Panorama HK Blu-ray Synopsis: To save a hostage, Wu Wei and Liu Xiao will take the temporary special action team and infiltrate the place where over 100 mobs gather in and battle against the criminals violently. What kind of dangers will they find in the islet? (90 mins)

 

Views: When Heroes Return was first highlighted, I was pretty excited to see (what seemed to be) Yuen Biao headlining a modern action movie once again, and alongside the fantastic and handsome Ray Lui. Needless to say, it's taken me five years to finally get a hold of it – but it certainly wasn't the kind of return I'd expected for this forgotten hero! Bizarrely, the film is also known as Operation Bangkok (which is the name on the Blu-ray I picked up from Hong Kong), although there's really no connection to Bangkok whatsoever. Plotwise – it's pretty much all about a rescue mission, thinly stretched out over a group of generic (and often bland) characters, and a group of bad guys that are doing clinical trials on trafficked people. But while it strives to portray the glory days of Hong Kong action cinema, Heroes Return ends up being a badly written and poorly executed blend of Cheetah on Fire (1992), Rambo (2008) and Wolf Warrior 2 (2017), playing like a bigger budgeted web-movie that has very little on offer to encourage Asian film fans to return. It's also just another slap in the face to Yuen Biao himself and his global fan-base, that sees him absolutely and utterly wasted in what is just a glorified guest role. Turning up closer to the half-way mark, looking old and tired, Biao plays an undercover cop who has been captured by the enemy. Once rescued, he's given a few chances to fire a gun although, unfortunately, is restricted from any martial-arts action and killed off far too early – but then so are most of the heroes if I'm to be honest. Long gone are the days of Yuen Biao's breathtaking acrobatics and kung fu skills. Long gone are the awe-inspiring and exciting glory days of Hong Kong action cinema...

 

So who is to blame at the end of the day? Well, for me, I'm pointing the finger at the screenwriters, the editor, and the director – Du Xiubin. That said, I have to give credit to him for making an ambitious, albeit probably overwhelming, directorial debut with Heroes Return! Starting wushu at an early age, Du went onto work as a stuntman and action director in 2002 on films such as Fatal Comic, Spice Cop, and The Lion Roars, as well as The Infernal Fighter (2004), The House of the Sword (2006) and others. He became an unofficial member of the Jackie Chan Stunt Team in 2010 when he worked on The Karate Kid, hanging around for 1911 (2011) and later again for Skiptrace (2016). While he worked on films like The Liquidator (2017) and Detective Chinatown 2 (2018) after that – and possible some web/television work along the way – Heroes Return/Operation Bangkok would mark his next move to fully-fledged director. And with that in mind, as mentioned, it wasn't the absolute worst in the world, although we've yet to see any follow-up projects from Du Xiubin since! Credited as one of the 4 writers alongside 2 other first timers, the blame of the awful writing must land on literary researcher, editor and script-writer Wang Bin; a man who actually should have offered better. Having been the writer of genuine classics such as Shanghai Triad (1995), Hero (2002), House of Flying Daggers (2004), Jet Li's Fearless (2006), The Assassins (2012) and others, the script for Heroes Return should have been fantastic – not come across as if it was written by a 14 year old who suddenly discovered action cinema. And then we have the first time editors who don't get off to a great start. And there's the first time lighting director. And the first time assistant director. And the first time cinematographer. In fact, it seems that the majority of the crew involved here were all working their first feature film and, in knowing that, I can now understand why the film wasn't the perfect product it should have been!

 

So let's look at the positives. The film is a pretty big production overall with no shortage of lavish locations from the busy streets of Hong Kong to vast forests, executive offices to enormous warehouses, jungle villages and more, with the director making full use of everything on offer. And although it's ultra-sharp and clean HD quality removes the viewer from the 'film experience', Heroes Return is very well shot, impressively captured by cinematographer Xu Jian. Then we have the action sequences, most of which are well executed and choreographed by Liu Junjie in first role as action-director. While I've already shared my disappointment on Yuen Biao's underused casting, I did enjoy the wonderful Ray Lui in the lead as troubled father and super-cop Wu Wei. And oddly, while Biao doesn't get to fight as mentioned, Lui Leung Wai gets to bust moves like he was Donnie Yen and looks good doing so! There's definitely a few pretty good martial-arts battles on offer throughout the film to keep fight fans happy, but the majority of the action scenes involved are well-staged gunfights. While the supporting cast are mostly forgettable, with only a few of them proving their worth in the action scenes, I must direct all attention to the late-great Kathy Chow Hoi Mei – starlet of films such as Andy Lau's The Truth (1988), Donnie Yen's Holy Virgin vs Evil Dead (1991), Sammo Hung's Don't Give a Damn (1995), Anthony Wong's Beast Cops (1998), Frankie Chan's Legendary Amazons (2011) and so much more. Starring as the big bad of Heroes Return, Chow would also serve as the producer of the film, unfortunately marking it as her last before dying just 2 years later of a (Lupus induced) heart attack, aged just 57.

 

So perhaps given a tighter edit, a pumping new score, and a professional touch on the sound effects, Heroes Return/Operation Bangkok would be a much more enjoyable experience – like the trailer tries to sell. I guess had someone like the great Dante Lam been at the helm, perhaps Sammo Hung, then this may have been a stronger action-film overall and more of hit with critics and fans alike. But it is what it is and, honestly, not a complete waste of time!

 

Overall: An impressive directorial debut although not without it's problems, Heroes Return offers some sweet action scenes but fails to reignite the Hong Kong cinema of yesteryear!

 

Panorama Blu-ray Extras: Trailer