Review of Tragic Hero

Introduction

Despite the fact that Chow Yun Fat has been making some average movies of late, whenever his name pops up I still take an interest. I`m looking for that next `killer` film and remain unimpressed in recent years. Tragic Hero is an old Fat film from the late 80s and is another gangster action film; something about revenge. Isn`t it always?

Video

There are two aspect ratios here, a 1.33:1 fullframe and a soft and washed out looking 1.85:1 widescreen enhanced transfer. The fullframe video looks sharper and cleaner than the widescreen version, which is odd as the only difference between the two films is the language/subtitle option. If you want English dub you get fullframe and if you want the Chinese language film you get widescreen. Like I said, odd.

The lack of clarity doesn`t help this film at all in widescreen mode. There`s dirt and the colours look muted and soft. Fullframe wins out for a change.

Audio

Dolby Digital 2.0 for English and Chinese language versions of the film. Either way, it doesn`t impress. Gunshot sounds are harsh and grate and remind me this is a very low budget film. Surprisingly the English dubbing isn`t that bad and is a great alternative to the awful English subtitles.

Features

Fully animated menus leading to a few extras.

• Hong Kong Trailer (4:03)
• International Trailer (3:37)
• Rich & Famous Trailer (3:47)

All three trailers are terrible, period. This includes the international version of the film, which was called, "Black Vengeance". All feature voiceover man sounding like he needs a few glasses of water.

• Production Stills Gallery - These look like stills taken from the film. Nothing special.

• Biographies/Filmographies - Up-to-date bios for the five leading players and director Taylor Wong. Nothing really interesting, though you might cast a cursory look.

I love the back of the box where it states, "Digitally Re-Mastered English Sub-Titles", because whoever wrote that is clearly lying. The English subtitles are amongst the worse I`ve ever had the misfortune to encounter on a DVD. It`s clearly by someone who doesn`t have a grasp of the English language, as the grammar is awful. Poor use of punctuation adds a different inflection on what`s being said and you find yourself winding back to `fill in the gaps` of the poor translation. In addition, long sentences disappear off the screen (perhaps this is a 2.35:1 aspect ratio film?). You`d think someone would add some quality control to the disc.

Conclusion

You can read what the film`s about in the Disc Details here, and even after watching the film I had to re-familiarise myself with the synopsis. The film is so muddled that it becomes incomprehensible and as a viewer your mind begins to wander off to do those algebraic equations that you`ve been putting off. Either that or it sends you to sleep. The film is dull in story and execution. The common theme of revenge amongst the criminal fraternity told here is boring and does nothing interesting in story, dialogue or film direction. You`re always waiting for something dramatic to happen but the arguments that ensue appear to be petty and not in anyway significant. This is one bunch of dullard gangsters. There`s no impression of their `trade` and so it just comes off as a bunch of men in suits and sunglasses fighting one another when the opportunity presents itself.

The action in the film is what you would expect of a HK film; it has plenty of action, lots of guns, big guns, endless magazines of bullets, blood, stunts and explosions. It`s what the industry does well though it`s not enough to bring the predictable story up a few notches.

So is Chow Yun Fat the tragic hero of the title? Tragic yes, but hardly a hero. They`re all gangsters and I refuse to sympathise or root for anyone. As an anti-hero I don`t care one jot about what happens to him. Golden Harvest has given the world a wealth of Eastern cinema and has been responsible for bringing the biggest names like Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan forward. Tragic Hero on the other hand is just a poor film in all aspects and goes to show that Golden Harvest is just as responsible for utter rubbish as well as some good stuff.

If you`re a Chow Yun Fat fan you might look into this, perhaps with a rental. Otherwise avoid.