A Man Called Hero

A Man Called Hero
DVD cover art
中華英雄
Directed byAndrew Lau
Screenplay byManfred Wong
Based onChinese Hero: Tales of the Blood Sword
by Ma Wing-shing
Produced by
  • Manfred Wong
  • Barbie Tung
Starring
CinematographyAndrew Lau
Edited byDanny Pang
Music byChan Kwong-wing
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release date
  • 17 July 1999 (1999-07-17)
Running time
116 minutes
CountryHong Kong
LanguageCantonese
Box officeHK$23,368,902

A Man Called Hero (中華英雄) is a 1999 Hong Kong wuxia film adapted from the manhua series Chinese Hero: Tales of the Blood Sword by Ma Wing-shing. Directed by Andrew Lau, it starred Ekin Cheng, Shu Qi, Kristy Yang, and Nicholas Tse. It won the 1999 Golden Horse Award for Best Visual Effects.[1]

Synopsis

The film is set in the early 20th century. Pride, a swordmaster, takes Hero as his second apprentice and trains him in swordsmanship. Shortly after, Hero kills the foreigners who murdered his parents, and spends the night with his lover Jade. The next morning, he flees China on board a ship bound for the United States.

Many years later, Hero's childhood friend Sheng and Hero's son Sword arrive in Chinatown, New York City, where they meet Luohan, who recounts how he met Hero on the ship and their experiences as labourers in Steel Bull Canyon. Later, Sword and Sheng visit Jade's grave, where Sheng tells Sword that he and Jade travelled to New York City 16 years ago to search for Hero, who reunited with Jade and married her. After that, they meet Kate, the daughter of Hero's senior Shadow, and she leads them to their father.

Shadow tells Sword and Sheng how he rescued Hero from Steel Bull Canyon after Hero was falsely accused of murdering two men. Hero and Shadow had encountered the Five Ninjas who serve their master's rival Invincible, and defeated them. During their fight, Hero had spared and saved Wood, one of the Ninjas who developed a crush on him. Another Ninja who was in love with Wood had felt jealous and set fire to China House shortly after Jade gave birth to a pair of twins. During the chaos, a traitor Bigot had kidnapped Sword's twin sister and disappeared. Jade had died in Hero's arms due to excessive blood loss during childbirth.

After Jade's death, Hero met a fortune teller, who tells him that he is destined to lead a lonely life as misfortune will befall those who are close to him. Hero had then entrusted Sword to Sheng's care before leaving with Shadow for Japan, where they witness a duel between Pride and Invincible. Although Pride defeated Invincible, he was fatally wounded and had passed his skills and neigong to Hero before his death.

In the present, Sword, Sheng, Luohan and the others devise a plan to liberate the labourers at Steel Bull Canyon. They infiltrate the canyon in disguise as a Chinese opera troupe and catch the supervisors off guard. Luohan dies in a suicide attack, while Sword corners Bigot and demands to know his sister's whereabouts. Bigot is about to shoot Sword when Hero shows up and finishes him off. Hero then uses his neigong to create an explosion to prevent the supervisors from advancing further, and everyone safely retreats.

Sword is excited to see his father in person for the first time, but his father remains cold and distant towards him. Hero also meets Wood, who still shows unrequited love towards him, and she warns him that Invincible has come to New York City to challenge Hero, Pride's successor. Hero and Invincible have a duel on top of the Statue of Liberty which ends with Hero's victory. After that, Sword and Sheng prepare to return to China while Hero watches them from afar and walks away in the opposite direction.

Cast

Music

The music and songs for the film were composed by Chan Kwong-wing. The theme song "Star of Death" (天煞孤星;cantonese version) / "Edge of the World" (天涯海角;mandarin version) was sung by Ekin Cheng. There are also two insert songs – "The Flower is Good" (花正好) and "First Glance" (第一眼) – sung by Cheng and Nicholas Tse respectively.

Awards and nominations

Awards

Nominations

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "2011 台北金馬影展 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival". Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
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