Magnificent Warriors (1987)

really good movie, magnificent dvd

Now the movie startrs out showing michelle as a bodyguard for a warlord who is going to sell weapons. We find out right away it is going to be a slapstick movie so watch michelle yeoh slash her whip at anyone who comes close to her. If the story would have been a bit better, I easily would have gave this a 5. But when her father is in trouble and then we find out it was just a way to test michelle, I didn't care one bit. Stupid reason to put in some jawdropping martial arts is just fine with me. SO the ma's are good, but the stunts are on a whole nother level. Michelle will do some unbelievable maneuvers with her whip, and all of a sudden we realized that she wrapped somebody up and another hong kong stunt man dies. I mean how are they allowed to do this crazy stuff!!!!! I actually got a little scared for the stunt men when watchign this, but hey, it's all about the finished product, and there are certainly no dissapointments in this movie.

So we find out that michelle has come to town to meet up with a couple of other secret agent to rescue lord Yoda. yeah, seriously. Now there is a commander who is playing Yoda like a puppet, but when you got guys like HWANG JANG LEE and LO MENG coverign your back, I would't be too scared of anyone finding out either. It took liek over an hour before Silevrfox fights, but when he does, man oh man. This is the newest movie(87 I think) I have ever seen Hwang in and his legs LOOK BETTER THAN EVER. In fact i actually saw a couple of REALLY scared looks on Michelle when she ahd to fight with with. You can see him actually slowign down at some points because nto only michelle, but NOBODY could ever keep up with his kicks. I figured he would only have like a couple minutes of fight time, but I got WAY more than I bargained for. Unfortuantely Lo Meng doesn't really fight.

So I HIGHLY recommend this hong kong action/kung fu movie. And remember in the aviator when howard hughes wanted to go where there is clouds to shoot so he can show how fast the planes are going? Well, in hong kong cinema, you just speed up the filming:)

Now the dvd release itself EASILY gets a 5/5. IT HAS EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEWS WITH ACTION DIRECTOR STEVE TUNG WAI AND MICHELLE, AND THEY ACTUALLY TALK ABOUT THE MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! July 2, 2006

Yeah Yeoh!

There's an interview (in English) with MAGNIFICENT WARRIORS star Michelle Yeoh on the 20th Century Fox dvd. Not having seen the James Bond flick `Tomorrow Never Dies,' or a Hong Kong action flick, I watched this movie unfamiliar with the star or the genre she was working in. What the heck, though - it's a war movie, so I figured there'd be something familiar to latch onto. The most welcome thing I heard on the interview was Yeoh's recognition that action is closely related to dance (Yeoh has ballet in her background,) a truth she learned when making this movie. If this is a typical example of Hong Kong action movies it seems she's not the only person in that industry who realizes there's a vital rhythm to be achieved when cutting an action sequence.

MAGNIFICENT WARRIORS was made in 1987, and Yeoh's character seems modeled on Indiana Jones. She wears a leather jacket, wields a nasty bull-whip, and hops around China in a canary yellow bi-plane. Yeoh's character is a soldier of fortune who is hired to travel deep into Mongolia and pluck a local governor with valuable information from the clutches of the evil, occupying Japanese. Naturally there are bad guys around every corner, impossibly acrobatic and tenacious bad guys, who must be battled into submission. The action is non-stop, the fight choreography extremely impressive, and the plot sturdily serviceable. The Japanese want to build a poison gas factory in the region, and in the meantime they're amusing themselves by testing the lethal toxin on defenseless locals. There are a couple of thousand Japanese troops around the city, impossible odds under normal circumstances, but more or less even odds when Michelle and crew start cracking the whip. As in the western action flicks I'm familiar with, the day extras break like matchsticks when Michelle's fists (and feet) start flying. Others - the bad guys with lines of dialogues and names listed in the end credits, are a little - okay, a lot - harder to take down. They're as tough as shoe leather and resilient as graphite, able to withstand a flurry of physical punishment that would leave a bull water buffalo whimpering for mercy.

Bottom line - MAGNIFICENT WARRIORS is a fun action flick, heavy emphasis on the action, that takes for granted our female heroine will save her comrades without missing a beat or stopping to pat herself on the back. The core story may not be terribly complex, but it doesn't let you down, either. Strong recommendation for this one.
June 7, 2006

Mrs. Indiana Jones

Possibly no female action heroine has come closer to achieving Bruce Lee status than Michelle Yeoh. And this is inronic, since she never had any martial arts training until she began her movie career. Almost nobody trained in martial arts specifically for one movie goes on to make more, much less achieve the status of martial arts star, but Michelle Yeoh is a pioneer in that respect. This 1987 World War II adventure makes Michelle into a female Indiana Jones (complete with the whip) who, unlike Indiana Jones himself, is blessed with cute-as-a-button-ness
The baby-faced Michelle plays Fok Ming-Ming, a Chinese pilot/mercenary. She is recruited by the Chinese to head to Northern China to locate Agent 001 (Derek Yee). She must transport the humorous Youda (Lowell Lo), the ruler of Kaal, back to Sourthen China. The Japanese army led by General Toga (Matsui Tesuya), are trying to softne up Youda to Imperealist Japan, hiding the fact that they intend to use Kaal as a site for a new poison gas factory. Ming and Agent 001 agree to help fight off the Japanese invaders, leading to many black-eyes, both Chinese and Japanese.

It's nice to see a Hong Kong movie without much wire-work that still manages to impress with the choreography, and the incredible inpact of landing blows. In her interview on the DVD, Michelle describes the experience of making MAGNIFICENT WARRIORS as having been "possibly the one time when I said I would never do another action film." No surprising, considering that the original three-week shooting schedule in Taiwan extended to three months, and the filmmakers also had to endure a huge earthquake while working. Michelle remembers MAGNIFICENT WARRIORS not as a fun movie experience, but "very challenging."

But what doesn't kill us makes us stronger, and Michelee has made one hell of a kung fu/World War II movie that helped pave the way for her many subsequent roles. And having Tae Kwon Do legend Hwang jang-lee in with you is always a major plus, but his fight with Michelle is probebly the best one he's put out since battling Jackie Chan in DRUNKEN MASTER.

There are many magnificent wariors in the Hong Kong movie industry, and MAGNIFICENT WARRIORS proved Michelle, even in her youth and rookie-ness in martial arts movies, to be one of them. December 22, 2005

yeoh rocks!!

this is a great movie, a ton of action and humor. this is dubbed in english. just a fun movie. April 2, 2005

For action fans only

Michelle Yeoh stars in this 1980s-style Hong Kong action flick. If you are looking for a great story, I would just rent it if I were you. But, if you like great kick-ass action and lots of stunts, I would recommend buying this movie. Trust me, I bought it myself. I thought I would be disappointed, but fortunately it wasn't bad at all. "Magnificent Warriors" includes great choreographed action, awesome stunts, and most importantly, Michelle Yeoh...man, she can whoop some ass. This movie, as well as "Yes, Madam" is what started the great Hong Kong female-fatale era.

To keep this review short, if you like to watch 1980s Hong Kong movies with well-choreographed fighting design, get this movie right away. Warning: if you're looking for a Michelle Yeoh action movie with great story, ignore it, and get "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" instead November 22, 2003

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