material and credits.
* English trailer and 2 Hong Kong trailers
* 2 separate archival interviews with Michelle Yeh and stunt coordinator Tung Wai
* English opening credits sequence.
* Stills gallery
* Commentary by Frank Djeng (who is always a wealth of information).

January 26, 2023 - Posted by nicklyons1 | Blu-Ray review | 88 Films, Magnificent Warriors Blu-ray Review, Martial Arts Movie, Michelle Yeoh, War Movie