Dynamite Fighters

Dynamite Fighters(480P)

source: Dynamite Fighters

source: Dynamite Fighters

source: Dynamite Fighters

Michelle Yeoh is a daring adventurer, singlehandedly destroying a village of men who try to cheat her of twenty tael (although she uses a lot of footwork), and flying her yellow biplane around to win aerial combat against a Japanese fighter plane; this is during the Second World War. Her grandfather sends her on a mission to rescue Prince Youda of a city where the Japanese wish to set up a poison gas factory. She mistakes wanderer and con man Richard Ng for the agent she is supposed to meet, but soon settles out that it is actually Tung-Shing Yee. Meanwhile, Chindy Lau is in love with the timid Youda, played by Lowell Lo. When Lo refuses to order the deaths of the three leads, Miss Lau rouses the people of the city to revolt against the Japanese. This results in a big battle in which it looks like a company of mortar men and ninjas attack Fort Zinderneuf from THE LAST REMAKE OF BEAU GESTE. Miss Yeoh is the star, but clearly the producers thought she was not strong enough to carry the movie by herself, so they got involved in a lot of elaboration which works very nicely. She still loks great running, and her martial arts are very good to watch, but Ng steals the show with his con man character, and the final battle is a lot of fun to watch. There's a lot of anti-Japanese sentiment, still de rigeur in Chinese movies, but with a hint that things can work out in the end. Lots of fun.

Magnificent Warriors is an enjoyable and entertaining movie with a lot to recommend it, especially the excellent, athletic prescence of the fantastic Michelle Yeoh. Still, it drags and feels a little limp in places. For instance, the two opening fights during the plot setup are explosive, impactful and a lot of fun, but after that nothing really happens action-wise until 20 minutes later. The film stop-starts all the way through, making it a bit frustrating for an experienced viewer. It's no more stop-starty or inconsistent than US or European action fare like Transporter or Red Siren, but it seems patchy and messy in comparison to other Hong-Kong adrenaline-rides like Full Contact or Yeoh's later Wing Chun. Both movies keep a consistent level of action without sacrificing their story lines. They also have strong, non-wacky story lines. Magnificent Warriors is a horrific mess in the plot department. Take Indiana Jones, substitute the Japanese for the Nazis and substitute Michelle Yeoh for Harrison Ford and you'd think it'd rock. You'd almost be right, but the director and his writers decided to try and make some political points with it and turn it into a patriotic pro-China movie...as such it gets kind of messy and biased. Still, it's a Michelle Yeoh film. If you're a fan, which I most certainly am, you won't be disappointed with this. Yeah, OK MW blows its two best fights in the first 20 minutes, but there's a lot of good solid action going on here, and though Yeoh isn't as central as I would have liked to preceedings (given she's the only one here who can act her way out of a paper bag) she has some fantastic set pieces and humorous lines to fight/charm her way through. If you like Michelle Yeoh, watch this, it's a good film and above all it's fun and she showcases both her fighting talent and her charm in equal measure. If you're indifferent to her and just want an OTT blast, there are much better HK actioners out there, you'd probably fare better with say Eastern Condors or Full Contact, both of which are off their rocker and full of chop-socky and gun-play.

Michelle Yeoh kicks lots and lots of butt in a cool aviator jacket in this fun martial arts movie. Presumably its English title comes from the vaguely Seven Samurai/Magnificent Seven-esque plot about defending a Mongolian town (although by my count there are fewer than seven main heroes here). Towards the end, it increases in scale to become a full-blown war movie, but I think it's at its best in the smaller-scale fights. Richard Ng plays a con man who gets caught up in events. He provides the broad comic relief, sometimes successfully (his introductory scene involves him getting into a fight and being cartoonishly kicked around like a football). The filmmakers recorded one catchy musical fanfare to use in the action sequences, and by gum, they're going to get their money's worth from it if it's the last thing they do!

When it got announced on ICM that a Hong Kong viewing challenge was to take place,the first thing that came to mind was to catch a non-Hollywood Action movie with Michelle Yeoh. Finding the outline to this title very tempting,I got set to welcome the dynamite fighters. View on the film: Lighting the fuse in the era when all the guys were firing with all guns blazing, director David Chung enthusiastic attitude towards doing a different type of Action flick sparkles across the swift run-time. Lassoing into the 1930's with a war against imperialist Japan, Chung makes the action scenes stand out by putting modern fire power aside for historical weapons, whose weight in gun fights and sword play gives the fights a heaviness, neatly balanced by a rip-roaring Adventure atmosphere of slow-motion Kung-Fu moves and colourful explosions. Fighting into the small village to save it from the boo-hiss Japanese baddies, the screenplay by Kan-Cheung Tsang perfectly compliments Chung style with the serial like mix of spies, break-neck action set-pieces,goofy comedy spots,and lead hero Ming-Ming given quiet moments that allow her family life to be seen, before Tsang throws them all into the next danger on the adventure. Charging into battle, the eye-catching Michelle Yeoh gives an extremely charismatic performance as Ming-Ming. Kicking the action with a graceful ease, Yeoh brings a real sense of excitement to Ming-Ming diving into a dangerous adventure, and lighting the fuse of the dynamite fighters.

I found the blend of action and humor in this film to be very entertaining. Michelle Yeoh does some incredible stunts, including imaginative use of rope in one sequence. Richard Ng does some pretty slick moves too. Also the actress who plays Chin-Chin does some impressive fighting. If you like Michelle Yeoh films, or even Jackie Chan films, this really should be right up your alley. Incredible stunts, and very funny dialog, this was a real treat to watch.

This film is set during the Japanese occupation of China and follows pilot Fok Ming-ming as she tries to help a leading member of the resistance. Things don't quite go according to plan as she initially mistakes a conman for the agent. Later they are found by the real agent and the three of them start working together to thwart Japanese plans to build a chemical weapons factory in a remote city. If you want lots of well-choreographed martial arts action combined with plenty of laughs you could do a lot worse than this. The story is fairly easy to follow and effectively introduces the key characters in an entertaining way before the main action gets underway. There are numerous action sequences throughout the film with the sense of danger increasing towards the end. These sequences are all impressive with great martial arts, some shooting and some impressive explosions. The cast is solid; most notably Michelle Yeoh who excels as Ming-ming. She really impresses in her fight scenes but also brings a sense of fun to her role without feeling silly. Richard Ng was a lot of fun as the roguish conman... I couldn't help wondering if his character partly inspired 'The Weird' in the Korean film 'The Good, The Bad, The Weird'! I was a bit surprised that the film is rated '18' here in the UK as there is nothing too extreme shown; I suspect if re-rated it would only be a '15'... and that due to certain language in an early scene. Overall I'd definitely recommend this to fans of action-packed, but not overly intense, martial arts films. These comments are based on watching the film in Cantonese with English subtitles.