Seven Warriors (1989) Review

“Seven Warriors” DVD Cover

Director: Terry Tong
Writer: Tsang Kan Cheung
Producer: John Sham
Cast: Chen Jing, Adam Cheng, Jacky Cheung, Lisa Chiao Chiao, Elaine Kam, Benz Kong, Philip Kwok, Ben Lam, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Lo Lieh, Teresa Mo, Max Mok Siu Chung, Shing Fui On, Wu Ma, Sammo Hung
Running Time: 94 min.

By Paul Bramhall

The sterling team over at Well Go USA recently released the little known Hong Kong movie Seven Warriors on both DVD and Blu-ray format, and I got around to watching it this week. First up, I think it’s important to point out that specifically for this release, the back of the sleeve proudly declares – “Legendary actor, stuntman, fight choreographer and pioneer of Hong Kong’s New Wave Movement, Sammo Hung directs (and appears in) a rousing retelling of Akira Kurosawa’s SEVEN SAMURAI.” Ok, let’s just get this out of the way, Sammo doesn’t direct it, in fact the same sleeve features the movie credits just a few inches below, which clearly state ‘Directed by Terry Tong’! As for his appearance, it clocks in at less than two minutes, and those two minutes take place before the opening credits have even finished rolling, so this is not a movie to purchase based on the Sammo Hung factor.

That being said, it’s hard to get mad at the Well Go guys, as apparently even at the time of its release it used Sammo’s name to appeal to a wider audience, so a quarter of a century later not a whole lot has changed. The claim that he is the director though is just a brazen lie, he has no connection to the production in any way with the exception of his few seconds of screen time. So, what does that leave us with? Hollywood gave us its own take on Akira Kurosawa’s classic 1954 movie, The Seven Samurai, with the 1960 western The Magnificent Seven, and a whole 35 years after the original, Hong Kong decided to try its hand at retelling the tale with Seven Warriors.

In place of feudal Japan and the wild west of America, Seven Warriors transports the tale to 1920’s China, when warlords were ruling the land. When a rural village that relies on its annual harvest to get by becomes the target of a group of marauding bandits, they decide the only way to survive is to head into the city and try to enlist some soldiers to help them put up a fight against their attackers.

I would hazard a guess that part of the reason Seven Warriors has become a largely forgotten production is its failure to live up to the promise such an all-start cast bring to the table. Director Tong enlists Shaw Brothers legend Lo Lieh as the villainous head bandit (you know he’s bad because half his face is covered by a mole, complete with protruding hairs), the star of the Venoms crew Philip Kwok plays the villager on a mission to enlist help to defend his village, and then you have the titular seven themselves. Lead by Adam Cheng, he’s backed up by Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Max Mok, Wu Ma, Jacky Cheung, Shing Fui On, and Ben Lam.

Expectations should be duly set for a showdown which involves plenty of heroic bloodshed and kung-fu, but these expectations are only partly met. For an hour of its run time Seven Warriors plays out focusing on the plight of the village and the formation of the seven warriors, while minor conflicts are developed between certain characters which frankly, do little to generate interest or hold attention. Thankfully, actors like Tony Leung Chiu-wai, even at this early stage of his career, have enough charisma and charm to make proceedings watchable, and events move along towards the big showdown at an acceptable pace.

The big showdown of course, without kidding ourselves, it what we’re all here for. Sammo Hung may be nowhere to be seen, but Jacky Cheung has just spent a good portion of the run time teaching the villagers how to fight, one of which is Kwok, and Ben Lam has been introduced as being deadly accurate with a throwing knife, and not too shabby with his feet either. It’s time to see them let loose. Unfortunately, that time never really comes. Yes a lot of bullets are exchanged, and a mounted machine gun is even thrown into the mix, which evokes thoughts of both The Wild Bunch and Boxer Rebellion, but somehow all of the action comes across as rather perfunctory. Those looking for their martial arts fix will be left most disappointed of all, as Kwok doesn’t get to do anything, and Lam’s skills are used for a mere few seconds.

Seven Warriors isn’t a bad movie per se, it just lacks any stand out moments to elevate it above being anything other than average. None of the actors put in particularly poor performances, they just all have movies were they’ve done much better. If you want to check out Tong Leung Chiu-wai playing the naive do-gooder there’s My Heart is That Eternal Rose, if you want to see Ben Lam fully let loose there’s Angry Ranger, and if you want to see Max Mok busting out the moves there’s Night Life Hero. A director like Terry Tong was never going to mistaken as being in the same league as Akira Kurosawa, and indeed he only sat in the directors chair for a total of 7 movies, the most famous of which is 1982’s Coolie Killer. Here he has all the ingredients for what could be a fantastic adventure romp, but it never really seems to get past the simmering stage, when what we all want to see is things boiling over.

Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7/10