Magnificent Indeed
Summary
Magnificent Warriors is a welcome shot of adrenaline with countless impressive action scenes and an appealingly badass lead in Michelle Yeoh. 88 Films have done a great job remastering the film and giving us some informative and entertaining anecdotes about creating this underrated action picture.
Plot: Magnificent Warriors is a high-flying action romp! International sensation Michelle Yeoh (Tomorrow Never Dies, Supercop) stars in this incredible adventure set against the backdrop of World War II. Yeoh portrays a wisecracking mercenary pilot with a leather jacket, gun, and bullwhip who sets aside personal greed to defend a small town and free its leader from the clutches of the invading Japanese army! Filled with spectacular action sequences, Magnificent Warriors seamlessly blends sly humor with thrills. Yeoh’s martial arts prowess, comedic flair, and dramatic skills are fully brought to bear in this incredible follow-up to the classic Royal Warriors. The finale, in which the town, armed only with spears and stones, rises up against the heavily fortified Japanese forces is not to be missed! Aerial battles, gunfights, hand to hand combat, Michelle Yeoh… Magnificent Warriors has it all!
Review: In one of the interviews on the special features of the 88 Films Blu-ray for Magnificent Warriors, Michelle Yeoh says it most certainly wasn’t fun to make (even though the film is a blast to watch) and she says it’s arguably the hardest picture she’s ever worked on as it was just wall to wall action.
It may not have been a great time for her making it but for the viewer Magnificent Warriors is an absolute cracker of an action picture. It’s 90 minutes of near constant fight scenes, chases, aerial dogfights, explosions and even a climactic battle scene. There isn’t much in terms of deep emotional depth and yet we still manage to care about our main characters.
Yeoh plays Fok Ming-Ming who is kind of a female Indiana Jones using a whip to keep her enemies at a distance; she is immediately appealing yet totally badass moving gracefully through all of the rapid fight scenes. The pace is unrelenting and it’s the kind of frenetic action picture we rarely see anymore.
The music score is essentially the same theme on repeat but it’s still catchy and sticks with you long after watching it.
88 Films have done an incredible job with this movie remastering it nicely with quality picture and sound.
Check out the special features below:
- Audio commentary with Asian cinema expert Frank Djeng
- Interview with Michelle Yeoh
- Interview with Tung Wai
- English Opening Credit Sequence
- HK Trailers
- English Trailer
- Still Gallery
Frank Djeng never disappoints with his audio commentaries and here he discusses how the film had multiple titles and that it was seen as a box office failure at the time of release. We also get all kinds of stories like how Michelle Yeoh got injured and more making the features every bit as entertaining as the film itself. The interview with Michelle Yeoh is archival but honest as she discusses the various challenges of making the film.
Overall, Magnificent Warriors is a must-have for lovers of action as this has some amazing set-pieces and a fast pace making it a rather underrated gem. 88 Films have outdone themselves with this disc giving us informative commentaries and interviews that provides the viewer with an honest appraisal of making the film.