{"id":18621,"date":"2019-06-26T15:52:15","date_gmt":"2019-06-26T22:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=18621"},"modified":"2019-06-26T15:52:15","modified_gmt":"2019-06-26T22:52:15","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-heroes-shed-no-tears-1986","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=18621","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: HEROES SHED NO TEARS (1986)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This Blu-ray release from Film Movement\n(www.filmmovement.com) is currently available for purchase. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Today, director John Woo is likely most famous for his\nover-the-top, bullet-ridden action epics. But his career started out in a\ncompletely different manner, working in Hong Kong and shooting\nthe requisite period martial arts pictures and hit comedies. In fact, reports\nsuggest that he was unhappy being forced to make goofy flicks for producers. In\n1984, with one film left on his contract with production company Golden\nHarvest, Woo eventually convinced executives to allow him to shoot a low-budget\nwar movie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result was Heroes Shed No Tears<\/em> aka Ying Xiong\nWu Lei<\/em>. While the movie’s protagonists may have been hardened folk who\ndidn’t balk too much at loss of life or sacrifice, the story may have been\ndifferent for the filmmakers and cast… getting the finished product released\ncould easily have caused some waterworks for those involved. Disliking what\nthey saw after it was turned in, Golden Harvest altered Woo’s vision, cutting\nbits and even re-shooting a few scenes. And then, the distributor shelved the\nproduct for two years. it was only when Woo’s action-packed follow-up, A\nBetter Tomorrow<\/em>, became a critical and commercial hit that Heroes Shed\nNo Tears<\/em> finally saw the light of the cinema projector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This hard-to-find flick certainly has its problems due to\nthe lack of support as well as unnecessary tinkering from its producers.\nHowever, the movie has earned its share of fans over the years. There’s some\ngreat stuff in it and Woo enthusiasts will definitely witness the early beginnings\nof an exceptional action filmmaker. Film Movement have managed to earn the\nrelease rights and are debuting the movie this week for North American\naudiences on a Blu-ray that features an incredible 2K restoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set in Southeast Asia, the plot\nfollows a group of Chinese mercenaries hired by the Thai government to help\nthem stop drug trafficking. Leader Chan Chung (Eddy Ko) and his group are\ntasked with capturing kingpin General Samton, moving him through Vietnam,\nLaos and back\nto Thailand to\nstand trail. After a showdown in which the armed force grasp Samton, the heroes\nfind themselves pursued by not only their target’s soldiers, but a malevolent\nVietnamese colonel with a personal grudge against Chung. The colonel also\nforces a large tribe of trackers to help him hunt down the protagonists. Chung’s\nyoung son Keung-Chai and late wife’s sister live nearby, and when they are also\ntargeted by the bad guys, it becomes an incredibly violent chase movie with\nnon-stop bloodshed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Woo was clearly testing the waters here for future action\nflicks and he employs many of the techniques that he would later refine and\nmake famous in his designated classics. It isn’t used quite as frequently here\nas in later titles, but slow-motion photography is employed during battle\nscenes. Guns are tossed in the air, bullet shells and casings fly and some of\nthe emotions at play between characters are depicted not through dialogue, but by\nholding on long, lasting looks between the leads. An interesting and particularly\neffective flourish are the moments between Chung and his son. They often\ncommunicate through facial signals, sometimes making one another aware of approaching\nenemies. It’s also used to display a touching moment, as the young boy attempts\nto hide his sorrow while at the horrific scars of war covering his father’s\nback. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, the action itself is frenetic and fast-paced,\nbut direct and easy to follow. The movie is chock full of explosions and\nelaborate stunts. And speaking on horrors, the movie is also disturbing and\nincredibly violent. Lead and supporting characters are executed rather bluntly\nand randomly. The nasty colonel even targets Chung’s boy, attempting to burn\nhim alive in a field. Our hero also undergoes a wince-inducing torture session\ninvolving his eyes (come to think of it, the movie features many scenes with\neye-related injuries). A climactic fight between two central roles involves\ntrading blows with knives and wooden planks filled with nails while avoiding\nflaming barrels. Considering the movie was made on a miniscule budget, the work\non display is all the more impressive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So when the film is focused on Woo’s crazy action, and dramatic exaggerations involving the sacrifices made by the leads amidst the gnarly carnage, everything works. Yet there are several completely bizarre elements that don’t coalesce. There are odd comedy bits involving secondary characters that are incredibly out of place. One lengthy sequence involves a soldier getting into an dangerous gambling session with villagers. It is amusing in an absolutely crazy sort of way, but is tonally off with the rest of the movie. There are also some sex scenes that are out of place given the violence and bloodshed occurring around them (a booklet essay included in the package and states that these bits were added by producers against the wishes of director Woo). These additions create a completely schizophrenic feel to the proceedings. Yet as weird and inappropriate as they may be, it certainly makes the movie unpredictable. The last complaint anyone can make about the movie is that it is boring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’ve seen numerous Hong Kong action films on DVD and Blu-ray over the years, and the transfers have always been anywhere from passable to, on occasion, outright awful. There is almost always speckles and damage on the movie prints and in some cases they look like they has been dragged through dirt. However, the work done on Heroes Shed No Tears<\/em> is exemplary. The image is shockingly sharp and the Thai locations vibrant. In fact, there isn’t a grain or speck of dirt visible anywhere on this release. Along with the recent Criterion Blu-ray of Police Story<\/em>\/Police Story 2<\/em>, this may be the best transfer of a Hong Kong action film that this reviewer has ever seen. It’s clear that great care was taken and the movie looks absolutely stunning because of the remarkable work done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blu-ray arrives with plenty of trailers, but the best bonus is\na recent interview with star Eddy Ko. He goes into the Thailand\nshoot, as well as his time working with director Woo. The actor remembers the\nvarious nationalities present on set, including Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Korean\nand French. They all managed to get on and find ways of communicating despite\nthe language barriers. Ko also noted that the laws were somewhat lax in the\ncountry and mentions how all eventually found it easier to fire live ammunition\nwhen shooting close-ups of the actors. This resulted in one emergency for the\nstar. As he was being carried by another performer running at the camera while holding\nand firing an actual machine gun, the hot shell casings flew into the air and\nhit him in the chest, causing burns and a short trip to the hospital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ko also recalls his disappointment at how badly Woo and the\nmovie were treated. He states that he saw a rough assembly of the film and\nthought it was an incredible and emotional war movie that could have been a\nhuge success. The star wasn’t involved in any of the re-shoots, and after\nwaiting two years to see the final product he was shocked by what he saw. In\nfact, Ko gets teary-eyed when recalling how much the producers altered and\ndamaged the final film. The actor recalls his feelings about them throwing out\nsome dramatic material and adding the unsuitable comedy and sex scenes. In his\neyes, it was all quite tragic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thankfully, Woo survived the experience. And for moviegoers who can only see the exploitative cut of the film (the assembly edit is gone for good), there is still a lot to enjoy here. The movie is absolutely bonkers and manages to pack so much into its 90 minutes that the running time literally zips by. Heroes Shed No Tears<\/em> may not be one of the Woo’s best films, but it is a fantastic, over-the-top curiosity that acts as something of a bridge between the director’s early work and his action masterpieces. Film Movement have done an absolutely phenomenal job with the transfer on this disc, making the feature look almost like an entirely new movie. For low-budget action fans and Woo aficionados, this Blu-ray comes highly recommended. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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