Sammo Hung's action film Eastern Condors (1986) tells the story of group of Chinese convicts, who get a chance to get free if they accept to go to deadly mission to Vietnam to destroy one American weapon stock before Vietcong finds it. The group arrives there, but soon learn there are spies among them and everything is not quite as it looks like. What follows is plenty of martial arts and gun fire mayhem.
This film has great cinematography and editing and the action scenes are definitely intense, as can be expected from Sammo Hung and other talents who worked on this film. There is plenty of kung fu and different weapons they make in the jungle, and then there's plenty of the usual fire fights and bullets. The last 20 minutes have been said to be extremely over-the-top action, but I don't think it is so strong and intense, but maybe after seeing films like Heroes Shed No Tears I had little too high expectations.
The main problem with Condors is its stupidity and naive elements as the whole thing is not too believable and the film glorifies war too much. Also, the underlining attitude towards Western culture and America is too gratuitous as characters say things like "Westerners are so stupid" and so on. The characters are not deep but very shallow and uninteresting. The film doesn't have any soul and thus becomes a delight to the eye only.
I appreciate clever action films very much and Hong Kong has produced very much of those films, too. Eastern Condors offers very fast action and martial arts, but lacks the depth and message this kind of film should and could have. Still I found this worthwhile to watch since I like Eastern cinema much and can also forgive some of their films' mistakes and flaws easier than some other films'. Many will without a doubt think this is among the greatest action films ever, due to its kinetic and occasionally brutal action, but anyone waiting for little more intelligent or symbolic piece of cinema will slightly disappoint. Still I think 7/10 is the right rating for this film. If you're interested in this kind of Asian adventure, I'd recommend John Woo's Heroes Shed No Tears, which is much more interesting film and has really incredible action scenes and also symbols borrowed from the Japanese Baby Cart films.
This film has great cinematography and editing and the action scenes are definitely intense, as can be expected from Sammo Hung and other talents who worked on this film. There is plenty of kung fu and different weapons they make in the jungle, and then there's plenty of the usual fire fights and bullets. The last 20 minutes have been said to be extremely over-the-top action, but I don't think it is so strong and intense, but maybe after seeing films like Heroes Shed No Tears I had little too high expectations.
The main problem with Condors is its stupidity and naive elements as the whole thing is not too believable and the film glorifies war too much. Also, the underlining attitude towards Western culture and America is too gratuitous as characters say things like "Westerners are so stupid" and so on. The characters are not deep but very shallow and uninteresting. The film doesn't have any soul and thus becomes a delight to the eye only.
I appreciate clever action films very much and Hong Kong has produced very much of those films, too. Eastern Condors offers very fast action and martial arts, but lacks the depth and message this kind of film should and could have. Still I found this worthwhile to watch since I like Eastern cinema much and can also forgive some of their films' mistakes and flaws easier than some other films'. Many will without a doubt think this is among the greatest action films ever, due to its kinetic and occasionally brutal action, but anyone waiting for little more intelligent or symbolic piece of cinema will slightly disappoint. Still I think 7/10 is the right rating for this film. If you're interested in this kind of Asian adventure, I'd recommend John Woo's Heroes Shed No Tears, which is much more interesting film and has really incredible action scenes and also symbols borrowed from the Japanese Baby Cart films.