Magnificent Warriors (1987) Review

“Magnificent Warriors” Theatrical Poster

Director: David Chung Chi-Man
Cast: Michelle Yeoh, Richard Ng, Derek Yee Tung Sing, Lowell Lo, Koon Ting, Cindy Lau Chin Dai, Tetsuya Matsui, Hwang Jang Lee, Chang Yi, Lo Meng, Ku Feng
Running Time: 89 min. 

By Numskull

Very ’80s action flick that substitutes quantity for quality. There’s not much about it that could rightly be described as “magnificent” but that’s OK… this is a rainy day, nowhere to go, hour-and-a-half-to-kill-and-nobody-to-kill-it-with kind of movie, and a pretty good one at that.

Michelle Yeoh plays a WWII-era heroic lead role and brandishes a whip… so of course she’s gonna be stuck with a “female Indiana Jones” label. Really, the whip is pretty much where the similarities end. No lost arks or temples of doom to be found here. There’s a city under Japanese control and Michelle is sent to help a Chinese secret agent bail out the leader, who opposes Japan. His bubble-headed sweetie and a wandering gambler (Richard Ng, the perpetual comic relief guy) get involved along the way.

The action here isn’t extraordinary, but there’s a good amount of it and it gets the job done quite well. The parts that try to be funny do so with little success, but they aren’t permitted to go on for too long while asses remain to be kicked. Two scenes… an airplane chase and an aborted execution… are too lengthy for their own good, but there’s not much else to complain about, unless you demand that every HK movie be totally fresh, totally innovative, totally off-the-page. Magnificent Warriors is perfectly enjoyable as long as you accept it for what it is.

Numskull’s Rating: 7/10