Product Details

• Actors: Yuet Sang Chin, Doo Hee Jang, Ho Kon Kim, Eddy Ko, Ching-Ying Lam
• Directors: John Woo
• Writers: John Woo
• Producers: John Woo, Peter Chan, Raymond Chow
• Format: Color, Letterboxed, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English, Thai, Vietnamese
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Tai Seng Entertainme
• VHS Release Date: March 16, 1999
• Run Time: 82 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304796145
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #276,082 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This visceral Southeast Asian battle drama is the film John Woo completed just before his commercial breakthrough with A Better Tomorrow in 1987. It was shelved for almost two years and then hastily released, to cash in on that film's startling success. Although not a fully coherent work, it is the film in which the director tried out the operatic, slo-mo approach to action that he perfected in his later pictures, so it's must viewing for Woo-philes. The setup is polished off in a quick prologue, as a squad of Chinese commandos is dispatched to smash a heroin ring in Thailand. The movie is pretty much nonstop action from that point on. The commandos find and kidnap the top drug smuggler, and then flee, pursued by an army of murderous goons. There are several long comic gambling scenes; it's the Deer Hunter's Russian roulette number played with dice instead of guns. Woo has always been a bold borrower of trope he admired in other movies. In this case the best sequence is lifted almost shot-for-shot from one of the Japanese Lone Wolf and Cub samurai movies: a plucky kid digging in the ground for safety when the baddies try to burn him out of his concealment in a grain field. --David Chute

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Early but good Film by Master John Woo, January 21, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Haan, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ying xiong wu lei [VHS] (VHS Tape)

When I first saw this film it was only because one of my fav. directors, John Y. Woo made it. But it is surprisingly good for an old lo-budget HongKong movie. The direction is all right and when the action turns on, you can see the master's handwriting. This film is gross but entertaining and it's worth a rental. Avoid the dubbed Version!

4.0 out of 5 stars A blast of a film from John Woo!!, July 20, 2007

By 

Vault "Goods" (MO United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heroes Shed No Tears (DVD)

Yes, you've seen this film a 1000x times before, but not one directed by Mr. Woo! And that makes ALL the difference, bullets fly, explosions rock, it's a blast of a film that any action flick junkie will appreciate. Is it as polished as some of his later work, well of course not, but does that make it any LESS fun, hell no! I bet Chuck Norris wished he starred in this film. Don't listen to those movie snobs who thumb their nose at this film because it's not "The Killer" or "Hard Boiled". It's fun, it's cheese, it's a good time, and with all of the other crap that's released nowadays, that's a blessing.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classic. . . but overdone, June 12, 2000

By 

Tyler Parkford (Long Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ying xiong wu lei [VHS] (VHS Tape)

When I first saw this film on television, I laughed my pants off. It's one of those movies that you've seen, time and time again, made fun of, due to its poorly timed dubbing and spiratic violence. The picture quality was horrible, which fit its cheap attitude perfectly, and more than three quarters of the movie was spent using extremely primitive sound-effects. Yet, despite these small glitches, the movie seemed to draw forth more of my attention than it deserved. I couldnt help but revel at how consistant John Woo was through his natorious use of explosions, stunts, and hardened drama. The movie didn't glorify violence, however, but made it almost humorously insignificant. The killing rate was undoubtedly outragous, where ten to twenty "bad guys" in a scene would fall to their death as the hero spray's unplotted bullets everywhere. The drama was very low, as well as unbelievable, and the relationship between characters was poorly stimulated. However, this is the beauty of John Woo's films (and action films in general). He expressed each character through pure violence and tension; nothing more. Most of the drama in the movie derived from such violent siduations, and this tactic proves very effective. Because of this, John Woo unfortunately delivered an excess amount of action; to the point of exaustion. This was the main setback, since it lowered the appreciation of John Woo's poetic action sequences greatly. The cinematography quality was on and off, sometimes exceptional and sometimes very very poor. The script was horrible, consisting of cheap one-liners and poorly thought-out reactions. Never the less, I loved this movie not for its basic script and storyline, but for the attitude that the action sets forth (especially the laughs). Call it cheap, call it trash, but any sane action-movie critic out there will call it classic. I would recommend seeing the movie before buying it, but I would definately recommend buying the movie just for the heck of it. Enjoy!