Tragic Hero

Tragic Hero

Review: The first thing that I noticed with this movie, is how dated it looked, and the soundtrack was pretty awful. I also didn't like the narrating right at the beginning of the film because I found it a cheap way to get the movie going. Apart from that, I enjoyed the whole gangster element of the film and the brutal baddie Yung (Alex Man), who basically went on a killing spree to get to the top, was great. Chow Yun-Fat's character, Lee Ah-chai, was always great and when he teamed up with Kwok (Andy Lau), near the end, they really worked well together. I must admit, the action scenes were way over the top and the amount of times that people were getting shot, before they died, was ridiculous but it's still a watchable, old school gangster movie which does have its good points. I just wished that I saw the first movie, Richard & Famous, before I watched this one! Watchable! Round-Up: This movie was directed by Taylor Wong, who has made 22 movies for the Oriental market but his Rich and Famous franchise has to be his best movies to date. He definitely got the most out of the actors/actresses but the whole dated look of the movie, let it down for audiences who watch it today. Budget: N/A Worldwide Gross: HK $19million I recommend this movie to people who are into their action/crime/dramas starring Chow Yun-Fat, Andy Lau, Carina Lau, Danny Lee, Alex Man and Siu-Fung Wong. 5/10

Pacing was too fast, Exposition dump didn't help and things were just all over the place. Its one of those times where over the top didn't impress me. The deaths of people who were significant to the main character felt of that vain too. I didn't care a single bit. Judging by the title I thought I was gonna have another tear-jerking but action masterpiece like The Killer, which is something that is far incomparable to this underwhelming film.

Plot: Triad families in Hong Kong squabble and take revenge on one another. This is supposed to be a rich gangster epic but is much more like a soap opera (expect plenty of howling Chinese women) with bloody action scenes. It takes tragedy seriously: in one scene a gangster's wife and his ten kids are all blown up whilst in another a woman is shot in the back of the head. There is more blood than the last act of a Jacobean tragedy. The final scene is a family affair as a pair of brothers, their father and a cousin all blow each other (and a large house) to pieces, bit by bit. The 1980s clothing is suitably hilarious and there is an excellent action scene involving a van but it doesn't make up for all the poor melodrama and the overly long running time. Worth no (sober) viewings.

Chow Yun-Fat stars in Tragic Hero, which is a reason to see the movie. However, Tragic Hero is nothing special, when compared to classics like The Killer and Hard Boiled. Chow Yun-Fat acts cool as always, and the action is nicely shot. You could say that Tragic Hero is a mix of The Godfather and The Killer. Tragic Hero is definetly worth a go, if you are a fan of Hongkong action movies. There are lots of worse movies than this. 6,5/10

Considerably lesser sequel to Rich and Famous, the bad brother gets his revenge in this one, and Chow Yun-Fat and Andy Lau go for some payback big time. Two good action sequences, both of which are the only highlights of the movie. However, the seemingly goodness of the Triad folk from Rich and Famous is destroyed when a loyal CYF soldier shoots about 5 or 6 police officers rescuing him.

"Black Vengeance" is an alternate title for "Ying hung ho hon" AKA "Tragic Hero" (1987). I have just seen this on VHS, together with the first part of the story, "Gong woo ching" ("Rich and Famous"), also 1987. (The poster and 2 stills featured on the page are for a 4-DVD set of movies starring Rod Perry (The Black Gestapo), Fred Williamson (Black Cobra 2), Richard Lawson (Black Fist). The fourth movie is called "The Black Six"). Strangely, while the characters retain their original names in "Rich and Famous", in "Black Vengeance" Chow Yun-Fat's character is named Eddie Shaw, Alex Man (Man Tze Leung) is Harry, and Andy Lau is called Johnny. Also confusing is the fact that 1994 is given as the copyright dates on both films. Perhaps that was the year they were American-dubbed. According to the release dates given on IMDb "Tragic Hero" was released before "Rich and Famous". Was there any reason for releasing the sequel first? Despite some users' comments, I enjoyed these films, although they aren't among CYF's best such as "The Killer" and "Hard-Boiled" which are truly astonishing. However,if one day I come across a 2-DVD set of "Rich and Famous" and "Tragic Hero" I won't hesitate to buy it. Hopefully, these comments about "Black Vengeance" clear up, which was also for me, a mystery as to where it belonged in Chow Yun-Fat's filmography.

Danny Lee's performance as a wisecracking cop is the only spot of interest in this film, even though it has an excellent cast including Chow Yun-Fat, Carina Lau, Andy Lau, Shing Fui-On and Alex Man. CYF plays a triad boss who wants to settle down to a life of peace and plenty but Alex Man, a total psycho who has a big grudge against CYF, won't let him. CYF tries to escape to Malacca but to no avail. After his family is blown to bits, his cronies dead or turncoat, wounded and broke, CYF returns to Hong Kong to get into some serious revenge. It sounds a lot better than it is. CYF is well-dressed and handsome, looks pained, grimaces and cries on cue, but somehow or another you just don't care. Andy Lau looks great, but that's about it. Carina Lau has a tiny, tiny little part which was nice, but she gets a bullet in the head early on so that ends that. Alex Man is a cartoon villain he's so over-the-top which at times can be intriguing but the writing here is so flat that he just comes across as a garden-variety nut. Danny Lee is great though - too bad he's only a small blip on the screen of this dark (literally) and essentially boring movie. Rent it, don't buy it. Or just skip it altogether. This is the sequel to "Rich And Famous", even though it apparently was filmed simultaneously; it was released first because of CYF's boxoffice power.

"Tragic Hero" is a film that is most definitely trying to emulate the classic Godfather films, focusing on family, crime, loyalty, and revenge. Also, this is part of a two part series as The Godfather also was (at the time). However, this film comes nowhere near the level of those classic films and actually fairs worse than other Triad thrillers being released in Hong Kong at the time. One reason is the acting. With the exception of Chow Yun Fat, the acting is generally over the top and unbelievable. The audience tends to find the proceedings humorous simply because the actors' inability to maintain any degree of seriousness. As a result, we find the film not truly emotionally involving or intense since we don't particularly care what occurs with these characters. Another reason is its lack of focus. The narrative tries to incorporate many different story elements into the film, but this results in portions of the movie becoming underdeveloped as well as lacking any real sense of coherency. The audience sometimes becomes lost at the proceedings we are viewing, not knowing what the character's motivations are. The film's climax does contain a decent gun fight, but again since we don't care about the characters, we don't care who lives or who dies; The scene loses it's intensity and suspense because of this. The other action set pieces are rather mundane in nature, with a feeling of it being too controlled rather than free flowing. In general, this is a strictly average film and isn't recommended to the general film viewer... Only hard core genre enthusiasts and fans of Chow Yun Fat should consider this film for viewing.