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Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
Released on: August 31st, 2024.
Director: Corey Yuen
Cast: Jet Li, Anita Mui, Tse Miu, Rongguang Yu, Collin Chou, Ken Lo
Year: 1995
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My Father Is A Hero– Movie Review:
Cory Yuen’s 1995 Jet Li vehicle, My Father Is A Hero (released by Dimension in North America under the more generic title of The Enforcer) isn’t the best film that Li’s ever made but it’s still a fun time at the movies and a nice mix of action and drama. Heck, it’s even got a few genuinely heartfelt moments thrown into the mix that, even if the ending goes pretty over the top, help to ground this one and give it some heart.
The picture follows an undercover cop (Jet Li) named Gung Wai who is working a gang, led by the vicious Po Kwong (Yu Rongguang), from the inside out, unbeknownst to his son, Gung Goo (Xie Miao), and ailing, terminally ill wife. Things are going well for him until another cop named Fong Yat Wa (played by Anita Mui) screws up and blows his cover, at which point the lives of his family members are pretty much instantly put at risk. The only way he’ll be able to ensure the safety of his loved ones is to go after the gang’s leader… with some help from his son who, after the death of his mother, has been told that his dad was a bad guy!
While the plot is functional enough, it’s not exactly deep or ripe with substance, at least on a surface level. You can pretty easily see where the narrative is headed from the start, and in many ways, the movie is pretty predictable. That said, the script from Sandy Shaw Lai-King does the trick and affords Jet Li, Anita Mui and, more importantly, Xie Miao a fair amount of opportunity to kick ass. The scenes in which Li and Xie Miao work together in the film’s finale are definitely the highlights of the film as they show off some very impressive fight choreography and really give the pair a chance to strut their stuff – and it works. But even before we get to those most memorable moments from the film, we get some pretty solid action set pieces. Given that Corey Yuen and Yuen Tak handled the fight choreography on the picture, this probably won’t come as a surprise, but there’s some creative weapons fighting here in addition to the more traditional hand-to-hand fights you’d probably expect.
While not as over the top in the action department as some of Jet Li’s other Hong Kong pictures made around the same time, there are still some memorable moments here such as a remarkable choreography stunt scene involving an attack on the three heroes by some bad guys in a garbage truck. The big finale that takes place on a fancy yacht riddled with explosives docked off the coast of Hong Kong is also a stand out, and a pretty tense scene as well.
The performances are really solid in this one as well. Jet Li and Xie Miao have some pretty believable chemistry, enough so that even in some of the movie’s more melodramatic moments, we can buy them as father and son. Anita Mui holds her own as well, handling the film’s serious dramatic elements as well as the action set pieces, and bringing that trademark smirk of hers to a few scenes. Yu Rongguang chews the scenery as the heavy but he does a good job of it. If his performance isn’t subtle, it’s a lot of fun.
The movie moves along at a pretty quick pace, if never quite reaching the same heights as Li’s better pictures. Still, this one manages to entertain in all the right ways. This might not be the best gateway drug to Li’s nineties era output but it’s definitely a fun film and one that is well worth a watch for anyone who can appreciate the kind of action scenes that Hong Kong cinema could (and still periodically does) deliver.
My Father Is A Hero– Blu-ray Review:
My Father Is A Hero arrives on Blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer framed at 1.85.1 widescreen “newly restored by VS from a studio-supplied 4K master” (the studio in question is Fortune Star, as based on their logo appearing before the movie begins). The image looks a little soft at times but clearly offers a very nice upgrade over past DVD editions that have made the rounds over the years. Colors are reproduced nicely and there aren’t any compression problems, even if grain looks a slight bit clumpy in a few spots. The image is free of any major damage – you might notice a few blemishes during the opening credits but outside of that, it’s a very clean picture we have here. Skin tones look good and black levels are pretty decent as well. Not a perfect image, but a good one.
Audio options are provided in 24-bit DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo in the film’s original Cantonese language as well as an English dubbed option with English and English SDH subtitles provided for the Cantonese track and an English SDH option for the English track. Unless you’ve got a serious aversion to subtitles, go for the Cantonese track. The English track sounds goofy by comparison and makes what should be some fairly intense scenes of family drama come across as hokey. Either way, both tracks are clean, clear and properly balanced, with explosions and gun shots packing a nice punch.
A brand new commentary track with martial arts film historian Frank Djeng gets the extras moving. He goes over the film's box office success, details on the film's producers, biographical details on pretty much every single one of the cast and crew members that worked on the film with an emphasis on the leads, notes on some of the locations featured in the movie, Corey Yuen's work on the picture and the Yuen Clan in general, thoughts on the performances, the dubbing created for the movie, thoughts on the action set pieces and stunt work and lots more.
Also new to this disc is a three minute Interview With Wong Jing where the producer where he talks about the film's title, casting the movie, adding action scenes as they went along once Jet Li had been cast, and working with Yuen Woo Ping and Corey Yuen on the movie.
Vinegar Syndrome has also carried over some archival featurettes from the Miramax DVD edition, starting with the eighteen minute Crowd Pleaser, which interviews producer Wong Jing in which he talks about his role behind the scenes, collaborating with Corey Yuen, casting the film and other details. Actor Xie Miao spends sixteen minutes in front of the camera in Like Father, Like Son where he talks about making this picture at the age he did, discussing what it was like working on the film as a kid, getting along with Jet Li and Anita Mui and taking direction. Born To Be Bad is a sixteen minute interview with Ken Lo that looks to have been shot at the same time as his interview which appeared on the Supercop DVD (they were originally released around the same time) and which allows him to talk about his fight scenes and stunt work that appears in the movie.
Finishing up the extras on the disc is a single deleted scene, a still gallery, the film’s original Hong Kong theatrical trailer, menus and chapter selection options.
This release comes packaged with some reversible cover sleeve art, a poster, and, if ordered from the Vinegar Syndrome website, a slipcover designed by Poochamin and limited to 4,000 hand numbered units.
My Father Is A Hero- The Final Word:
My Father Is A Hero holds up pretty well. It’s an effective mix of action and drama with some standout performances from its lead cast members, some fun supporting players and some intense stunt work and fight sequences. The Blu-ray release from Vinegar Syndrome looks and sounds pretty solid and contains some decent supplements covering the movie’s history, making it a nice package for fans of the film.
Click on the images below, or right click and open in a new window, for full sized My Father Is A Hero Blu-ray screen caps!
