The Heroic Ones

I sometimes wonder what it would've been like to be a scriptwriter for the Shaw Bros studios. I can't imagine these people having a very challenging job. The Heroic Ones offers the same old intrigue, though with a bit more padding than usually the case. The result is a 2-hour film that somewhat overstays its welcome.

A mighty king has 13 loyal generals. He is tired off all the scuffles and wants to get rid of all his enemies in one big swoop. He deploys 9 of his 13 generals to complete the mission, but his selectiveness breeds discontent among his loyal servants, and the mission doesn't quite go as planned. Or what else did you expect?

This is a slightly older Chang film, so the fights aren't quite as elaborate and impressive yet. That's more decisive for the quality than the body count, which is quite high, just not that interesting. All the other usual Shaw Bros caveats apply to this film, but it's the excessive runtime that ends up making this one of Chang's lesser films.